diff --git a/.eslintrc.local.json b/.eslintrc.local.json
index e953021f7324c..2ff50f91ec326 100644
--- a/.eslintrc.local.json
+++ b/.eslintrc.local.json
@@ -1,14 +1,5 @@
 {
   "rules": {
-    "no-shadow": "off",
     "no-console": "error"
-  },
-  "overrides": [{
-    "files": [
-      "test/**"
-    ],
-    "rules": {
-      "no-console": "off"
-    }
-  }]
+  }
 }
diff --git a/lib/arborist-cmd.js b/lib/arborist-cmd.js
index 29efe984d9b26..42699ece364ad 100644
--- a/lib/arborist-cmd.js
+++ b/lib/arborist-cmd.js
@@ -17,22 +17,35 @@ class ArboristCmd extends BaseCommand {
     'install-links',
   ]
 
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
   constructor (npm) {
     super(npm)
-    if (this.npm.config.isDefault('audit')
-      && (this.npm.global || this.npm.config.get('location') !== 'project')
-    ) {
-      this.npm.config.set('audit', false)
-    } else if (this.npm.global && this.npm.config.get('audit')) {
-      log.warn('config',
-        'includes both --global and --audit, which is currently unsupported.')
+
+    const { config } = this.npm
+
+    // when location isn't set and global isn't true check for a package.json at
+    // the localPrefix and set the location to project if found
+    const locationProject = config.get('location') === 'project' || (
+      config.isDefault('location')
+      // this is different then `npm.global` which falls back to checking
+      // location which we do not want to use here
+      && !config.get('global')
+      && npm.localPackage
+    )
+
+    // if audit is not set and we are in global mode and location is not project
+    // and we assume its not a project related context, then we set audit=false
+    if (config.isDefault('audit') && (this.npm.global || !locationProject)) {
+      config.set('audit', false)
+    } else if (this.npm.global && config.get('audit')) {
+      log.warn('config', 'includes both --global and --audit, which is currently unsupported.')
     }
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
     return this.exec(args)
   }
 }
diff --git a/lib/base-command.js b/lib/base-command.js
index b57b7474a5efb..0adff8e5d95ea 100644
--- a/lib/base-command.js
+++ b/lib/base-command.js
@@ -8,12 +8,21 @@ const getWorkspaces = require('./workspaces/get-workspaces.js')
 const cmdAliases = require('./utils/cmd-list').aliases
 
 class BaseCommand {
+  static workspaces = false
+  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
+
   constructor (npm) {
     this.wrapWidth = 80
     this.npm = npm
 
-    if (!this.skipConfigValidation) {
-      this.npm.config.validate()
+    const { config } = this.npm
+
+    if (!this.constructor.skipConfigValidation) {
+      config.validate()
+    }
+
+    if (config.get('workspaces') === false && config.get('workspace').length) {
+      throw new Error('Can not use --no-workspaces and --workspace at the same time')
     }
   }
 
@@ -25,35 +34,31 @@ class BaseCommand {
     return this.constructor.description
   }
 
-  get ignoreImplicitWorkspace () {
-    return this.constructor.ignoreImplicitWorkspace
-  }
-
-  get skipConfigValidation () {
-    return this.constructor.skipConfigValidation
+  get params () {
+    return this.constructor.params
   }
 
   get usage () {
     const usage = [
-      `${this.constructor.description}`,
+      `${this.description}`,
       '',
       'Usage:',
     ]
 
     if (!this.constructor.usage) {
-      usage.push(`npm ${this.constructor.name}`)
+      usage.push(`npm ${this.name}`)
     } else {
-      usage.push(...this.constructor.usage.map(u => `npm ${this.constructor.name} ${u}`))
+      usage.push(...this.constructor.usage.map(u => `npm ${this.name} ${u}`))
     }
 
-    if (this.constructor.params) {
+    if (this.params) {
       usage.push('')
       usage.push('Options:')
       usage.push(this.wrappedParams)
     }
 
     const aliases = Object.keys(cmdAliases).reduce((p, c) => {
-      if (cmdAliases[c] === this.constructor.name) {
+      if (cmdAliases[c] === this.name) {
         p.push(c)
       }
       return p
@@ -68,7 +73,7 @@ class BaseCommand {
     }
 
     usage.push('')
-    usage.push(`Run "npm help ${this.constructor.name}" for more info`)
+    usage.push(`Run "npm help ${this.name}" for more info`)
 
     return usage.join('\n')
   }
@@ -77,7 +82,7 @@ class BaseCommand {
     let results = ''
     let line = ''
 
-    for (const param of this.constructor.params) {
+    for (const param of this.params) {
       const usage = `[${ConfigDefinitions[param].usage}]`
       if (line.length && line.length + usage.length > this.wrapWidth) {
         results = [results, line].filter(Boolean).join('\n')
@@ -98,26 +103,48 @@ class BaseCommand {
     })
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
-    throw Object.assign(new Error('This command does not support workspaces.'), {
-      code: 'ENOWORKSPACES',
-    })
-  }
+  async cmdExec (args) {
+    const { config } = this.npm
 
-  async setWorkspaces (filters) {
-    if (this.isArboristCmd) {
-      this.includeWorkspaceRoot = false
+    if (config.get('usage')) {
+      return this.npm.output(this.usage)
     }
 
-    const relativeFrom = relative(this.npm.localPrefix, process.cwd()).startsWith('..')
-      ? this.npm.localPrefix
-      : process.cwd()
+    const hasWsConfig = config.get('workspaces') || config.get('workspace').length
+    // if cwd is a workspace, the default is set to [that workspace]
+    const implicitWs = config.get('workspace', 'default').length
 
