Question

Updating nodejs buildpack version

Posted on February 9, 2025
DigitalOcean App Platform Node.js App Platform
Asked by Pedro Lopez

Due to an underlying issue in corepack (https://github.com/nodejs/corepack/issues/612), builds using pnpm on most versions of the nodejs heroku buildpack are failing. They’ve put up a fix for this issue here https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-nodejs/pull/1371, which seems to be released on v280 of the buildpack.

On App Platform, the build phase notes that we’re using v0.260.4 of the nodejs buildpack, though it’s marked as “latest” on the DO dashboard. How can we upgrade the buildpack to a later version? All our builds are now failing on app plaform due to this issue.

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Bobby Iliev

Site Moderator

• February 9, 2025

Hey 👋,

UPDATE: The team has confirmed that the patch to fix the issue is being rolled out and should be available to everyone soon. Thank you for reporting the issue!

I believe that right now, DigitalOcean App Platform doesn’t provide a way to manually update the Node.js buildpack version. The “latest” tag in the dashboard refers to the version currently supported by DigitalOcean, not necessarily the most recent upstream release.

Since your builds are failing due to the corepack issue with pnpm, one option is to use a Dockerfile instead of relying on the buildpack. This would give you full control over the Node.js version and dependencies, allowing you to install pnpm manually:

https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/app-platform/reference/dockerfile/

Another approach is to define the Node.js version explicitly in your package.json using the engines field, though this won’t necessarily update the buildpack itself though.

If you need an immediate fix, the Dockerfile method is probably your best bet.

It might also be worth reaching out to DigitalOcean support at https://do.co/support to check if there’s a way to request a buildpack update, especially since this is actively breaking builds.

Let me know how it goes!

- Bobby