pnpm/pnpm · error · PnpmError

REGISTRY_ERROR

REGISTRY_ERROR

Error message

Failed to fetch package info: ${getResponse.status} ${getResponse.statusText}

What it means

Thrown by `updateDeprecation` when the full-metadata fetch for the package fails with any non-404 error status. The command reports the raw HTTP status and statusText because at this point the failure is on the registry or network side — server errors, gateway problems, or a proxy interfering with the metadata request — rather than something wrong with the arguments.

Source

Thrown at pnpm11/registry-access/commands/src/deprecation/common.ts:57

  const registryUrl = pickRegistryForPackage(opts.registriesByScope ?? { default: 'https://registry.npmjs.org/' }, packageName)

  const getAuthHeader = createGetAuthHeaderByURI(opts.configByUri ?? {})

  const authHeader = getAuthHeader(registryUrl, { pkgName: packageName })

  const packageUrl = new URL(npa(packageName).escapedName, registryUrl).href

  const fetchFromRegistry = createFetchFromRegistry(opts)
  const getResponse = await fetchFromRegistry(packageUrl, {
    authHeaderValue: authHeader,
    fullMetadata: true,
  })

  if (!getResponse.ok) {
    if (getResponse.status === 404) {
      throw new PnpmError('PACKAGE_NOT_FOUND', `Package "${packageName}" not found in registry`)
    }
    throw new PnpmError('REGISTRY_ERROR', `Failed to fetch package info: ${getResponse.status} ${getResponse.statusText}`)
  }

  const pkg = await getResponse.json() as PackageMeta

  if (!pkg.versions || Object.keys(pkg.versions).length === 0) {
    throw new PnpmError('NO_VERSIONS', `Package "${packageName}" has no versions`)
  }

  const versionsToUpdate = versionRange
    ? getVersionsMatchingRange(pkg.versions, versionRange)
    : Object.keys(pkg.versions)

  if (versionsToUpdate.length === 0) {
    throw new PnpmError('NO_MATCHING_VERSIONS', `No versions match "${versionRange}"`)
  }

  if (deprecated == null) {
    const deprecatedVersions = versionsToUpdate.filter((ver) => pkg.versions[ver].deprecated)

View on GitHub (pinned to 6261b7f388)

Solutions

1. Retry after a short wait — transient 5xx responses usually clear on their own.
2. Check the registry status page and basic reachability: `pnpm ping --registry <url>`.
3. If a proxy is involved, confirm it forwards the metadata GET correctly and inspect its logs.
4. Try against the public registry with `--registry https://registry.npmjs.org/` to isolate a private-registry problem.

Example fix

# before
pnpm deprecate pkg "msg"
# ERR_PNPM_REGISTRY_ERROR Failed to fetch package info: 503 Service Unavailable

# after
pnpm ping   # wait until this succeeds
pnpm deprecate pkg "msg"

// pre-flight: confirm the registry answers before the metadata read
import { execSync } from 'child_process'

function assertRegistryHealthy (registry = 'https://registry.npmjs.org/'): void {
  execSync(`pnpm ping --registry ${registry}`, { stdio: 'pipe' })
}

async function deprecateWithRetry (run: () => Promise<string>, attempts = 3): Promise<string> {
  for (let i = 0; i < attempts; i++) {
    try {
      return await run()
    } catch (err) {
      const code = 'code' in err ? (err as { code: string }).code : ''
      const msg = err instanceof Error ? err.message : ''
      if (code !== 'REGISTRY_ERROR' || !/\b5\d\d\b/.test(msg) || i === attempts - 1) throw err
      await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 2 ** i * 1000))
    }
  }
  throw new Error('unreachable')
}

When it happens

Trigger: `pnpm deprecate pkg "msg"` while registry.npmjs.org returns 500/503 during an incident; a corporate proxy answering the metadata GET with 502; a private registry that errors on `fullMetadata: true` requests.

Common situations: npm registry incidents; rate limiting surfaced as 5xx by proxies; private registries with incomplete packument support; flaky VPN/office networks.

Related errors

• REGISTRY_ERROR
• PACKAGE_NOT_FOUND
• NO_VERSIONS
• ACCESS_SET_MFA_PACKAGE_REQUIRED
• ACCESS_GRANT_ARGS_REQUIRED

AI-assisted analysis of pnpm/pnpm@6261b7f388 (2026-08-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9d31fcbd50114fb5. Report an issue: GitHub.