+    // (-ws || -w foo) && (cwd is not a workspace || command is not ignoring implicit workspaces)
+    if (hasWsConfig && (!implicitWs || !this.constructor.ignoreImplicitWorkspace)) {
+      if (this.npm.global) {
+        throw new Error('Workspaces not supported for global packages')
+      }
+      if (!this.constructor.workspaces) {
+        throw Object.assign(new Error('This command does not support workspaces.'), {
+          code: 'ENOWORKSPACES',
+        })
+      }
+      return this.execWorkspaces(args)
+    }
+
+    return this.exec(args)
+  }
+
+  async setWorkspaces () {
+    const includeWorkspaceRoot = this.isArboristCmd
+      ? false
+      : this.npm.config.get('include-workspace-root')
+
+    const prefixInsideCwd = relative(this.npm.localPrefix, process.cwd()).startsWith('..')
+    const relativeFrom = prefixInsideCwd ? this.npm.localPrefix : process.cwd()
+
+    const filters = this.npm.config.get('workspace')
     const ws = await getWorkspaces(filters, {
       path: this.npm.localPrefix,
-      includeWorkspaceRoot: this.includeWorkspaceRoot,
+      includeWorkspaceRoot,
       relativeFrom,
     })
+
     this.workspaces = ws
     this.workspaceNames = [...ws.keys()]
     this.workspacePaths = [...ws.values()]
diff --git a/lib/cli.js b/lib/cli.js
index 9aaf6c593675a..007778aa4b986 100644
--- a/lib/cli.js
+++ b/lib/cli.js
@@ -68,6 +68,11 @@ module.exports = async process => {
   // leak any private CLI configs to other programs
   process.title = 'npm'
 
+  // if npm is called as "npmg" or "npm_g", then run in global mode.
+  if (process.argv[1][process.argv[1].length - 1] === 'g') {
+    process.argv.splice(1, 1, 'npm', '-g')
+  }
+
   // Nothing should happen before this line if we can't guarantee it will
   // not have syntax errors in some version of node
   const validateEngines = createEnginesValidation()
@@ -78,11 +83,6 @@ module.exports = async process => {
   const npm = new Npm()
   exitHandler.setNpm(npm)
 
-  // if npm is called as "npmg" or "npm_g", then run in global mode.
-  if (process.argv[1][process.argv[1].length - 1] === 'g') {
-    process.argv.splice(1, 1, 'npm', '-g')
-  }
-
   // only log node and npm paths in argv initially since argv can contain
   // sensitive info. a cleaned version will be logged later
   const log = require('./utils/log-shim.js')
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ module.exports = async process => {
   // this is how to use npm programmatically:
   try {
     await npm.load()
+
     if (npm.config.get('version', 'cli')) {
       npm.output(npm.version)
       return exitHandler()
@@ -130,7 +131,7 @@ module.exports = async process => {
       return exitHandler()
     }
 
-    await npm.exec(cmd, npm.argv)
+    await npm.exec(cmd)
     return exitHandler()
   } catch (err) {
     if (err.code === 'EUNKNOWNCOMMAND') {
diff --git a/lib/commands/access.js b/lib/commands/access.js
index d5ac5bb2f008e..23e51f071b112 100644
--- a/lib/commands/access.js
+++ b/lib/commands/access.js
@@ -37,8 +37,6 @@ class Access extends BaseCommand {
     'registry',
   ]
 
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
-
   static usage = [
     'list packages [<user>|<scope>|<scope:team> [<package>]',
     'list collaborators [<package> [<user>]]',
diff --git a/lib/commands/adduser.js b/lib/commands/adduser.js
index 1e92b35f4a662..cd4cba60511cb 100644
--- a/lib/commands/adduser.js
+++ b/lib/commands/adduser.js
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@ class AddUser extends BaseCommand {
     'auth-type',
   ]
 
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
-
   async exec (args) {
     const scope = this.npm.config.get('scope')
     let registry = this.npm.config.get('registry')
diff --git a/lib/commands/audit.js b/lib/commands/audit.js
index feccefda0c904..13886ea6350b6 100644
--- a/lib/commands/audit.js
+++ b/lib/commands/audit.js
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ class VerifySignatures {
     const keys = await fetch.json('/-/npm/v1/keys', {
       ...this.npm.flatOptions,
       registry,
-    }).then(({ keys }) => keys.map((key) => ({
+    }).then(({ keys: ks }) => ks.map((key) => ({
       ...key,
       pemkey: `-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\n${key.key}\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----`,
     }))).catch(err => {
diff --git a/lib/commands/cache.js b/lib/commands/cache.js
index 637085015fcb7..0ab40b9ed44a9 100644
--- a/lib/commands/cache.js
+++ b/lib/commands/cache.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ const cacache = require('cacache')
 const Arborist = require('@npmcli/arborist')
 const pacote = require('pacote')
 const fs = require('fs/promises')
-const path = require('path')
+const { join } = require('path')
 const semver = require('semver')
 const BaseCommand = require('../base-command.js')
 const npa = require('npm-package-arg')
@@ -74,8 +74,6 @@ class Cache extends BaseCommand {
     'verify',
   ]
 
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
-
   async completion (opts) {
     const argv = opts.conf.argv.remain
     if (argv.length === 2) {
@@ -111,7 +109,7 @@ class Cache extends BaseCommand {
 
   // npm cache clean [pkg]*
   async clean (args) {
-    const cachePath = path.join(this.npm.cache, '_cacache')
+    const cachePath = join(this.npm.cache, '_cacache')
     if (args.length === 0) {
       if (!this.npm.config.get('force')) {
         throw new Error(`As of npm@5, the npm cache self-heals from corruption issues
@@ -169,7 +167,7 @@ class Cache extends BaseCommand {
   }
 
   async verify () {
-    const cache = path.join(this.npm.cache, '_cacache')
+    const cache = join(this.npm.cache, '_cacache')
     const prefix = cache.indexOf(process.env.HOME) === 0
       ? `~${cache.slice(process.env.HOME.length)}`
       : cache
@@ -192,7 +190,7 @@ class Cache extends BaseCommand {
 
   // npm cache ls [--package <spec> ...]
   async ls (specs) {
-    const cachePath = path.join(this.npm.cache, '_cacache')
+    const cachePath = join(this.npm.cache, '_cacache')
     const cacheKeys = Object.keys(await cacache.ls(cachePath))
     if (specs.length > 0) {
       // get results for each package spec specified
diff --git a/lib/commands/completion.js b/lib/commands/completion.js
index 8fc05b2e82313..f5604e099f9a2 100644
--- a/lib/commands/completion.js
+++ b/lib/commands/completion.js
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 
 const fs = require('fs/promises')
 const nopt = require('nopt')
+const { resolve } = require('path')
 
 const { definitions, shorthands } = require('../utils/config/index.js')
 const { aliases, commands, plumbing } = require('../utils/cmd-list.js')
@@ -40,21 +41,13 @@ const configNames = Object.keys(definitions)
 const shorthandNames = Object.keys(shorthands)
 const allConfs = configNames.concat(shorthandNames)
 const { isWindowsShell } = require('../utils/is-windows.js')
-const fileExists = async (file) => {
-  try {
-    const stat = await fs.stat(file)
-    return stat.isFile()
-  } catch {
-    return false
-  }
-}
+const fileExists = (file) => fs.stat(file).then(s => s.isFile()).catch(() => false)
 
 const BaseCommand = require('../base-command.js')
 
 class Completion extends BaseCommand {
   static description = 'Tab Completion for npm'
   static name = 'completion'
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
 
