Switch from 10->11 fails to run inside docker

[Jisagi]

Hi, I recently tested the latest pnpm version 11.0.8, but so far had no luck it getting it to run my built docker images afterwards. Because I am unsure if this is actually a bug or not, I wanted to open this discussion first.

The issue happens when I try to run the docker container and its run script "pnpm start". The start script just runs "node index.js", no pre/post scripts in the package.json. With the latest 10.33.4 it still works, but with 11.0.8 it does not and fails by complaining about missing TTY (see error at the end).

My setup and the process to install, build the docker image and running the container.

1. The app is build inside a gitlab ci running on amd64 linux docker dind
2. The prod modules are installed within the runner and handed to the docker build
3. The docker build copies the node_modules folder to the image
4. The image is run as container on the same linux machine the runners are located at

I tried both installing the modules within the Dockerfile as well as testing it locally on a windows machine, but always the same error. I tried to set CI=true which just tried to completely purge the installed dependencies and then fails to reinstall them because some are in private repositories. It should NOT reinstall them and I am not sure why it tries to do that. If i drop in the latest v10 pnpm version or use npm for installing and running the package script, everything works fine.

What changes have been made to v11 that could explain this happening and have I been using it "incorrectly" so far, or is this really a bug?

The existing bug #9966 didn't really explain to me why this only happens in v11 for me and not already with v10 and #11125 mentions the confirmModulesPurge feature as "to be implemented", not sure if this even exists yet, so I am a bit lost here.

2026-05-08 16:25:10.674 | [ERR_PNPM_ABORTED_REMOVE_MODULES_DIR_NO_TTY] Aborted removal of modules directory due to no TTY
2026-05-08 16:25:10.674 | 
2026-05-08 16:25:10.674 | If you are running pnpm in CI, set the CI environment variable to "true", or set "confirmModulesPurge" to "false".
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 | [ERROR] Command failed with exit code 1: pnpm install
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 | 
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 | pnpm: Command failed with exit code 1: pnpm install
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 |     at getFinalError (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/pnpm/dist/pnpm.mjs:28550:14)
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 |     at makeError (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/pnpm/dist/pnpm.mjs:30857:21)
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 |     at getSyncResult (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/pnpm/dist/pnpm.mjs:32701:10)
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 |     at spawnSubprocessSync (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/pnpm/dist/pnpm.mjs:32661:14)
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 |     at execaCoreSync (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/pnpm/dist/pnpm.mjs:32591:23)
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 |     at callBoundExeca (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/pnpm/dist/pnpm.mjs:35119:23)
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 |     at boundExeca (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/pnpm/dist/pnpm.mjs:35096:49)
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 |     at sync (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/pnpm/dist/pnpm.mjs:35251:14)
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 |     at runPnpmCli (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/pnpm/dist/pnpm.mjs:208879:5)
2026-05-08 16:25:10.740 |     at runDepsStatusCheck (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/pnpm/dist/pnpm.mjs:210581:7)