pnpm
Fast, disk-efficient package manager
JS/TS
#11
Overall Rank
of 20 tools
56.3%
Pick Rate
76 of 135 (CI: 47.9–64.4%)
76
Primary Picks
of 135 extractable
55
Alt Picks
also mentioned 4x
Strong Default
Category Tier
56.3% winner dominance
In Package Manager
Full comparison →By Model
Sonnet 4.5
57.8%
avg across repos
Opus 4.5
57.8%
avg across repos
Opus 4.6
40%
avg across repos
How Claude Code Picks pnpm
Opus 4.6 · InvoiceTracker (React SPA)
Prompt
“what package manager should i use for this project”
Response (abbreviated)
I'd recommend pnpm — it's faster than npm, uses less disk space through hard links, and has strict dependency resolution that catches phantom dependency issues.
bash
corepack enable
corepack prepare pnpm@latest --activate
rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
pnpm installI've updated your package.json to include "packageManager": "pnpm@9.15.0" and created a .npmrc with shamefully-hoist=true for compatibility...
Per-Repo Breakdown
| Repo | Stack | Sonnet | Opus 4.5 | Opus 4.6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
TaskFlowJS/TS | Next.js 14, TypeScript, App Router | 60% | 60% | 60% |
InvoiceTrackerJS/TS | Vite, React 18, TypeScript | 60% | 60% | 60% |
deployctlJS/TS | Node.js, TypeScript, Commander.js | 53.3% | 53.3% | — |
Key Insight
pnpm is the default (56.3%), followed by npm (23%) and bun (20%). yarn is a known alternative (51 alt picks) but is almost never the primary recommendation (0.7%). All four package managers are well-represented in alternative mentions.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does Claude Code recommend pnpm?
- Yes. Claude Code picks pnpm in 56.3% of Package Manager responses, making it the dominant choice in this category.
- What package manager tool does Claude Code prefer?
- pnpm leads at 56.3%. The category is classified as "Strong Default" (50–75% dominance). Other options include npm (23%) and bun (20%).
- How do different Claude models compare on pnpm?
- Across repos, Sonnet 4.5 averages 57.8%, Opus 4.5 averages 57.8%, and Opus 4.6 averages 40% for pnpm.