   // completion for the completion command
   async completion (opts) {
@@ -62,7 +55,6 @@ class Completion extends BaseCommand {
       return
     }
 
-    const { resolve } = require('path')
     const [bashExists, zshExists] = await Promise.all([
       fileExists(resolve(process.env.HOME, '.bashrc')),
       fileExists(resolve(process.env.HOME, '.zshrc')),
@@ -93,7 +85,7 @@ class Completion extends BaseCommand {
     if (COMP_CWORD === undefined ||
       COMP_LINE === undefined ||
       COMP_POINT === undefined) {
-      return dumpScript()
+      return dumpScript(resolve(this.npm.npmRoot, 'lib', 'utils', 'completion.sh'))
     }
 
     // ok we're actually looking at the envs and outputting the suggestions
@@ -150,9 +142,9 @@ class Completion extends BaseCommand {
     // take a little shortcut and use npm's arg parsing logic.
     // don't have to worry about the last arg being implicitly
     // boolean'ed, since the last block will catch that.
-    const types = Object.entries(definitions).reduce((types, [key, def]) => {
-      types[key] = def.type
-      return types
+    const types = Object.entries(definitions).reduce((acc, [key, def]) => {
+      acc[key] = def.type
+      return acc
     }, {})
     const parsed = opts.conf =
       nopt(types, shorthands, partialWords.slice(0, -1), 0)
@@ -196,10 +188,7 @@ class Completion extends BaseCommand {
   }
 }
 
-const dumpScript = async () => {
-  const { resolve } = require('path')
-  const p = resolve(__dirname, '..', 'utils', 'completion.sh')
-
+const dumpScript = async (p) => {
   const d = (await fs.readFile(p, 'utf8')).replace(/^#!.*?\n/, '')
   await new Promise((res, rej) => {
     let done = false
diff --git a/lib/commands/config.js b/lib/commands/config.js
index 103fbb554e5d1..ac5a74d01f7de 100644
--- a/lib/commands/config.js
+++ b/lib/commands/config.js
@@ -112,11 +112,6 @@ class Config extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
-    log.warn('config', 'This command does not support workspaces.')
-    return this.exec(args)
-  }
-
   async exec ([action, ...args]) {
     log.disableProgress()
     try {
@@ -251,14 +246,14 @@ ${defData}
 `.split('\n').join(EOL)
     await mkdir(dirname(file), { recursive: true })
     await writeFile(file, tmpData, 'utf8')
-    await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    await new Promise((res, rej) => {
       const [bin, ...args] = e.split(/\s+/)
       const editor = spawn(bin, [...args, file], { stdio: 'inherit' })
       editor.on('exit', (code) => {
         if (code) {
-          return reject(new Error(`editor process exited with code: ${code}`))
+          return rej(new Error(`editor process exited with code: ${code}`))
         }
-        return resolve()
+        return res()
       })
     })
   }
diff --git a/lib/commands/diff.js b/lib/commands/diff.js
index c8fd734918d75..1f4bfd3eb1151 100644
--- a/lib/commands/diff.js
+++ b/lib/commands/diff.js
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ class Diff extends BaseCommand {
     'include-workspace-root',
   ]
 
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
   async exec (args) {
@@ -67,8 +68,8 @@ class Diff extends BaseCommand {
     return this.npm.output(res)
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
     for (const workspacePath of this.workspacePaths) {
       this.top = workspacePath
       this.prefix = workspacePath
diff --git a/lib/commands/dist-tag.js b/lib/commands/dist-tag.js
index 8052e4f7e4e38..bc61a4691e55a 100644
--- a/lib/commands/dist-tag.js
+++ b/lib/commands/dist-tag.js
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ class DistTag extends BaseCommand {
     'ls [<package-spec>]',
   ]
 
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
   async completion (opts) {
@@ -57,14 +58,14 @@ class DistTag extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces ([cmdName, pkg, tag], filters) {
+  async execWorkspaces ([cmdName, pkg, tag]) {
     // cmdName is some form of list
     // pkg is one of:
     // - unset
     // - .
     // - .@version
     if (['ls', 'l', 'sl', 'list'].includes(cmdName) && (!pkg || pkg === '.' || /^\.@/.test(pkg))) {
-      return this.listWorkspaces(filters)
+      return this.listWorkspaces()
     }
 
     // pkg is unset
@@ -73,12 +74,12 @@ class DistTag extends BaseCommand {
     // - .
     // - .@version
     if (!pkg && (!cmdName || cmdName === '.' || /^\.@/.test(cmdName))) {
-      return this.listWorkspaces(filters)
+      return this.listWorkspaces()
     }
 
     // anything else is just a regular dist-tag command
     // so we fallback to the non-workspaces implementation
-    log.warn('Ignoring workspaces for specified package')
+    log.warn('dist-tag', 'Ignoring workspaces for specified package')
     return this.exec([cmdName, pkg, tag])
   }
 
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ class DistTag extends BaseCommand {
       },
       spec,
     }
-    await otplease(this.npm, reqOpts, reqOpts => regFetch(url, reqOpts))
+    await otplease(this.npm, reqOpts, o => regFetch(url, o))
     this.npm.output(`+${t}: ${spec.name}@${version}`)
   }
 
@@ -142,7 +143,7 @@ class DistTag extends BaseCommand {
       method: 'DELETE',
       spec,
     }
-    await otplease(this.npm, reqOpts, reqOpts => regFetch(url, reqOpts))
+    await otplease(this.npm, reqOpts, o => regFetch(url, o))
     this.npm.output(`-${tag}: ${spec.name}@${version}`)
   }
 
