Hoisted workspace auto-install reinstalls on every command (installed entry missing)

[mwolson]

• Repo / case: https://github.com/mwolson/tmp-aube-issues/tree/main/hoisted-workspace-auto-install-freshness
• aube: 1.40.0 linux-x64 (2026-08-13)
• Platform: Linux x64
• Category: Troubleshooting and Bugs

Summary

After a valid hoisted workspace install, a member-only direct dependency is
placed at the workspace-root node_modules/<dep>. The package-local
packages/<pkg>/node_modules/<dep> slot is intentionally absent, Node
resolves through the root placement, and the same layout is what native
pnpm hoisted produces.

aube run and aube exec still treat that absent slot as
installed entry missing and perform another install on every invocation.
The next command sees the same valid hoisted layout and does it again.

Expected: a warm aube run after a fresh hoisted install.

Actual: every aube run prints Auto-installing: installed entry missing: packages/app/node_modules/is-number and reinstalls.

Minimal repro

The case is two importers (workspace root plus packages/app). Only
packages/app depends on public is-number@7.0.0. The workspace sets
nodeLinker: hoisted so follow-up commands stay hoisted without a shim.

git clone https://github.com/mwolson/tmp-aube-issues.git
cd tmp-aube-issues/hoisted-workspace-auto-install-freshness
./repro.sh; echo exit=$?

Exit 1 while the loop is present, 0 when aube stays warm.

The smallest direct commands, from that directory:

aube install --node-linker=hoisted --ignore-scripts
# Node resolves packages/app -> root node_modules/is-number
# packages/app/node_modules/is-number does not exist

aube run ok
aube run ok
AUBE_NO_AUTO_INSTALL=1 aube run ok

aube exec -c -- node -e "process.stdout.write('ok\\n')" hits the same
freshness check. If the workspace does not set nodeLinker: hoisted,
AUBE_NODE_LINKER=hoisted aube run ok is the equivalent form.

Observed on aube 1.40.0

Clean hoisted install:

root is-number exists: yes
package-local is-number exists: no
resolve from packages/app: .../node_modules/is-number/index.js
package realpath: .../node_modules/is-number

Then two consecutive aube run ok invocations, each:

Auto-installing: installed entry missing: packages/app/node_modules/is-number
dependencies:
+ is-number@7.0.0

aube 1.40.0 by jdx.dev · ✓ installed 1 package in 8ms
ok

The package-local path is still absent afterward, so the next command
repeats. AUBE_NO_AUTO_INSTALL=1 aube run ok prints only ok.

.aube-state records the importer-local path that the hoisted linker
never created. hoisted-placements.json has the real placement:

"direct_entries": {
  ".": [],
  "packages/app": ["packages/app/node_modules/is-number"]
}

{"is-number@7.0.0":["node_modules/is-number"]}

Why this matters

On a large hoisted workspace the same false stale check reinstalls the
whole tree on every script or exec. That turns cheap repeat commands into
multi-second or multi-tens-of-second installs, and it never converges
because the valid hoisted layout still lacks the package-local slot.

If a follow-up command does not keep node-linker=hoisted, the first
auto-install rewrites the tree to isolated and the second command stays
warm. The repeating loop is the hoisted-stays-hoisted case.

Related

This is a follow-on to the hoisted sharing fix, not a regression of the
shared-realpath identity bug:

• Hoisted monorepo: identical deps become separate realpaths per workspace package #1242
• fix(linker): share hoisted deps across workspace importers #1243

In #1242, the maintainer confirmed that after the workspace-wide hoist,
packages/*/node_modules/<dep> is intentionally absent and importers
resolve upward to the root copy. Native pnpm 11.21.0 produces that same
root-only placement on this fixture.

The existence check itself comes from
#188 (warm-path direct_entries). I did
not find an existing discussion about this hoisted false-positive.

Docs

• https://aube.jdx.dev/package-manager/install (auto-install before run/exec)
• https://aube.jdx.dev/package-manager/node-modules (hoisted layout)
• https://aube.jdx.dev/package-manager/workspaces
• https://aube.jdx.dev/settings/#setting-nodelinker
• https://aube.jdx.dev/settings/#setting-aubenoautoinstall

[jdx]

Confirmed — this is a bug in the warm-path layout state. The state writer recorded every workspace direct dependency at its importer-local node_modules path even when the hoisted linker intentionally satisfied that edge from the workspace root, so the freshness check could never converge.

PR #1295 records the actual ancestor-visible hoisted placement and adds repeated warm-run coverage: #1295

AI-assisted — Tool: Codex; model: unavailable; version: unavailable.