NestJs + Yarn v4: Installation and deployment

I encountered issues installing NestJS with Yarn v4, such as missing dependencies and CLI errors. I searched for this specific issue but couldn’t find an exact match, so I decided to write this post Tech used: Node v22 Yarn v4 Installing NestJS with Yarn v4 We need to use @nestjs/schematics otherwise it will throw an error like this Error: Collection "@nestjs/schematics" cannot be resolved. Failed to execute command: node @nestjs/schematics:application --name=project-name-2 --directory=undefined --no-dry-run --no-skip-git --no-strict --package-manager="yarn" --collection="@nestjs/schematics" --language="ts" To fix this, we include @nestjs/schematics in our command yarn dlx -p @nestjs/schematics -p @nestjs/cli nest new project-name We still need to install dependencies cd project-name yarn install I recommend setting Yarn on your project using yarn set version stable This will update our package.json so in the next step using corepack enable will automatically use the Yarn version defined on our package.json By default, Yarn v4 uses Plug’n’Play (PnP), which creates .pnp.* files. These files should not be committed, so we add them to .gitignore /.yarn .pnp.* Deployment This is the Dockerfile I created FROM node:22-alpine AS builder WORKDIR /build COPY package.json yarn.lock . RUN corepack enable \ && yarn install COPY . . RUN yarn build FROM node:22-alpine WORKDIR /app COPY package.json yarn.lock . RUN corepack enable \ && yarn workspaces focus --production COPY --from=builder /build/dist dist EXPOSE 80 CMD [ "yarn", "start:prod" ] And the .dockerignore .yarn .pnp.* dist *.md .git This command yarn workspaces focus --production replicates the old yarn install --production You will need to make some adjustments based on your project needs. We don't need to copy the .yarn directory from the builder stage, since Yarn uses global cache. The command above creates a .yarn directory with production-only dependencies inside /app directory as well as the default global cache folder for the current stage. We can see the path of this cache folder using the command yarn config get cacheFolder This setup ensures a smooth installation of NestJS with Yarn v4 and provides an optimized Dockerfile for production deployments. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or improvements!

Mar 16, 2025 - 00:53

NestJs + Yarn v4: Installation and deployment

I encountered issues installing NestJS with Yarn v4, such as missing dependencies and CLI errors. I searched for this specific issue but couldn’t find an exact match, so I decided to write this post

Tech used:

Node v22
Yarn v4

Installing NestJS with Yarn v4

We need to use @nestjs/schematics otherwise it will throw an error like this

Error: Collection "@nestjs/schematics" cannot be resolved.

Failed to execute command: node @nestjs/schematics:application --name=project-name-2 --directory=undefined --no-dry-run --no-skip-git --no-strict --package-manager="yarn" --collection="@nestjs/schematics" --language="ts"

To fix this, we include @nestjs/schematics in our command

yarn dlx -p @nestjs/schematics -p @nestjs/cli nest new project-name

We still need to install dependencies

cd project-name
yarn install

I recommend setting Yarn on your project using

yarn set version stable

This will update our package.json so in the next step using corepack enable will automatically use the Yarn version defined on our package.json

By default, Yarn v4 uses Plug’n’Play (PnP), which creates .pnp.* files. These files should not be committed, so we add them to .gitignore

/.yarn
.pnp.*

Deployment

This is the Dockerfile I created

FROM node:22-alpine AS builder

WORKDIR /build

COPY package.json yarn.lock .

RUN corepack enable \
&& yarn install

COPY . .

RUN yarn build

FROM node:22-alpine

WORKDIR /app

COPY package.json yarn.lock .

RUN corepack enable \
&& yarn workspaces focus --production

COPY --from=builder /build/dist dist

EXPOSE 80

CMD [ "yarn", "start:prod" ]

And the .dockerignore

.yarn
.pnp.*
dist
*.md
.git

This command

yarn workspaces focus --production

replicates the old

yarn install --production

You will need to make some adjustments based on your project needs. We don't need to copy the .yarn directory from the builder stage, since Yarn uses global cache. The command above creates a .yarn directory with production-only dependencies inside /app directory as well as the default global cache folder for the current stage. We can see the path of this cache folder using the command

yarn config get cacheFolder

This setup ensures a smooth installation of NestJS with Yarn v4 and provides an optimized Dockerfile for production deployments. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or improvements!