Summary & Key Takeaways ​

• pnpm 11.2.2 introduces an experimental Rust port of its install engine, pacquet.
• pacquet handles the materialization phase of pnpm install when configured.
• This feature is opt-in and requires adding @pnpm/pacquet to configDependencies.
• pnpm still manages dependency resolution, with pacquet focusing on fetching and importing.
• CLI flags like --no-runtime are now correctly forwarded to pacquet's install subcommand.
• Fixes were implemented for pnpm up and add/remove when pacquet is active.

Our Commentary ​

This is a big deal, even if it's experimental. A Rust port of a core part of pnpm? That's a serious performance play. I'm curious how this will evolve and if it will eventually become the default. It feels like a direct challenge to other package managers. We've seen Rust rewrite parts of other tools, and it usually means a speed boost.