Why the error happens
@astrojs/mdx imports satteri directly in its own code, but its package.json never lists satteri as a dependency, only @astrojs/markdown-satteri, which depends on satteri itself. pnpm’s default isolated node_modules layout only links a package’s own declared dependencies into its private node_modules folder. Since @astrojs/mdx never declares satteri, pnpm has no reason to link it there.
Some installs succeed anyway. pnpm keeps every package in a flat content-addressable store, and Node’s module resolution can occasionally walk up to that store’s shared .pnpm/node_modules fallback and find satteri by accident. Whether that fallback link exists depends on install order and what else is in the dependency tree, not on anything the reader controls. Issue #17371, opened 2026-07-13 against @astrojs/mdx@7.0.3, is still open. The reporter’s own diagnosis states the real fix directly: satteri should be a declared dependency of @astrojs/mdx so pnpm links it into @astrojs/mdx’s isolated node_modules.
Still open, no merged fix yet
A related fix attempt, PR #17372, was closed without merging on 2026-07-16. As of this writing there’s no patched version to upgrade to, only the workaround below.
I confirmed the resolution failure directly. In a fresh pnpm add astro @astrojs/mdx install, satteri was present in pnpm’s store but not reachable by a plain module lookup:
$ node -e "require.resolve('satteri')"
Error: Cannot find module 'satteri'The workaround: node-linker=hoisted
pnpm’s node-linker setting controls whether it uses isolated node_modules (the default, and the cause of this bug) or a flatter, npm-style hoisted layout. Setting it to hoisted makes every installed package resolvable from anywhere in the tree, the same way npm and classic Yarn already behave, which sidesteps the missing declaration entirely.
# BROKEN, pnpm's default isolated linker only links declared dependenciesnode-linker=hoistedrm -rf node_modules
pnpm installI tested this exact change against the same project. After adding node-linker=hoisted and reinstalling, the same lookup resolved cleanly:
$ node -e "console.log(require.resolve('satteri'))"
node_modules/satteri/dist/index.jsA workaround, not a permanent setting
node-linker=hoisted gives up pnpm’s stricter dependency isolation for the
whole project, not just for this one package. It’s a reasonable temporary fix
while this bug is open, but switch back once @astrojs/mdx declares satteri
directly, since isolated linking is the behavior pnpm defaults to for good
reasons.
Confirmed version range
This repro was run against @astrojs/mdx@7.0.5 and astro@7.1.6, resolved fresh from npm’s registry with pnpm@10.33.0, still exhibiting the underlying resolution gap. This site itself runs npm (package-lock.json, not a pnpm lockfile), which resolves dependencies with a flatter layout by default, so this repo was never exposed to this bug in the first place.
If a fix lands upstream, watch issue #17371 for the merged PR and the @astrojs/mdx version it ships in, then drop node-linker=hoisted from .npmrc once you’ve confirmed the update.
Browse more fixes from this same upgrade in the Guides & Fixes archive.