@@ -172,8 +173,8 @@ class DistTag extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async listWorkspaces (filters) {
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+  async listWorkspaces () {
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
 
     for (const name of this.workspaceNames) {
       try {
diff --git a/lib/commands/edit.js b/lib/commands/edit.js
index 67ac32e017184..a671a5d6bad5d 100644
--- a/lib/commands/edit.js
+++ b/lib/commands/edit.js
@@ -51,23 +51,23 @@ class Edit extends BaseCommand {
     const dir = resolve(this.npm.dir, path)
 
     // graceful-fs does not promisify
-    await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    await new Promise((res, rej) => {
       fs.lstat(dir, (err) => {
         if (err) {
-          return reject(err)
+          return rej(err)
         }
-        const [bin, ...args] = this.npm.config.get('editor').split(/\s+/)
-        const editor = cp.spawn(bin, [...args, dir], { stdio: 'inherit' })
+        const [bin, ...spawnArgs] = this.npm.config.get('editor').split(/\s+/)
+        const editor = cp.spawn(bin, [...spawnArgs, dir], { stdio: 'inherit' })
         editor.on('exit', async (code) => {
           if (code) {
-            return reject(new Error(`editor process exited with code: ${code}`))
+            return rej(new Error(`editor process exited with code: ${code}`))
           }
           try {
             await this.npm.exec('rebuild', [dir])
-          } catch (err) {
-            reject(err)
+          } catch (execErr) {
+            rej(execErr)
           }
-          resolve()
+          res()
         })
       })
     })
diff --git a/lib/commands/exec.js b/lib/commands/exec.js
index a77a6326c00f2..a5235c7845851 100644
--- a/lib/commands/exec.js
+++ b/lib/commands/exec.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-const path = require('path')
+const { resolve } = require('path')
 const libexec = require('libnpmexec')
 const BaseCommand = require('../base-command.js')
 
@@ -20,10 +20,25 @@ class Exec extends BaseCommand {
     '--package=foo -c \'<cmd> [args...]\'',
   ]
 
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
   static isShellout = true
 
-  async exec (_args, { locationMsg, runPath } = {}) {
+  async exec (args) {
+    return this.callExec(args)
+  }
+
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
+
+    for (const [name, path] of this.workspaces) {
+      const locationMsg =
+        `in workspace ${this.npm.chalk.green(name)} at location:\n${this.npm.chalk.dim(path)}`
+      await this.callExec(args, { locationMsg, runPath: path })
+    }
+  }
+
+  async callExec (args, { locationMsg, runPath } = {}) {
     // This is where libnpmexec will look for locally installed packages
     const localPrefix = this.npm.localPrefix
 
@@ -32,7 +47,6 @@ class Exec extends BaseCommand {
       runPath = process.cwd()
     }
 
-    const args = [..._args]
     const call = this.npm.config.get('call')
     let globalPath
     const {
@@ -49,10 +63,10 @@ class Exec extends BaseCommand {
     // is invalid (i.e. no lib/node_modules).  This is not a trivial thing to
     // untangle and fix so we work around it here.
     if (this.npm.localPrefix !== this.npm.globalPrefix) {
-      globalPath = path.resolve(globalDir, '..')
+      globalPath = resolve(globalDir, '..')
     }
 
-    if (call && _args.length) {
+    if (call && args.length) {
       throw this.usageError()
     }
 
@@ -61,7 +75,8 @@ class Exec extends BaseCommand {
       // we explicitly set packageLockOnly to false because if it's true
       // when we try to install a missing package, we won't actually install it
       packageLockOnly: false,
-      args,
+      // copy args so they dont get mutated
+      args: [...args],
       call,
       localBin,
       locationMsg,
@@ -75,16 +90,6 @@ class Exec extends BaseCommand {
       yes,
     })
   }
-
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
-
-    for (const [name, path] of this.workspaces) {
-      const locationMsg =
-        `in workspace ${this.npm.chalk.green(name)} at location:\n${this.npm.chalk.dim(path)}`
-      await this.exec(args, { locationMsg, runPath: path })
-    }
-  }
 }
 
 module.exports = Exec
diff --git a/lib/commands/find-dupes.js b/lib/commands/find-dupes.js
index b99ea7a14eb21..b1a3120860366 100644
--- a/lib/commands/find-dupes.js
+++ b/lib/commands/find-dupes.js
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class FindDupes extends ArboristWorkspaceCmd {
     ...super.params,
   ]
 
-  async exec (args, cb) {
+  async exec (args) {
     this.npm.config.set('dry-run', true)
     return this.npm.exec('dedupe', [])
   }
diff --git a/lib/commands/help-search.js b/lib/commands/help-search.js
index 488189bbbc5cd..afb82bfaca9ee 100644
--- a/lib/commands/help-search.js
+++ b/lib/commands/help-search.js
@@ -13,14 +13,13 @@ class HelpSearch extends BaseCommand {
   static name = 'help-search'
   static usage = ['<text>']
   static params = ['long']
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
 
   async exec (args) {
     if (!args.length) {
       throw this.usageError()
     }
 
-    const docPath = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', '..', 'docs/content')
+    const docPath = path.resolve(this.npm.npmRoot, 'docs/content')
     const files = await glob(`${globify(docPath)}/*/*.md`)
     const data = await this.readFiles(files)
     const results = await this.searchFiles(args, data, files)
@@ -142,7 +141,7 @@ class HelpSearch extends BaseCommand {
   formatResults (args, results) {
     const cols = Math.min(process.stdout.columns || Infinity, 80) + 1
 
-    const out = results.map(res => {
+    const output = results.map(res => {
       const out = [res.cmd]
       const r = Object.keys(res.hits)
         .map(k => `${k}:${res.hits[k]}`)
@@ -189,10 +188,10 @@ class HelpSearch extends BaseCommand {
     const finalOut = results.length && !this.npm.config.get('long')
       ? 'Top hits for ' + (args.map(JSON.stringify).join(' ')) + '\n' +
       '—'.repeat(cols - 1) + '\n' +
-      out + '\n' +
+      output + '\n' +
       '—'.repeat(cols - 1) + '\n' +
       '(run with -l or --long to see more context)'
-      : out
+      : output
 
     return finalOut.trim()
   }
diff --git a/lib/commands/hook.js b/lib/commands/hook.js
index 084741c0c5eea..b0f52a801f571 100644
--- a/lib/commands/hook.js
+++ b/lib/commands/hook.js
@@ -19,12 +19,8 @@ class Hook extends BaseCommand {
     'update <id> <url> <secret>',
   ]
 
