Vercel CLI always returns ERR_PNPM_NO_IMPORTER_MANIFEST_FOUND

[fmoor]

I installed the vercel CLI using the pnpm commands found in the docs. Now vercel always returns an error no mater what the command is.

$ vercel --version
 ERR_PNPM_NO_IMPORTER_MANIFEST_FOUND  No package.json (or package.yaml, or package.json5) was found in "/Users/fmoor".

I’m new to the JS ecosystem so I’m probably holding this wrong

I would expect the --version, --help, etc. commands to work regardless of package.json or other files being present.

$ uname -rsp
Darwin 24.6.0 arm

$ pnpm --version
10.24.0

$ pnpm -g list | grep vercel
vercel 48.12.1

[fmoor]

The AI answers fixed my problem. How do I mark this closed?

This was the AI answer:

@system

This error happens because pnpm is looking for a package.json file in your current directory when running the Vercel CLI. This is a known issue with how pnpm handles global packages.

Here are a few solutions you can try:

Option 1: Use npx instead

npx vercel --version
npx vercel --help

Option 2: Install with npm globally

npm install -g vercel

Option 3: Create a temporary package.json
If you want to keep using pnpm, you can create a minimal package.json in your home directory:

{
  "name": "temp",
  "version": "1.0.0"
}

Option 4: Run from a project directory
Navigate to any directory that has a package.json file before running vercel commands.

The npx approach is probably the cleanest solution since it doesn’t require global installation and avoids this pnpm quirk entirely.

[fmoor]

It seems that there is not currently an option to mark the system AI response as the solution.

[fmoor]

Am I the only person that can see the AI response?