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Auto-activate package.json packageManager via Corepack in nodejs plugin - #2845

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mikeland73 merged 11 commits into
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mikeland73/nodejs-corepack-pkgmgr-autodetect
Jun 7, 2026
Merged

Auto-activate package.json packageManager via Corepack in nodejs plugin#2845
mikeland73 merged 11 commits into
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mikeland73/nodejs-corepack-pkgmgr-autodetect

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@mikeland73mikeland73 commented Jun 2, 2026

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Summary

When Corepack is enabled (DEVBOX_COREPACK_ENABLED=1), the nodejs plugin now reads the packageManager field from the project's package.json and runs corepack prepare --activate so the pinned package manager (pnpm, yarn, or npm) is ready in the shell. The behavior is generalized to any package manager and enabled by default; set DEVBOX_DISABLE_NODEJS_PACKAGE_MANAGER_AUTODETECT=1 to disable it.

How was it tested?

Validated that plugins/nodejs.json still parses as valid JSON and that the new init_hook entry renders the expected shell. The hook is guarded so it only runs when Corepack is enabled, the disable flag is unset, and a package.json exists, and it emits nothing when no packageManager field is present.

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@mikeland73@claude
Auto-activate package.json packageManager via Corepack in nodejs plugin
18ce574
When Corepack is enabled, the nodejs plugin now reads the `packageManager`
field from the project's package.json and runs `corepack prepare --activate`
so the pinned package manager (pnpm, yarn, or npm) is available in the shell.
This is generalized to any package manager and enabled by default. Set
DEVBOX_DISABLE_NODEJS_PACKAGE_MANAGER_AUTODETECT=1 to disable it.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
CopilotAI review requested due to automatic review settings June 2, 2026 21:46
@mikeland73@claude
Rename pkg mgr var to __devbox_nodejs_pkg_mgr
9321fd9
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
CopilotAI reviewed Jun 2, 2026
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Pull request overview

This PR extends the built-in nodejs plugin so that, when Corepack is enabled, Devbox automatically reads the project’s package.json#packageManager field and runs corepack prepare --activate to make the pinned package manager available in the shell (with an opt-out via DEVBOX_DISABLE_NODEJS_PACKAGE_MANAGER_AUTODETECT=1).

Changes:

  • Update the nodejs plugin README text to document automatic package manager activation and the disable flag.
  • Add an init_hook step that detects packageManager from package.json and activates it via Corepack when enabled.

