1. Install Corepack, an intermediary tool that will let you configure your package manager version on a per-project basis:

npm install -g corepack

2. Then initialize a new project:

yarn init -2

Updating Yarn

Any time you’ll want to update Yarn to the latest version, just run:

yarn set version stable
yarn install

Yarn will then configure your project to use the most recent stable binary.

Tip

Yarn also frequently ships Release Candidate builds. Use yarn set version canary should you need a feature not released on the stable channel yet. Those builds are very stable, the only difference with the regular channel being a more staggered migration between major as we implement new breaking changes.

Installing the latest build fresh from master

You may want to test a version of Yarn so recent it hasn’t been released in a Release Candidate yet, or even not merged. The following command will clone, build, and install Yarn in your project, straight from our repository:

yarn set version from sources

It accepts a --branch flag which you can use to test specific PRs:

yarn set version from sources --branch 1211

Caution

Unlike the stable and canary channels, the yarn set version from sources command can’t leverage Corepack and will need to store the Yarn binary inside the .yarn/releases folder and reference it from your project’s .yarnrc.yml file.