[BUG] npm link <path> --workspace=<ws> ignores the workspace: dep is attached to the root (and --save writes the root manifest) #9590

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

npm link <path> --workspace=<ws> does not scope the operation to the target workspace. The linked dependency is attached to the root project instead of the workspace:

• With --save (or --save-dev/--save-optional/etc.), the file: dependency is written to the root package.json, not to <ws>/package.json.
• Without --save, the dependency is still added to the root node of the ideal tree (so it is placed/hoisted as a root dependency rather than a dependency of the workspace).

npm install <path> --workspace=<ws> --save behaves correctly — it writes the dependency to <ws>/package.json. Only npm link is affected.

This is the underlying reason --workspace appears to have no effect for npm link (see #9115).

Observed

# npm link <path> --workspace=ws-a --save
root  package.json -> { "ext-pkg": "file:../ext-pkg" }   # WRONG
ws-a  package.json -> {}                                  # expected the dep here

# npm install <path> --workspace=ws-a --save  (for comparison)
root  package.json -> {}
ws-a  package.json -> { "ext-pkg": "file:../../../ext-pkg" }   # correct

Expected Behavior

npm link <path> --workspace=<ws> should attach the dependency to the target workspace, identical to npm install <path> --workspace=<ws>. With --save, the file: spec should be written to <ws>/package.json, not the root manifest.

Steps To Reproduce

rm -rf /tmp/lt && mkdir -p /tmp/lt/ext-pkg /tmp/lt/mono/packages/ws-a

printf '{ "name": "ext-pkg", "version": "1.0.0" }\n'                      > /tmp/lt/ext-pkg/package.json
printf '{ "name": "mono", "version": "1.0.0", "workspaces": ["packages/*"] }\n' > /tmp/lt/mono/package.json
printf '{ "name": "ws-a", "version": "1.0.0" }\n'                         > /tmp/lt/mono/packages/ws-a/package.json

cd /tmp/lt/mono
npm link /tmp/lt/ext-pkg --workspace=ws-a --save

node -e "console.log('root:', JSON.stringify(require('./package.json').dependencies||{}))"
node -e "console.log('ws-a:', JSON.stringify(require('./packages/ws-a/package.json').dependencies||{}))"
# root: {"ext-pkg":"file:../ext-pkg"}   <- BUG, should be empty
# ws-a: {}                              <- BUG, should contain ext-pkg

Compare with npm install (correct)

# from the same project
npm install /tmp/lt/ext-pkg --workspace=ws-a --save
# => ws-a/package.json gets the dep, root stays empty

Environment

• npm: 12.0.0-pre.1 (reproduced on latest)
• Node.js: v24.17.0
• OS Name: macOS (Darwin 25.5.0)

Related: #9115