Renovate PRs failing in example-start-and-pnpm-workspaces

[MikeMcC399]

Current behavior

Some Renovate PRs are failing when running the workflow example-start-and-pnpm-workspaces:

• chore(deps): update dependency globals to v16.5.0 #1568
• chore(deps): update dependency @stylistic/eslint-plugin to v5.6.1 #1589

although other Renovate PRs are succeeding (#1567, #1573 & #1584)

Desired behavior

The pnpm workspace example workflow should succeed.

Test code to reproduce

• See examples/start-and-pnpm-workspaces

Logs

Failure

• https://github.com/cypress-io/github-action/actions/runs/19772963977 Nov 28, 2025

Run ./
Cache hit for: pnpm-linux-x64-a026a9c96c1ab1f7f1bd7a02cc0c68919dbc7df756a456a1fb575bdba2e634224c5ab7a830b69c90657c4dd6a05cac5b54962c28cf02eba8f724fe0e3daa7f46
Received 12582912 of 20306054 (62.0%), 12.0 MBs/sec
Received 20306054 of 20306054 (100.0%), 14.6 MBs/sec
Cache Size: ~19 MB (20306054 B)
/usr/bin/tar -xf /home/runner/work/_temp/6a19ecbe-ba45-4aed-b165-45ee86a881cb/cache.tzst -P -C /home/runner/work/github-action/github-action --use-compress-program unzstd
Cache restored successfully
/usr/local/bin/pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
Scope: all 3 workspace projects
Lockfile is up to date, resolution step is skipped
Progress: resolved 1, reused 0, downloaded 0, added 0
Packages: +234
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Progress: resolved 234, reused 0, downloaded 180, added 168
Progress: resolved 234, reused 0, downloaded 234, added 234, done
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall$ node dist/index.js --exec install
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: Note: Overriding Cypress cache directory to: /home/runner/.cache/Cypress
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall:       Previous installs of Cypress may not be found.
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: Installing Cypress (version: 15.6.0)
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: [STARTED] Task without title.
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: [SUCCESS] Task without title.
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: [STARTED] Task without title.
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: [SUCCESS] Task without title.
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: [STARTED] Task without title.
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: [SUCCESS] Task without title.
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: You can now open Cypress by running one of the following, depending on your package manager:
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: - npx cypress open
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: - yarn cypress open
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: - pnpm cypress open
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: https://on.cypress.io/opening-the-app
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: Done

Done in 10.6s using pnpm v10.24.0
/usr/local/bin/npx cypress cache list
┌─────────┬─────────────┐
│ version │ last used   │
├─────────┼─────────────┤
│ 15.6.0  │ 24 days ago │
└─────────┴─────────────┘
/usr/local/bin/npx cypress verify
The cypress npm package is installed, but the Cypress binary is missing.

We expected the binary to be installed here: /home/runner/.cache/Cypress/15.7.0/Cypress/Cypress

Previous success

• https://github.com/cypress-io/github-action/actions/runs/19137932529 Nov 6, 2025

Run ./
Cache hit for: pnpm-linux-x64-a026a9c96c1ab1f7f1bd7a02cc0c68919dbc7df756a456a1fb575bdba2e634224c5ab7a830b69c90657c4dd6a05cac5b54962c28cf02eba8f724fe0e3daa7f46
Cache hit for: cypress-linux-x64-a026a9c96c1ab1f7f1bd7a02cc0c68919dbc7df756a456a1fb575bdba2e634224c5ab7a830b69c90657c4dd6a05cac5b54962c28cf02eba8f724fe0e3daa7f46
Received 20419163 of 20419163 (100.0%), 30.5 MBs/sec
Cache Size: ~19 MB (20419163 B)
/usr/bin/tar -xf /home/runner/work/_temp/4f64f50e-7ceb-4e79-88ad-436dba8b8477/cache.tzst -P -C /home/runner/work/github-action/github-action --use-compress-program unzstd
Received 134217728 of 196951464 (68.1%), 127.1 MBs/sec
Cache restored successfully
Received 196951464 of 196951464 (100.0%), 135.2 MBs/sec
Cache Size: ~188 MB (196951464 B)
/usr/bin/tar -xf /home/runner/work/_temp/d4b7fbde-1c83-494c-8bee-d2ff273cd75c/cache.tzst -P -C /home/runner/work/github-action/github-action --use-compress-program unzstd
Cache restored successfully
/usr/local/bin/pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
Scope: all 3 workspace projects
Lockfile is up to date, resolution step is skipped
Progress: resolved 1, reused 0, downloaded 0, added 0
Packages: +234
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Progress: resolved 234, reused 0, downloaded 219, added 219
Progress: resolved 234, reused 0, downloaded 234, added 234, done
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall$ node dist/index.js --exec install
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: Note: Overriding Cypress cache directory to: /home/runner/.cache/Cypress
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall:       Previous installs of Cypress may not be found.
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: Cypress 15.6.0 is installed in /home/runner/.cache/Cypress/15.6.0
.../cypress@15.6.0/node_modules/cypress postinstall: Done

Done in 2s using pnpm v10.20.0
/usr/local/bin/npx cypress cache list
┌─────────┬───────────────────┐
│ version │ last used         │
├─────────┼───────────────────┤
│ 15.6.0  │ a few seconds ago │
└─────────┴───────────────────┘
Skipping running tests: runTests parameter is false

Assessment

In the failure run, the Cypress binary cache

cypress-linux-x64-a026a9c96c1ab1f7f1bd7a02cc0c68919dbc7df756a456a1fb575bdba2e634224c5ab7a830b69c90657c4dd6a05cac5b54962c28cf02eba8f724fe0e3daa7f46

is no longer available.

The action incorrectly runs /usr/local/bin/npx cypress verify and fails with

The cypress npm package is installed, but the Cypress binary is missing.

We expected the binary to be installed here: /home/runner/.cache/Cypress/15.7.0/Cypress/Cypress

Since there is no Cypress npm module installed in the root of the project examples/start-and-pnpm-workspaces, npx cypress cache list downloads the latest version of Cypress (15.7.0), which does not correspond to the Cypress version used in the pnpm workspaces (15.6.0). The following cypress verify therefore fails. See #1594 (comment) for more accurate assessment of failure mode.

The action has no native support for pnpm workspaces (see feature request #1144). It needs to be considered whether the example example-start-and-pnpm-workspaces can be modified as a workaround for missing functionality, or whether it needs to be withdrawn.

[MikeMcC399]

Further assessment

The example-start-and-pnpm-workspaces fails if the workflow is run again and:

• there has been no change to the examples/start-and-pnpm-workspaces/pnpm-lock.yaml since the previous run
• the pnpm-linux-x64-<hash> (.npm cache, given the label "pnpm-linux" cache) is present and the cypress-linux-x64-<hash> (Cypress binary cache) is no longer available, for instance due to regular GitHub cache eviction policy processes
• neither examples/start-and-pnpm-workspaces/packages/workspace-1/package.json nor examples/start-and-pnpm-workspaces/packages/workspace-1/package.json is configured to use the version of Cypress that was equivalent to cypress@latest during the last successful run.

In this situation:

• pnpm executes the Cypress postinstall script, which installs any Cypress binaries for versions specified in the pnpm workspaces
• Since there is no Cypress npm module installed in the root of the project examples/start-and-pnpm-workspaces and a version of Cypress is cached under the .npm/_npx cache, npx cypress verify does not attempt a download of a Cypress binary. cypress verify fails, because no corresponding cached binary is available, causing the workflow to fail.

[MikeMcC399]

• Proposed resolution in PR test: use native pnpm install for pnpm workspace example #1596