Guide

aube is a package manager for Node.js projects. It uses pnpm-style isolated node_modules for fast, disk-efficient installs.

Existing projects keep their lockfile format. aube reads and writes pnpm-lock.yaml, package-lock.json, npm-shrinkwrap.json, yarn.lock, and bun.lock in place. New projects without a supported lockfile get aube-lock.yaml.

Name

aube means dawn in French. It is pronounced /ob/.

Start here

• Installation shows the recommended mise install path, source builds, and shell completions.
• For existing projects, see the pnpm, npm, yarn, or bun guide.
• Run scripts and binaries covers the normal local workflow. aubr <script>, aube test, and aube exec <bin> install first when dependencies are stale; aubx <pkg> handles one-off tools.
• Install dependencies covers explicit install work: setup-only installs, CI mode, production installs, offline installs, and lockfile modes.
• Lifecycle scripts and Jailed builds cover dependency build approval, jailed execution, and package-specific jail permissions.
• Manage dependencies covers add, remove, update, dedupe, and prune.
• Workspaces covers aube-workspace.yaml, workspace linking, filters, recursive runs, catalogs, and deploys.

Package-manager model

aube has the same CLI, config, and internals that pnpm v11 does.

• A strict, isolated node_modules layout.
• A content-addressable global store.
• A shared lockfile for workspaces.
• workspace:, link:, file:, git, tarball URL, npm alias, and catalog dependency specifiers.
• Root lifecycle scripts, with dependency lifecycle scripts gated by an explicit allowlist and optional jailed execution.

aube uses its own internal directory names: node_modules/.aube/ for the virtual store and $XDG_DATA_HOME/aube/store/ (defaulting to ~/.local/share/aube/store/) for the global store. Existing lockfiles are preserved in place; only projects with no supported lockfile yet start with aube-lock.yaml.

Reference sections

• CLI Reference is generated from the command parser.
• Settings Reference is generated from settings.toml.
• Benchmarks explains the performance measurements.