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
-
   async exec (args) {
-    return otplease(this.npm, {
-      ...this.npm.flatOptions,
-    }, (opts) => {
+    return otplease(this.npm, { ...this.npm.flatOptions }, (opts) => {
       switch (args[0]) {
         case 'add':
           return this.add(args[1], args[2], args[3], opts)
@@ -49,9 +45,7 @@ class Hook extends BaseCommand {
       this.npm.output(Object.keys(hook).join('\t'))
       this.npm.output(Object.keys(hook).map(k => hook[k]).join('\t'))
     } else if (!this.npm.silent) {
-      this.npm.output(`+ ${this.hookName(hook)} ${
-        opts.unicode ? ' ➜ ' : ' -> '
-      } ${hook.endpoint}`)
+      this.npm.output(`+ ${this.hookName(hook)} ${opts.unicode ? ' ➜ ' : ' -> '} ${hook.endpoint}`)
     }
   }
 
@@ -104,9 +98,7 @@ class Hook extends BaseCommand {
       this.npm.output(Object.keys(hook).join('\t'))
       this.npm.output(Object.keys(hook).map(k => hook[k]).join('\t'))
     } else if (!this.npm.silent) {
-      this.npm.output(`- ${this.hookName(hook)} ${
-        opts.unicode ? ' ✘ ' : ' X '
-      } ${hook.endpoint}`)
+      this.npm.output(`- ${this.hookName(hook)} ${opts.unicode ? ' ✘ ' : ' X '} ${hook.endpoint}`)
     }
   }
 
@@ -118,9 +110,7 @@ class Hook extends BaseCommand {
       this.npm.output(Object.keys(hook).join('\t'))
       this.npm.output(Object.keys(hook).map(k => hook[k]).join('\t'))
     } else if (!this.npm.silent) {
-      this.npm.output(`+ ${this.hookName(hook)} ${
-        opts.unicode ? ' ➜ ' : ' -> '
-      } ${hook.endpoint}`)
+      this.npm.output(`+ ${this.hookName(hook)} ${opts.unicode ? ' ➜ ' : ' -> '} ${hook.endpoint}`)
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/commands/init.js b/lib/commands/init.js
index 02a43b0ef0960..03a686365cdfe 100644
--- a/lib/commands/init.js
+++ b/lib/commands/init.js
@@ -30,19 +30,20 @@ class Init extends BaseCommand {
     '<@scope> (same as `npx <@scope>/create`)',
   ]
 
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
   async exec (args) {
     // npm exec style
     if (args.length) {
-      return (await this.execCreate({ args, path: process.cwd() }))
+      return await this.execCreate(args)
     }
 
     // no args, uses classic init-package-json boilerplate
     await this.template()
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
     // if the root package is uninitiated, take care of it first
     if (this.npm.flatOptions.includeWorkspaceRoot) {
       await this.exec(args)
@@ -52,6 +53,10 @@ class Init extends BaseCommand {
     // ensure the command throw if no package.json is found before trying
     // to create a workspace package.json file or its folders
     const pkg = await rpj(resolve(this.npm.localPrefix, 'package.json'))
+
+    // these are workspaces that are being created, so we cant use
+    // this.setWorkspaces()
+    const filters = this.npm.config.get('workspace')
     const wPath = filterArg => resolve(this.npm.localPrefix, filterArg)
 
     const workspacesPaths = []
@@ -61,8 +66,8 @@ class Init extends BaseCommand {
         const path = wPath(filterArg)
         await mkdir(path, { recursive: true })
         workspacesPaths.push(path)
-        await this.execCreate({ args, path })
-        await this.setWorkspace({ pkg, workspacePath: path })
+        await this.execCreate(args, path)
+        await this.setWorkspace(pkg, path)
       }
       return
     }
@@ -73,14 +78,14 @@ class Init extends BaseCommand {
       await mkdir(path, { recursive: true })
       workspacesPaths.push(path)
       await this.template(path)
-      await this.setWorkspace({ pkg, workspacePath: path })
+      await this.setWorkspace(pkg, path)
     }
 
     // reify packages once all workspaces have been initialized
     await this.update(workspacesPaths)
   }
 
-  async execCreate ({ args, path }) {
+  async execCreate (args, path = process.cwd()) {
     const [initerName, ...otherArgs] = args
     let packageName = initerName
 
@@ -95,8 +100,7 @@ class Init extends BaseCommand {
       const req = npa(initerName)
       if (req.type === 'git' && req.hosted) {
         const { user, project } = req.hosted
-        packageName = initerName
-          .replace(user + '/' + project, user + '/create-' + project)
+        packageName = initerName.replace(`${user}/${project}`, `${user}/create-${project}`)
       } else if (req.registry) {
         packageName = `${req.name.replace(/^(@[^/]+\/)?/, '$1create-')}@${req.rawSpec}`
       } else {
@@ -174,7 +178,7 @@ class Init extends BaseCommand {
     })
   }
 
-  async setWorkspace ({ pkg, workspacePath }) {
+  async setWorkspace (pkg, workspacePath) {
     const workspaces = await mapWorkspaces({ cwd: this.npm.localPrefix, pkg })
 
     // skip setting workspace if current package.json glob already satisfies it
@@ -210,9 +214,7 @@ class Init extends BaseCommand {
     // translate workspaces paths into an array containing workspaces names
     const workspaces = []
     for (const path of workspacesPaths) {
-      const pkgPath = resolve(path, 'package.json')
-      const { name } = await rpj(pkgPath)
-        .catch(() => ({}))
+      const { name } = await rpj(resolve(path, 'package.json')).catch(() => ({}))
 
       if (name) {
         workspaces.push(name)
diff --git a/lib/commands/install-ci-test.js b/lib/commands/install-ci-test.js
index 9977a2edc5641..f7a357ba6e124 100644
--- a/lib/commands/install-ci-test.js
+++ b/lib/commands/install-ci-test.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ class InstallCITest extends CI {
   static description = 'Install a project with a clean slate and run tests'
   static name = 'install-ci-test'
 
