Does Vercel Support Yarn? (Versions 2, 3, and 4)

Copy link to headingDoes Vercel support Yarn?

Yes. Vercel supports Yarn Classic (1.x) and the Berry line, including Yarn 2, Yarn 3, and Yarn 4. A yarn.lock file on its own tells Vercel to install with Yarn 1, so a project on a newer release has to declare its version through Corepack or a committed Yarn binary.

Copy link to headingWhich Yarn versions does Vercel support?

All four Yarn releases run on Vercel, and what you configure depends on which one you're on:

Vercel detects your package manager from the lock file in your repository. For npm and pnpm, it reads a lockfileVersion field to pick the version, and yarn.lock carries no equivalent, which is why a Yarn project defaults to Yarn 1.

Yarn 2 stopped at 2.4.3, and Yarn 3's last release was 3.8.7 in December 2024, so new projects should target Yarn 4.

Copy link to headingHow to use Yarn 4 on Vercel

Two routes get Yarn 4 running on a Vercel build. Corepack reads the version from your package.json, and the other stores the Yarn release in your repository.

Copy link to headingEnable Corepack for your project

Corepack ships with Node.js 16 and later, and it selects the package manager version from the packageManager field in package.json. On Vercel, an environment variable turns it on.

To enable Corepack:

1. Run yarn set version 4.18.0 in your project root to write the packageManager field.
2. Commit the updated package.json.
3. In the Vercel dashboard, open your project and select Settings, then Environment Variables.
4. Add a variable named ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_COREPACK with the value 1.
5. Redeploy the project.

The field Corepack reads on each build looks like this:

{
  "packageManager": "yarn@4.18.0"
}

Pin an exact version rather than a range, so every build and every developer machine runs the same Yarn release. Corepack is experimental in Node.js, and its behavior can change between Node.js releases.

Copy link to headingCommit a Yarn release to .yarn/releases

The second route keeps the Yarn binary in your repository. Yarn Classic reads the yarnPath setting from .yarnrc.yml and hands the install to the release it points at, which is how a build reaches Yarn 4 without Corepack.

Run this in your project root:

yarn set version 4.18.0 --yarn-path

The command downloads the release into .yarn/releases and writes the path into .yarnrc.yml:

yarnPath: .yarn/releases/yarn-4.18.0.cjs

Commit both the release file and .yarnrc.yml. If the binary is missing from the repository, the install fails with an error reporting that the yarn-path location doesn't exist.

Copy link to headingKeep the cache in the repository for zero-installs

Yarn 4 stores its cache globally by default, so a zero-install setup needs enableGlobalCache set to false in .yarnrc.yml. That writes package archives into .yarn/cache inside the project, where you can commit them alongside your code. A Vercel build clones your repository before the install step, so a committed cache is on disk by the time yarn install runs.

Copy link to headingHow Vercel handles Yarn 2 and Yarn 3

Yarn 2 and Yarn 3 use the same two routes as Yarn 4. Enable Corepack and pin the version in packageManager, or run yarn set version 3.8.7 --yarn-path (or yarn set version 2.4.3 --yarn-path) to commit a release into .yarn/releases.

Plug'n'Play has been Yarn's default install mode since Yarn 2, so a Berry project installs without a node_modules directory unless it opts out. Some build tooling still expects that directory to exist.

To install into node_modules instead, set the linker in .yarnrc.yml:

nodeLinker: node-modules

Yarn's migration guide covers the rest of the move from Yarn Classic to a Berry release, including lockfile and configuration changes that apply before your first deployment.

Copy link to headingHow to troubleshoot Yarn version detection on Vercel

When a build installs with the wrong Yarn version, the repository and the build environment disagree about which version to use.

Check these in order:

• Corepack environment variable: Confirm ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_COREPACK is set to 1 on the environment you deployed to, since Preview and Production are scoped separately.
• The packageManager field: Confirm it's committed and pins a full version, such as yarn@4.18.0.
• The committed release: Confirm .yarn/releases and .yarnrc.yml are both in the repository, and that .gitignore isn't excluding .yarn.
• The install command: An Override in Build & Development Settings, or an installCommand in vercel.json, replaces the detected install command.

Your build logs name the package manager and version used for the install, so you can confirm which setting won.

Copy link to headingNext steps

With the Yarn version pinned in your repository, the project is ready to deploy. Start a new Vercel project to import it, or browse the templates for a framework-ready starting point.

Copy link to headingRelated resources

• Package managers
• Configuring a build
• Environment variables
• Troubleshoot a build
• Monorepos FAQ