Authentication Settings

The settings on this page contain sensitive credentials and are stored in INI-formatted files. Do not commit these files to your repository.

For non-sensitive settings (proxy, SSL, registries, etc.), see Settings (pnpm-workspace.yaml).

Auth file locations

pnpm reads authentication settings from the following files, in order of priority (highest first):

1. <workspace root>/.npmrc — project-level auth. This file should be listed in .gitignore.
2. <pnpm config>/auth.ini — the primary user-level auth file. pnpm login writes tokens here.
3. ~/.npmrc — read as a fallback for easier migration from npm. Use the npmrcAuthFile setting to point to a different file.

The <pnpm config> directory is:

• If the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME env variable is set: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pnpm/
• On Windows: ~/AppData/Local/pnpm/config/
• On macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/pnpm/
• On Linux: ~/.config/pnpm/

Environment variables in auth settings

Values in the user-level auth files (<pnpm config>/auth.ini and the user .npmrc) may reference environment variables using the ${NAME} syntax:

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}

Since v11.5.3, environment variables are not expanded in the project-level .npmrc at the workspace root for the following settings:

• registry and proxy URLs (registry, @scope:registry, proxy settings);
• URL-scoped keys (keys starting with //);
• credential values (_authToken, _auth, _password, username, tokenHelper, cert, key).

A setting that contains a ${...} placeholder in any of these positions is ignored, and pnpm prints a warning. The project .npmrc is checked out together with the repository, so expanding environment variables there would allow a malicious repository to exfiltrate secrets from your environment (such as CI tokens) to an attacker-controlled registry during installation (GHSA-3qhv-2rgh-x77r).

If your project relied on a committed .npmrc containing a line like //registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}, move the token to a trusted location instead:

• Write the token to the user-level auth file before installing (for example, in a CI step):

  pnpm config set //registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken "$NPM_TOKEN"

  pnpm config set writes to the global location by default (<pnpm config>/auth.ini for auth settings), not to the project .npmrc, so the token never ends up in the repository.

• Or keep the ${NPM_TOKEN} placeholder line, but put it in the user-level ~/.npmrc (or the file referenced by npmrcAuthFile) instead of the repository.

• In GitHub Actions, actions/setup-node with the registry-url input writes the auth setting to a user-level .npmrc (referenced by the NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG environment variable, which pnpm honors), so authentication via the NODE_AUTH_TOKEN environment variable continues to work.

Authentication Settings

<URL>:_authToken

Define the authentication bearer token to use when accessing the specified registry. For example:

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

You may also use an environment variable. For example:

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}

Environment variables are only expanded in user-level auth files, not in the project-level .npmrc. See Environment variables in auth settings.

<URL>:tokenHelper

A token helper is an executable which outputs an auth token. This can be used in situations where the authToken is not a constant value but is something that refreshes regularly, where a script or other tool can use an existing refresh token to obtain a new access token.

The configuration for the path to the helper must be an absolute path, with no arguments. In order to be secure, it is only permitted to set this value in the user .npmrc. Otherwise a project could place a value in a project's local .npmrc and run arbitrary executables.

Setting a token helper for the default registry:

tokenHelper=/home/ivan/token-generator

Setting a token helper for the specified registry:

//registry.corp.com:tokenHelper=/home/ivan/token-generator

Certificate Settings

ca

• Default: The npm CA certificate
• Type: String, Array or null

The Certificate Authority signing certificate that is trusted for SSL connections to the registry. Values should be in PEM format (AKA "Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)"). For example:

ca="-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nXXXX\nXXXX\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----"

Set to null to only allow known registrars, or to a specific CA cert to trust only that specific signing authority.

Multiple CAs can be trusted by specifying an array of certificates:

ca[]="..."
ca[]="..."

See also the strictSsl setting.

cafile

• Default: null
• Type: path

A path to a file containing one or multiple Certificate Authority signing certificates. Similar to the ca setting, but allows for multiple CAs, as well as for the CA information to be stored in a file instead of being specified via CLI.

<URL>:cafile

Define the path to a Certificate Authority file to use when accessing the specified registry. For example:

//registry.npmjs.org/:cafile=ca-cert.pem

<URL>:ca

Added in: v10.25.0

Define an inline Certificate Authority certificate for the specified registry. The value must be PEM-encoded, like the global ca setting, but it only applies to the matching registry URL.

//registry.example.com/:ca=-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----...-----END CERTIFICATE-----

cert

• Default: null
• Type: String

A client certificate to pass when accessing the registry. Values should be in PEM format (AKA "Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)"). For example:

cert="-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nXXXX\nXXXX\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----"

It is not the path to a certificate file.

<URL>:cert

Added in: v10.25.0

Define an inline client certificate to use when accessing the specified registry. Example:

//registry.example.com/:cert=-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----...-----END CERTIFICATE-----

<URL>:certfile

Define the path to a certificate file to use when accessing the specified registry. For example:

//registry.npmjs.org/:certfile=server-cert.pem

key

• Default: null
• Type: String

A client key to pass when accessing the registry. Values should be in PEM format (AKA "Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)"). For example:

key="-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\nXXXX\nXXXX\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----"

It is not the path to a key file. Use <URL>&#58;keyfile if you need to reference the file system instead of inlining the key.

This setting contains sensitive information. Don't write it to a local .npmrc file committed to the repository.

<URL>:key

Added in: v10.25.0

Define an inline client key for the specified registry URL.

//registry.example.com/:key=-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----...-----END PRIVATE KEY-----

<URL>:keyfile

Define the path to a client key file to use when accessing the specified registry. For example:

//registry.npmjs.org/:keyfile=server-key.pem