docs: rename virtual store to dependency graph store

[zkochan]

No description provided.

[bolt-new-by-stackblitz]

Run & review this pull request in StackBlitz Codeflow.

[vercel]

The latest updates on your projects. Learn more about Vercel for Git ↗︎

Name	Status	Preview	Comments	Updated (UTC)
pnpm-io	❌ Failed (Inspect)			Jun 28, 2025 0:32am

[zkochan]

If approved, we can add new options with new names and remove the old names in pnpm v11.

[gluxon]

I'm sure there's a bit of context to the rename that I'm not aware of yet. Without that, I think I kind of like the existing "virtual store" name.

It's relatively short and everyone currently knows what it means. While "dependency graph store" might be more accurate, it's longer and less unique.

For example, in macOS, the bottom app bar is called a "Dock". While that's not the perfect name, it's short and everyone is familiar with it. I tend to like short unique names, even if they aren't perfect descriptors. You could imagine an alternate universe where the macOS dock was called "Bottom Application Launcher Bar".

[zkochan]

The virtual store was kind of an internal thing up until now. I don't remember how I came up with this name. I think maybe I borrowed it from Yarn, which has virtual packages.

Now with the global virtual store feature this store will become more complex and I was wondering if the name of this store should more closely reflect the nature of it. Virtual store is very generic while dependency graph store is reflecting what this store contains.

Of course, it can be named anything as long as the docs explain what it does.

[gluxon]

That all makes sense. Appreciate the explanation above. It makes sense that the "global virtual store" is prompting a rename.

Of course, it can be named anything as long as the docs explain what it does.

To suggest one more name, how do you feel about isolated store? I believe the isolated terminology came out of the NPM RFC for Isolated Mode, which you helped on. I know we've since adopted this terminology in several places like our nodeLinker config. I like the idea of node-linker=isolated creating something called the "isolated store".

The current "global virtual store" would then be called "central isolated store". I tend to like the "central" naming over "global" since global has somewhat negative connotation in programming.

Thanks for opening a discussion on this by the way. If that idea above doesn't make sense, feel free to ignore me.

[zkochan]

I think I would rank "central isolated store" the same as "global virtual store". ChatGPT really doesn't like the "central isolated store" name and says it will confuse users as they could think it is per-project and central isolated store is an oxymoron. I am not sure I agree but it did suggest an improved version: hash-isolated graph store (HIGS). HIGS sounds not bad.