From fa76a429327de4b48126a9572de1e4eb11789320 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dylan Piercey <pierceydylan@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2026 10:12:27 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(create): approve esbuild builds for pnpm scaffolds;
 package-manager-aware next steps

---
 .changeset/scaffold-pnpm-polish.md |  6 ++++++
 packages/create/src/cli.ts         |  6 ++++--
 packages/create/src/create.ts      | 19 ++++++++++++++++---
 3 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 .changeset/scaffold-pnpm-polish.md

diff --git a/.changeset/scaffold-pnpm-polish.md b/.changeset/scaffold-pnpm-polish.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f94926d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/scaffold-pnpm-polish.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+"@marko/create": patch
+"create-marko": patch
+---
+
+When scaffolding with pnpm, approve esbuild's build script (only if esbuild is actually installed) so vite-based templates install cleanly instead of erroring with `ERR_PNPM_IGNORED_BUILDS`. The "next steps" run command now uses the package manager you ran with (e.g. `pnpm run dev`) instead of always printing `npm`.
diff --git a/packages/create/src/cli.ts b/packages/create/src/cli.ts
index f7c3062..d2b2f01 100644
--- a/packages/create/src/cli.ts
+++ b/packages/create/src/cli.ts
@@ -124,11 +124,13 @@ export async function run(options: CliOptions): Promise<void> {
     const { projectPath, installer, installed, scripts } = await result;
     if (spinning) spin.stop("Downloaded app");
 
+    // `<pm> run <script>` is valid for npm/pnpm/yarn/bun alike.
+    const script = scripts.dev ? "dev" : scripts.start ? "start" : undefined;
     const steps = [
       `cd ${relative(process.cwd(), projectPath) || "."}`,
       ...(installed ? [] : [`${installer} install`]),
-      scripts.dev ? "npm run dev" : scripts.start ? "npm start" : "",
-    ].filter(Boolean);
+      ...(script ? [`${installer} run ${script}`] : []),
+    ];
 
     p.outro(
       `Project created! Next steps:\n${steps
diff --git a/packages/create/src/create.ts b/packages/create/src/create.ts
index f4b36af..5b45290 100644
--- a/packages/create/src/create.ts
+++ b/packages/create/src/create.ts
@@ -196,9 +196,22 @@ async function install(installer: string, cwd: string): Promise<boolean> {
     await exec(cwd, installer, ["install"], { shell: true });
     return true;
   } catch {
-    // Some package managers exit non-zero even on a usable install (e.g. pnpm's
-    // ignored-build-scripts warning). Don't fail the whole scaffold for it.
-    return false;
+    // pnpm exits non-zero when it blocks a dependency's build scripts. The
+    // vite-based templates rely on esbuild's, so approve just esbuild — pnpm
+    // writes nothing and no-ops if esbuild wasn't actually installed — then
+    // re-install to confirm that was the only problem. Any other package
+    // manager (or a genuine pnpm failure) is a real error.
+    if (installer !== "pnpm") return false;
+
+    try {
+      await exec(cwd, installer, ["approve-builds", "esbuild"], {
+        shell: true,
+      });
+      await exec(cwd, installer, ["install"], { shell: true });
+      return true;
+    } catch {
+      return false;
+    }
   }
 }