-  async exec (args, cb) {
+  async exec (args) {
     await this.npm.exec('ci', args)
     return this.npm.exec('test', [])
   }
diff --git a/lib/commands/install-test.js b/lib/commands/install-test.js
index 191d70909f9e7..11f22e535403c 100644
--- a/lib/commands/install-test.js
+++ b/lib/commands/install-test.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ class InstallTest extends Install {
   static description = 'Install package(s) and run tests'
   static name = 'install-test'
 
-  async exec (args, cb) {
+  async exec (args) {
     await this.npm.exec('install', args)
     return this.npm.exec('test', [])
   }
diff --git a/lib/commands/login.js b/lib/commands/login.js
index 7f6898d00ba93..dc4ed8a67acd9 100644
--- a/lib/commands/login.js
+++ b/lib/commands/login.js
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@ class Login extends BaseCommand {
     'auth-type',
   ]
 
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
-
   async exec (args) {
     const scope = this.npm.config.get('scope')
     let registry = this.npm.config.get('registry')
diff --git a/lib/commands/logout.js b/lib/commands/logout.js
index 7c2a7f0b2f830..aea5e93652b0e 100644
--- a/lib/commands/logout.js
+++ b/lib/commands/logout.js
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@ class Logout extends BaseCommand {
     'scope',
   ]
 
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
-
   async exec (args) {
     const registry = this.npm.config.get('registry')
     const scope = this.npm.config.get('scope')
diff --git a/lib/commands/org.js b/lib/commands/org.js
index f49556c8d6a19..575ff75e2a6cf 100644
--- a/lib/commands/org.js
+++ b/lib/commands/org.js
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ class Org extends BaseCommand {
   ]
 
   static params = ['registry', 'otp', 'json', 'parseable']
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
 
   async completion (opts) {
     const argv = opts.conf.argv.remain
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ class Org extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async exec ([cmd, orgname, username, role], cb) {
+  async exec ([cmd, orgname, username, role]) {
     return otplease(this.npm, {
       ...this.npm.flatOptions,
     }, opts => {
@@ -139,15 +138,15 @@ class Org extends BaseCommand {
       this.npm.output(JSON.stringify(roster, null, 2))
     } else if (opts.parseable) {
       this.npm.output(['user', 'role'].join('\t'))
-      Object.keys(roster).forEach(user => {
-        this.npm.output([user, roster[user]].join('\t'))
+      Object.keys(roster).forEach(u => {
+        this.npm.output([u, roster[u]].join('\t'))
       })
     } else if (!this.npm.silent) {
       const table = new Table({ head: ['user', 'role'] })
       Object.keys(roster)
         .sort()
-        .forEach(user => {
-          table.push([user, roster[user]])
+        .forEach(u => {
+          table.push([u, roster[u]])
         })
       this.npm.output(table.toString())
     }
diff --git a/lib/commands/outdated.js b/lib/commands/outdated.js
index 9e2060658ed72..5e8a4e0d2168c 100644
--- a/lib/commands/outdated.js
+++ b/lib/commands/outdated.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 const os = require('os')
-const path = require('path')
+const { resolve } = require('path')
 const pacote = require('pacote')
 const table = require('text-table')
 const chalk = require('chalk')
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ class Outdated extends ArboristWorkspaceCmd {
   ]
 
   async exec (args) {
-    const global = path.resolve(this.npm.globalDir, '..')
+    const global = resolve(this.npm.globalDir, '..')
     const where = this.npm.global
       ? global
       : this.npm.prefix
diff --git a/lib/commands/owner.js b/lib/commands/owner.js
index 824b64e044ecf..40f16332b2922 100644
--- a/lib/commands/owner.js
+++ b/lib/commands/owner.js
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ class Owner extends BaseCommand {
     'ls <package-spec>',
   ]
 
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
   async completion (opts) {
@@ -82,8 +83,8 @@ class Owner extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces ([action, ...args], filters) {
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+  async execWorkspaces ([action, ...args]) {
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
     // ls pkg or owner add/rm package
     if ((action === 'ls' && args.length > 0) || args.length > 1) {
       const implicitWorkspaces = this.npm.config.get('workspace', 'default')
diff --git a/lib/commands/pack.js b/lib/commands/pack.js
index c6a74804642f6..74e80e573c2e9 100644
--- a/lib/commands/pack.js
+++ b/lib/commands/pack.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ class Pack extends BaseCommand {
   ]
 
   static usage = ['<package-spec>']
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
   async exec (args) {
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ class Pack extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
     // If they either ask for nothing, or explicitly include '.' in the args,
     // we effectively translate that into each workspace requested
 
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ class Pack extends BaseCommand {
       return this.exec(args)
     }
 
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
     return this.exec([...this.workspacePaths, ...args.filter(a => a !== '.')])
   }
 }
diff --git a/lib/commands/ping.js b/lib/commands/ping.js
index 22039214689a9..5a651c4a6ab09 100644
--- a/lib/commands/ping.js
+++ b/lib/commands/ping.js
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ class Ping extends BaseCommand {
   static description = 'Ping npm registry'
   static params = ['registry']
   static name = 'ping'
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
 
   async exec (args) {
     log.notice('PING', this.npm.config.get('registry'))
diff --git a/lib/commands/pkg.js b/lib/commands/pkg.js
index 5fac9bfb54683..5cdcd207887c9 100644
--- a/lib/commands/pkg.js
+++ b/lib/commands/pkg.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ class Pkg extends BaseCommand {
     'workspaces',
   ]
 
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
   async exec (args, { prefix } = {}) {
@@ -49,8 +50,8 @@ class Pkg extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
     const result = {}
     for (const [workspaceName, workspacePath] of this.workspaces.entries()) {
       this.prefix = workspacePath
@@ -81,7 +82,7 @@ class Pkg extends BaseCommand {
     // only outputs if not running with workspaces config,
     // in case you're retrieving info for workspaces the pkgWorkspaces
     // will handle the output to make sure it get keyed by ws name
-    if (!this.workspaces) {
+    if (!this.npm.config.get('workspaces')) {
       this.npm.output(JSON.stringify(result, null, 2))
     }
 
diff --git a/lib/commands/prefix.js b/lib/commands/prefix.js
index dd0e34c3d3bd9..264b819fc7692 100644
--- a/lib/commands/prefix.js
+++ b/lib/commands/prefix.js
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ class Prefix extends BaseCommand {
   static name = 'prefix'
   static params = ['global']
   static usage = ['[-g]']
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
 
   async exec (args) {
     return this.npm.output(this.npm.prefix)
diff --git a/lib/commands/profile.js b/lib/commands/profile.js
index 27060cf73a650..e42ebb276d202 100644
--- a/lib/commands/profile.js
+++ b/lib/commands/profile.js
@@ -54,8 +54,6 @@ class Profile extends BaseCommand {
     'otp',
   ]
 
