[BUG] `npm --workspace=<ws> link <path>` doesn't setup symlink in workspace

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

My project contains two workspaces that import the same dependency in the same version.
After running the npm ci command, the top-level node_modules directory contains this dependency. The node_modules directories in each workspace do not contain this dependency, which is the expected behavior.

 .
├── workspaces
│   ├── workspace1
│   │   ├── node_modules
│   │   └── package.json
│   └── workspace2
│       ├── node_modules
│       └── package.json
├── node_modules
│    └── <dependency>
│         └── package.json
└── package.json

When I want to use the local version of a dependency in a single workspace, I run the command npm --workspace=<ws> link <path>. Once the command has been successfully executed, a symbolic link is created in the top-level node_modules directory, and workspaces that have declared this dependency will have the version of the dependency specified in the package.json file (published version) in their node_modules directory.

.
├── workspaces
│   ├── workspace1
│   │   ├── node_modules
│   |   │   └── <dependency>
│   │   |       └── package.json
│   │   └── package.json
│   └── workspace2
│       ├── node_modules
│       │   └── <dependency>
│       |       └── package.json
│       └── package.json
├── node_modules
│   └── <dependency> -> /path/to/dependency
└── package.json

Expected Behavior

When I use workspaces, I would like the npm link command to create a symbolic link in the target workspace(s).

For example, for the command npm --workspace=workspaces/workspace1 link /path/to/dependency, I expect that:

.
├── workspaces
│   ├── workspace1
│   │   ├── node_modules
│   |   │   └── <dependency> -> /path/to/dependency
│   │   └── package.json
│   └── workspace2
│          ├── node_modules
│          └── package.json
├── node_modules
│   └── <dependency>
│          └── package.json
└── package.json

In this configuration, workspace1 is built using the local version of , whereas workspace2 uses the published version.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Clone the repository to get a working example. The repository is hosted on my account: https://github.com/baptistedonaux/npm-cli-workspaces-issue
   git clone git@github.com:baptistedonaux/npm-cli-workspaces-issue.git
2. cd npm-cli-workspaces-issue && npm ci
3. Set up a local dependency to link it. You can use lodash as specified in the package.json.
   git clone git@github.com:lodash/lodash.git /tmp/lodash
4. npm --workspace=workspaces/foo link /tmp/lodash
5. To view the configuration of node_modules and dependencies, you can run this command:
   ls -l node_modules workspaces/foo/node_modules workspaces/bar/node_modules

Environment

• npm: 11.9.0
• Node.js: v24.14.0
• OS Name: node:24-alpine Docker image hosted on Fedora 43
• System Model Name: Linux
• npm config:

; node bin location = /usr/local/bin/node
; node version = v24.14.0
; npm local prefix = /
; npm version = 11.9.0
; cwd = /
; HOME = /home/node
; Run `npm config ls -l` to show all defaults.

Reproduce the behavior with npm ci followed by npm --workspace=workspaces/foo link /tmp/lodash, then inspect how the npm link command handles workspace targets. Compare the resulting top-level and workspace node_modules directories with the expected layout; done means only the selected workspace points to the local dependency while other workspaces retain the published version.