latest version has a bug

[kamaravichow]

Describe the bug

This error happened while installing the dependencies of wxt@0.20.11
at @wxt-dev/storage@1.2.5

Reproduction

just run installation

pnpm dlx wxt@latest 

Steps to reproduce

just run installation

pnpm dlx wxt@latest 

System Info

System:
    OS: macOS 26.0.1
    CPU: (8) arm64 Apple M3
    Memory: 142.61 MB / 16.00 GB
    Shell: 5.9 - /bin/zsh
  Binaries:
    Node: 24.8.0 - /opt/homebrew/bin/node
    npm: 11.6.0 - /opt/homebrew/bin/npm
    pnpm: 10.16.1 - /opt/homebrew/bin/pnpm
 
  Browsers:
    Chrome: 140.0.7339.214
    Firefox: 143.0.4
    Safari: 26.0.1

Used Package Manager

pnpm

Validations

• Read the Contributing Guidelines.
• Read the docs.
• Check that there isn't already an issue that reports the same bug to avoid creating a duplicate.
• Check that this is a concrete bug. For Q&A open a GitHub Discussion or join our Discord Chat Server.
• The provided reproduction is a minimal reproducible example of the bug.

+1, i have faced the same bug too. i have this error message during installation:

 ERR_PNPM_WORKSPACE_PKG_NOT_FOUND  In : "@wxt-dev/browser@workspace:^" is in the dependencies but no package named "@wxt-dev/browser" is present in the workspace

[pavitra-infocusp]

yes dude

pnpm up -Li
✔ Choose which packages to update (Press <space> to select, <a> to toggle all, <i> to invert selection) · wxt
 ERR_PNPM_WORKSPACE_PKG_NOT_FOUND  In : "@wxt-dev/browser@workspace:^" is in the dependencies but no package named "@wxt-dev/browser" is present in the workspace

This error happened while installing the dependencies of wxt@0.20.11
 at @wxt-dev/storage@1.2.5

Packages found in the workspace: 
Progress: resolved 299, reused 274, downloaded 0, added 0

[pavitra-infocusp]

fixed it by removing and reinstalling the wxt package

> pnpm add -D wxt
Already up to date
Progress: resolved 667, reused 600, downloaded 0, added 0, done

dependencies:
- wxt ^0.20.11

devDependencies:
+ wxt ^0.20.11

Done in 960ms using pnpm v10.18.0

fixed it by removing and reinstalling the wxt package

> pnpm add -D wxt
Already up to date
Progress: resolved 667, reused 600, downloaded 0, added 0, done

dependencies:
- wxt ^0.20.11

devDependencies:
+ wxt ^0.20.11

Done in 960ms using pnpm v10.18.0

how, i have never installed it before. after i did rm -rf all the node_modules and pnpm store prune, i still encountered it.

[pavitra-infocusp]

@PlugLeon did you also delete the lock file? You can either delete that or reinstall wxt. Try if that works for you.

@PlugLeon did you also delete the lock file? You can either delete that or reinstall wxt. Try if that works for you.

i tried, and i also tried it in a new mkdir folder and still same. so i have no idea, i used pnpm overrides in package.json to fix it and it worked. (but i dont think it is the correct way)

[jhairau]

I had no issues using npx wxt@latest init to get started (using NPM). After some changes I was doing with my package.json/package-lock.json I got into the workspace complaint of...

npm error code EUNSUPPORTEDPROTOCOL
npm error Unsupported URL Type "workspace:": workspace:^

To resolve this (I wanted to continue with NPM and not use PNP.

{
...
  "devDependencies": {
    "@wxt-dev/module-react": "1.1.3",
    "wxt": "0.20.11"
  },
  "overrides": {
    "wxt": "0.20.11",
    "@wxt-dev/browser": "0.1.4",
    "@wxt-dev/storage": "1.2.5"
  }
...
}

@jhairau i think your solution is basically as same as mine? i cant tell, i tried npx too but it didnt work.

[jhairau]

@jhairau i think your solution basically is as same as mine? i cant tell, i tried npx too but it didnt work.

Yup. I just wanted to put in in a concrete example, incase users don't have much overrides experience. To add to your comment, overrides is the correct way in this situation as a consumer of the package.

[zaid-nizam]

For anyone else blocked by this, I've opened a PR to fix the underlying issue. In the meantime, here is a solid temporary fix to get your project working.

The problem is that even older versions of wxt will pull in the new, broken @wxt-dev/storage@1.2.5. To fix this, you need to do two things in your package.json:

1. Pin wxt to the last known stable version (0.20.9).
2. Use overrides to force your package manager to use the older, working version of @wxt-dev/storage (1.2.0).

The Fix for your package.json:

If you use pnpm:

{
  "devDependencies": {
    "wxt": "0.20.9"
  },
  "pnpm": {
    "overrides": {
      "@wxt-dev/storage": "1.2.0"
    }
  }
}

If you use npm:

{
  "devDependencies": {
    "wxt": "0.20.9"
  },
  "overrides": {
    "@wxt-dev/storage": "1.2.0"
  }
}

After you've updated your package.json, you must do a clean install to apply the override:

# Delete the old state
rm -rf node_modules pnpm-lock.yaml

# Re-install
pnpm install

(Use package-lock.json and npm install if you're using npm).

This should completely unblock you until the official fix is released.

[LasyIsLazy]

It looks like @wxt-dev/storage@1.2.5 was published incorrectly, as it depends on @wxt-dev/browser: workspace:^ which is a local workspace reference.

[LasyIsLazy]

It looks like @wxt-dev/storage@1.2.5 was published incorrectly, as it depends on @wxt-dev/browser: workspace:^ which is a local workspace reference.

To resolve this, you can either lock @wxt-dev/storage to version 1.2.0, or wait for the author to republish a corrected version.