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
-
   async completion (opts) {
     var argv = opts.conf.argv.remain
 
@@ -221,7 +219,7 @@ class Profile extends BaseCommand {
 
     newUser[prop] = value
 
-    const result = await otplease(this.npm, conf, conf => npmProfile.set(newUser, conf))
+    const result = await otplease(this.npm, conf, c => npmProfile.set(newUser, c))
 
     if (this.npm.config.get('json')) {
       this.npm.output(JSON.stringify({ [prop]: result[prop] }, null, 2))
diff --git a/lib/commands/publish.js b/lib/commands/publish.js
index 23323a174ed89..76faea9457f74 100644
--- a/lib/commands/publish.js
+++ b/lib/commands/publish.js
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ class Publish extends BaseCommand {
   ]
 
   static usage = ['<package-spec>']
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
   async exec (args) {
@@ -123,7 +124,7 @@ class Publish extends BaseCommand {
     log.notice('', msg)
 
     if (!dryRun) {
-      await otplease(this.npm, opts, opts => libpub(manifest, tarballData, opts))
+      await otplease(this.npm, opts, o => libpub(manifest, tarballData, o))
     }
 
     if (spec.type === 'directory' && !ignoreScripts) {
@@ -155,14 +156,14 @@ class Publish extends BaseCommand {
     return pkgContents
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
     // Suppresses JSON output in publish() so we can handle it here
     this.suppressOutput = true
 
     const results = {}
     const json = this.npm.config.get('json')
     const { silent } = this.npm
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
 
     for (const [name, workspace] of this.workspaces.entries()) {
       let pkgContents
diff --git a/lib/commands/query.js b/lib/commands/query.js
index 5f05ab3164d7c..b5f4d8e57ddf5 100644
--- a/lib/commands/query.js
+++ b/lib/commands/query.js
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ class Query extends BaseCommand {
   static name = 'query'
   static usage = ['<selector>']
 
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
   static params = [
@@ -70,8 +71,8 @@ class Query extends BaseCommand {
     this.npm.output(this.parsedResponse)
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
     const opts = {
       ...this.npm.flatOptions,
       path: this.npm.prefix,
diff --git a/lib/commands/restart.js b/lib/commands/restart.js
index 575928b2202cc..7ca2eb323da3c 100644
--- a/lib/commands/restart.js
+++ b/lib/commands/restart.js
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ class Restart extends LifecycleCmd {
     'ignore-scripts',
     'script-shell',
   ]
-
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 }
+
 module.exports = Restart
diff --git a/lib/commands/root.js b/lib/commands/root.js
index b814034def5ab..7749c602456b7 100644
--- a/lib/commands/root.js
+++ b/lib/commands/root.js
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ class Root extends BaseCommand {
   static description = 'Display npm root'
   static name = 'root'
   static params = ['global']
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
 
   async exec () {
     this.npm.output(this.npm.dir)
diff --git a/lib/commands/run-script.js b/lib/commands/run-script.js
index 3852f7ba1820f..51746c5e5285d 100644
--- a/lib/commands/run-script.js
+++ b/lib/commands/run-script.js
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ class RunScript extends BaseCommand {
 
   static name = 'run-script'
   static usage = ['<command> [-- <args>]']
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
   static isShellout = true
 
@@ -62,11 +63,11 @@ class RunScript extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
     if (args.length) {
-      return this.runWorkspaces(args, filters)
+      return this.runWorkspaces(args)
     } else {
-      return this.listWorkspaces(args, filters)
+      return this.listWorkspaces(args)
     }
   }
 
@@ -121,11 +122,11 @@ class RunScript extends BaseCommand {
       banner: !this.npm.silent,
     }
 
-    for (const [event, args] of events) {
+    for (const [ev, evArgs] of events) {
       await runScript({
         ...opts,
-        event,
-        args,
+        event: ev,
+        args: evArgs,
       })
     }
   }
@@ -200,7 +201,7 @@ class RunScript extends BaseCommand {
 
   async runWorkspaces (args, filters) {
     const res = []
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
 
     for (const workspacePath of this.workspacePaths) {
       const pkg = await rpj(`${workspacePath}/package.json`)
@@ -233,7 +234,7 @@ class RunScript extends BaseCommand {
   }
 
   async listWorkspaces (args, filters) {
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
 
     if (this.npm.silent) {
       return
diff --git a/lib/commands/search.js b/lib/commands/search.js
index 8751e9e7d22fd..7419e97454688 100644
--- a/lib/commands/search.js
+++ b/lib/commands/search.js
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ class Search extends BaseCommand {
   ]
 
   static usage = ['[search terms ...]']
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
 
   async exec (args) {
     const opts = {
diff --git a/lib/commands/start.js b/lib/commands/start.js
index d84ad23ebafa6..a16eade24d21e 100644
--- a/lib/commands/start.js
+++ b/lib/commands/start.js
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ class Start extends LifecycleCmd {
     'ignore-scripts',
     'script-shell',
   ]
-
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 }
+
 module.exports = Start
diff --git a/lib/commands/stop.js b/lib/commands/stop.js
index db497675a694b..ae3031f06dd96 100644
--- a/lib/commands/stop.js
+++ b/lib/commands/stop.js
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ class Stop extends LifecycleCmd {
     'ignore-scripts',
     'script-shell',
   ]
-
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 }
+
 module.exports = Stop
diff --git a/lib/commands/test.js b/lib/commands/test.js
index 43be934894dd7..eccc47fc3341c 100644
--- a/lib/commands/test.js
+++ b/lib/commands/test.js
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ class Test extends LifecycleCmd {
     'ignore-scripts',
     'script-shell',
   ]
-
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 }
+
 module.exports = Test
diff --git a/lib/commands/token.js b/lib/commands/token.js
index de8e61101d8ac..8da8311875714 100644
--- a/lib/commands/token.js
+++ b/lib/commands/token.js
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ class Token extends BaseCommand {
   static name = 'token'
   static usage = ['list', 'revoke <id|token>', 'create [--read-only] [--cidr=list]']
   static params = ['read-only', 'cidr', 'registry', 'otp']
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
 
   async completion (opts) {
     const argv = opts.conf.argv.remain
@@ -30,7 +29,7 @@ class Token extends BaseCommand {
     throw new Error(argv[2] + ' not recognized')
   }
 
