pnpm add --config <dep>@latest does not add the latest version #16814

Verify latest release

• I verified that the issue exists in the latest pnpm release

pnpm version

No response

Which area(s) of pnpm are affected? (leave empty if unsure)

Dependencies resolver, CLI, Lockfile

Link to the code that reproduces this issue or a replay of the bug

No response

Reproduction steps

1. Add a config dependency to your project using latest instead of a specific version number (it does not matter how you add it - just that the version is latest).
2. Publish a new version of the config dependency (again, it does not matter how you do it so long as the version number has gone up)
3. Run any combination of: pnpm update, pnpm add --config <your-config-dep>@latest, pnpm update --latest, and literally any other command you can think of to update a package
4. Observe that the version did not change
5. Delete the lockfile, run literally any updating or installing command (again, it does not matter), and observe that it updates to the latest version

Describe the Bug

Config dependencies do not get updated to the latest version even if you use the latest tag, which is unlike every other dependency type.

Expected Behavior

The expected behavior is that latest works the same across all dependency types (i.e. normal, dev, optional, peer, and config).
If that isn't an option, pnpm add --config <your-config-dep>@latest should trigger an update check.

Which Node.js version are you using?

26.11.1

Which operating systems have you used?

• macOS
• Windows
• Linux

If your OS is a Linux based, which one it is? (Include the version if relevant)

No response

Contributing a fix

• I am working on a fix