Turborepo "Could not resolve workspaces" - Fix in CI

Turborepo builds its task engine from your workspace definition. "Could not resolve workspaces" means it could not enumerate the packages - usually a missing workspaces field, an undetectable package manager, or a missing lockfile.

What this error means

Any turbo run command aborts at startup with "error preparing engine: Could not resolve workspaces". No task runs because turbo cannot build the package graph. Reproducible with the same repo layout.

turbo output

  × error preparing engine: Could not resolve workspaces.
  ╰─▶ Missing "workspaces" field in package.json, or no
      pnpm-workspace.yaml / lockfile to infer packages from.

Common causes

No workspaces definition

For npm/yarn the root package.json needs a workspaces array; for pnpm a pnpm-workspace.yaml. Without it turbo has no package list to resolve.

Package manager not detected

Turbo infers the package manager from the lockfile and packageManager field. If neither is present, it cannot determine how to enumerate workspaces.

Running outside the repo root

Invoking turbo from a subdirectory without a workspace root above it leaves it unable to locate the monorepo definition.

How to fix it

Declare the workspaces

Add the workspace globs for your package manager so turbo can enumerate packages.

workspace config

// package.json (npm / yarn)
{ "workspaces": ["apps/*", "packages/*"] }

# pnpm-workspace.yaml (pnpm)
packages:
  - "apps/*"
  - "packages/*"

Commit the lockfile and set packageManager

A lockfile plus an explicit packageManager field lets turbo detect the manager and resolve workspaces deterministically.

package.json

{
  "packageManager": "pnpm@9.6.0"
}

How to prevent it

Keep a valid workspaces field (or pnpm-workspace.yaml) at the repo root.
Commit the lockfile so turbo can detect the package manager.
Run turbo from the repo root, or pass --cwd pointed at it.