packageManager not respected when package.json is in a directory

[daveisfera]

Description:
packageManager is respected when package.json is at the root level, but not when it's in a directory

Action version:
Tested in 5.0 and 4.4

Platform:

• Ubuntu
• macOS
• Windows

Runner type:

• Hosted
• Self-hosted

Tools version:
Node 22 and 24 and yarn 4.10.3

Repro steps:
Specify node-version-file in a directory, like this

Expected behavior:
yarn version in packageManager would be used even when package.json is in a directory

Actual behavior:
Classic version of yarn is incorrectly used

See example here:
https://github.com/daveisfera/test_setup-node_packageManager/actions/runs/18364960502/job/52316018966

[v-gowridurgad]

Hi @daveisfera,
Thank you for creating this issue. We will investigate it and provide feedback as soon as we have some updates.

[v-lmvysakh]

Hy @daveisfera,

Thank you for taking the time to raise this issue and providing detailed information. We have been able to reproduce the error on our end and are actively investigating the underlying cause. We appreciate your patience and will keep you updated on our progress. Please be rest assured that we will get back to you as soon as we have further information or a potential solution. Thank you again for your cooperation!

[daveisfera]

Thanks for the feedback. I also submitted a PR that adds support for using node-version-file when loading the packageManager value, but I wasn't familiar enough with the test setup to add tests to cover that.

[v-lmvysakh]

Hy @daveisfera,

The error you’re encountering occurs because the setup-node action, with cache enabled, looks for the yarn.lock file in the repository’s root directory by default. Since your project’s dependencies and lock file are located within a subdirectory (tests/), the action is unable to locate the lock file unless the exact path is specified, resulting in the observed path error.

To address this, you can use the cache-dependency-path input in your setup-node step to explicitly point to the lock file in its subdirectory. Here’s how the relevant code snippet should look:

- name: Setup Node
  uses: actions/setup-node@v5.0.0
  with:
    node-version-file: tests/package.json
    cache: yarn
    cache-dependency-path: tests/yarn.lock

This adjustment ensures the caching mechanism correctly identifies and uses your lock file, resolving the error. Please let me know if you need further assistance or clarification!

[daveisfera]

I don't believe that will fix it since the code that loads packageManager doesn't look at that property. As I already mentioned, I submitted a PR to add support for using node-version-file and that seems like the correct solution here.

[v-lmvysakh]

Hy @daveisfera,

Thank you for your follow-up and for highlighting the underlying code logic regarding packageManager detection.

In the course of investigating this issue, we forked your shared repository and was able to reproduce the exact behavior you described. During our testing, We found that adding the following to the workflow resolved the path-related error and allowed the cache mechanism to correctly recognize the lockfile in the subdirectory:

cache-dependency-path: tests/yarn.lock

With this adjustment, setup-node was able to identify the correct yarn.lock file and proceed without issues. We are sharing the workflow run details and a screenshot for your reference.

• Workflow run

Since this solution resolves the error, we are closing this issue. Thanks again for your cooperation!