pnpm "ERR_PNPM_OUTDATED_LOCKFILE" with frozen-lockfile in CI

pnpm runs with --frozen-lockfile by default in CI. It compared pnpm-lock.yaml against every package.json and they disagree, so it refuses to update the lockfile and fails the job instead.

What this error means

pnpm install stops immediately with "ERR_PNPM_OUTDATED_LOCKFILE Cannot install with "frozen-lockfile" because pnpm-lock.yaml is not up to date with package.json" and names the workspace project that drifted.

pnpm

ERR_PNPM_OUTDATED_LOCKFILE  Cannot install with "frozen-lockfile" because pnpm-lock.yaml is not up to date with <ROOT>/package.json

Note that in CI environments this setting is true by default. If you still need to run install in such cases, use "pnpm install --no-frozen-lockfile"

Common causes

A package.json changed without relocking

A dependency was added or bumped in a package.json but pnpm-lock.yaml was not regenerated and committed, so the two no longer match.

The lockfile was edited or partially committed

A merge resolved the manifest but not the lockfile, or the lockfile change was left out of the commit, leaving it out of date.

How to fix it

Relock locally and commit pnpm-lock.yaml

Run pnpm install locally to regenerate the lockfile.
Commit the updated pnpm-lock.yaml in the same change as the manifest edit.
Push so CI installs against a matching lockfile.

Terminal

pnpm install
git add pnpm-lock.yaml
git commit -m "chore: update pnpm lockfile"

Do not disable frozen-lockfile as a permanent fix

pnpm install --no-frozen-lockfile will silently rewrite the lockfile in CI, hiding drift and producing non-reproducible builds. Use it only to diagnose, then commit the result.