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Comment threadplugins/nodejs.json Outdated
Comment threadplugins/nodejs.json Outdated
mikeland73and others added 2 commits June 2, 2026 14:51
@mikeland73@claude
Verify packageManager autodetect in nodejs-pnpm example
a794ad5
Assert the Corepack-activated pnpm version matches the pinned
packageManager field, exercising the nodejs plugin autodetect.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mikeland73@claude
Harden corepack guards and avoid JS string injection in nodejs plugin
7122987
Quote the DEVBOX_COREPACK_ENABLED guards so they behave reliably when the
var is unset, and build the package.json path from
process.env.DEVBOX_PROJECT_ROOT inside Node instead of interpolating the
shell variable into the JS source (which could break on paths containing
quotes or backslashes).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
mikeland73and others added 7 commits June 5, 2026 14:25
@mikeland73@claude
Add nodejs corepack packageManager autodetect tests
d0a0d7f
Cover the two no-op cases for the nodejs plugin's autodetect init_hook:
package.json missing, and package.json present without a packageManager
field. Both must leave shell init working without error.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mikeland73@claude
Move nodejs packageManager autodetect into a JS script
750b71f
Replace the inline shell + node -e one-liner with a dedicated
activate-package-manager.js shipped via create_files and invoked from the
init_hook. This is easier to read and maintain than the escaped one-liner.
The corepack enable / PATH export lines stay in shell since exporting PATH
must mutate the parent shell environment.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mikeland73@claude
Move entire nodejs corepack init_hook into setup-corepack.js
17d9f0f
Collapse the three init_hook shell commands into a single
`eval "$(node setup-corepack.js <corepack-bin-dir>)"`. The script now
enables Corepack, activates the pinned packageManager, and prints the
`export PATH=...` line for the shell to eval (a child process can't mutate
the parent shell's PATH, so the export is emitted and eval'd).
Renamed activate-package-manager.js -> setup-corepack.js to reflect its
broader responsibility.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mikeland73@claude
Move DEVBOX_COREPACK_ENABLED guard into setup-corepack.js
cf2d862
The script now early-exits unless DEVBOX_COREPACK_ENABLED is set, so the
init_hook no longer needs the shell-side guard and is a single
eval "$(node setup-corepack.js <corepack-bin-dir>)". When disabled the
script emits nothing, so the eval is a no-op.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mikeland73@claude
Put corepack-bin on PATH via plugin env, simplify init_hook
b392147
Declare the corepack-bin dir in the plugin's env block (and add it to PATH,
matching the ruby plugin's pattern), so setup-corepack.js no longer needs to
emit an export for the shell to eval. The init_hook is now simply
`node <virtenv>/bin/setup-corepack.js`, and the script reads the bin dir
from DEVBOX_COREPACK_BIN_DIR. Bumped plugin version to regenerate the
shipped script.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mikeland73@claude
Keep nodejs plugin version at 0.0.3
4d7d524
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mikeland73@claude
Update nodejs example devbox.lock files
d4b29a5
Bump nodejs plugin_version to 0.0.3 in the example lockfiles.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mikeland73
mikeland73 merged commit 6235efa into mainJun 7, 2026
6 checks passed
@mikeland73
mikeland73 deleted the mikeland73/nodejs-corepack-pkgmgr-autodetect branch June 7, 2026 18:41
@mikeland73mikeland73 mentioned this pull request Jun 8, 2026
Merged
mikeland73 added a commit that referenced this pull request Jun 22, 2026
@mikeland73@claude
fix(nodejs plugin): rewrite setup-corepack as an ESM .mjs module (#2857)
0e5020e
## Summary
Fixes#2856.
The Corepack setup script introduced in #2845 (`setup-corepack.js`) is
written in CommonJS and uses `require()`. The nodejs plugin runs it as
the shell `init_hook`:
```
node "{{ .Virtenv }}/bin/setup-corepack.js"
```
When a project's root `package.json` sets `"type": "module"`, Node
treats **every** `.js` file in the directory tree — including this one
inside `.devbox/virtenv` — as an ES module. The script then crashes on
its first `require()`, taking the whole shell down:
```
ReferenceError: require is not defined in ES module scope, you can use import instead
This file is being treated as an ES module because it has a '.js' file extension
and '.../package.json' contains "type": "module".
```
As a result, `devbox shell` no longer starts for any nodejs project
whose `package.json` declares `"type": "module"`.
## Fix
Rewrite the script as a native **ES module** and name it
**`setup-corepack.mjs`**. The `.mjs` extension forces Node to treat the
file as ESM regardless of the surrounding `package.json` `type`, so it
works for both `"type": "module"` projects and default/CommonJS
projects. (A plain `.js` ESM file would break the inverse case — Node
parses `.js` as CommonJS when `type` is absent or `commonjs`.)
Changes:
- Rename `plugins/nodejs/setup-corepack.js` →
`plugins/nodejs/setup-corepack.mjs`.
- `require()` → `import` for `node:child_process` and `node:path`.
- Read `package.json` via `readFileSync` + `JSON.parse` instead of
`require()`, since JSON module import syntax differs across Node
versions.
- Update the plugin's `init_hook` and `create_files` references in
`plugins/nodejs.json`.
- Add a regression test case (`"type": "module"` in `package.json`) to
`testscripts/plugin/nodejs_corepack_autodetect.test.txt`.
## How was it tested?
- `node --check` on the `.mjs` file (valid ESM syntax).
- Ran the script directly in scratch dirs and confirmed it exits 0 (no
crash, shell init never breaks) in all of:
- `package.json` with `{"type":"module"}` — previously the reported
`ReferenceError`.
- default/CommonJS `package.json`.
- `package.json` with a pinned `packageManager` (`pnpm@9.0.0`) —
autodetect path activates correctly.
- Added `Case 3` to the corepack autodetect testscript to guard against
regression.
cc @AdaptivChris (issue reporter)
---
_Generated by [Claude
Code](https://claude.ai/code/session_01DmRVmUmym8zb2jqRdwnVvZ)_
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
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@mikeland73@mohsenari