-  async exec (args, cb) {
+  async exec (args) {
     log.gauge.show('token')
     if (args.length === 0) {
       return this.list()
@@ -121,9 +120,7 @@ class Token extends BaseCommand {
     })
     await Promise.all(
       toRemove.map(key => {
-        return otplease(this.npm, conf, conf => {
-          return profile.removeToken(key, conf)
-        })
+        return otplease(this.npm, conf, c => profile.removeToken(key, c))
       })
     )
     if (conf.json) {
@@ -144,9 +141,7 @@ class Token extends BaseCommand {
     const validCIDR = this.validateCIDRList(cidr)
     log.info('token', 'creating')
     const result = await pulseTillDone.withPromise(
-      otplease(this.npm, conf, conf => {
-        return profile.createToken(password, readonly, validCIDR, conf)
-      })
+      otplease(this.npm, conf, c => profile.createToken(password, readonly, validCIDR, c))
     )
     delete result.key
     delete result.updated
@@ -216,7 +211,7 @@ class Token extends BaseCommand {
   }
 
   validateCIDRList (cidrs) {
-    const maybeList = cidrs ? (Array.isArray(cidrs) ? cidrs : [cidrs]) : []
+    const maybeList = [].concat(cidrs).filter(Boolean)
     const list = maybeList.length === 1 ? maybeList[0].split(/,\s*/) : maybeList
     for (const cidr of list) {
       if (isCidrV6(cidr)) {
diff --git a/lib/commands/uninstall.js b/lib/commands/uninstall.js
index e4a193cc5ca4e..8c44f2e32106c 100644
--- a/lib/commands/uninstall.js
+++ b/lib/commands/uninstall.js
@@ -20,19 +20,13 @@ class Uninstall extends ArboristWorkspaceCmd {
   }
 
   async exec (args) {
-    // the /path/to/node_modules/..
-    const path = this.npm.global
-      ? resolve(this.npm.globalDir, '..')
-      : this.npm.localPrefix
-
     if (!args.length) {
       if (!this.npm.global) {
         throw new Error('Must provide a package name to remove')
       } else {
-        let pkg
-
         try {
-          pkg = await rpj(resolve(this.npm.localPrefix, 'package.json'))
+          const pkg = await rpj(resolve(this.npm.localPrefix, 'package.json'))
+          args.push(pkg.name)
         } catch (er) {
           if (er.code !== 'ENOENT' && er.code !== 'ENOTDIR') {
             throw er
@@ -40,11 +34,14 @@ class Uninstall extends ArboristWorkspaceCmd {
             throw this.usageError()
           }
         }
-
-        args.push(pkg.name)
       }
     }
 
+    // the /path/to/node_modules/..
+    const path = this.npm.global
+      ? resolve(this.npm.globalDir, '..')
+      : this.npm.localPrefix
+
     const opts = {
       ...this.npm.flatOptions,
       path,
diff --git a/lib/commands/unpublish.js b/lib/commands/unpublish.js
index 268c8c3daedbb..9985e2e39f140 100644
--- a/lib/commands/unpublish.js
+++ b/lib/commands/unpublish.js
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ class Unpublish extends BaseCommand {
   static name = 'unpublish'
   static params = ['dry-run', 'force', 'workspace', 'workspaces']
   static usage = ['[<package-spec>]']
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
   async getKeysOfVersions (name, opts) {
@@ -130,15 +131,15 @@ class Unpublish extends BaseCommand {
     }
 
     if (!dryRun) {
-      await otplease(this.npm, opts, opts => libunpub(spec, opts))
+      await otplease(this.npm, opts, o => libunpub(spec, o))
     }
     if (!silent) {
       this.npm.output(`- ${pkgName}${pkgVersion}`)
     }
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
 
     const force = this.npm.config.get('force')
     if (!force) {
diff --git a/lib/commands/update.js b/lib/commands/update.js
index be9d35093d43b..fd30bcb41e2b3 100644
--- a/lib/commands/update.js
+++ b/lib/commands/update.js
@@ -40,9 +40,7 @@ class Update extends ArboristWorkspaceCmd {
   async exec (args) {
     const update = args.length === 0 ? true : args
     const global = path.resolve(this.npm.globalDir, '..')
-    const where = this.npm.global
-      ? global
-      : this.npm.prefix
+    const where = this.npm.global ? global : this.npm.prefix
 
     // In the context of `npm update` the save
     // config value should default to `false`
diff --git a/lib/commands/version.js b/lib/commands/version.js
index ab59fff5a308c..a523283671791 100644
--- a/lib/commands/version.js
+++ b/lib/commands/version.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ class Version extends BaseCommand {
     'include-workspace-root',
   ]
 
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
   /* eslint-disable-next-line max-len */
@@ -60,12 +61,12 @@ class Version extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
     switch (args.length) {
       case 0:
-        return this.listWorkspaces(filters)
+        return this.listWorkspaces()
       case 1:
-        return this.changeWorkspaces(args, filters)
+        return this.changeWorkspaces(args)
       default:
         throw this.usageError()
     }
@@ -80,9 +81,9 @@ class Version extends BaseCommand {
     return this.npm.output(`${prefix}${version}`)
   }
 
-  async changeWorkspaces (args, filters) {
+  async changeWorkspaces (args) {
     const prefix = this.npm.config.get('tag-version-prefix')
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
     const updatedWorkspaces = []
     for (const [name, path] of this.workspaces) {
       this.npm.output(name)
@@ -120,9 +121,9 @@ class Version extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async listWorkspaces (filters) {
+  async listWorkspaces () {
     const results = {}
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
     for (const path of this.workspacePaths) {
       const pj = resolve(path, 'package.json')
       // setWorkspaces has already parsed package.json so we know it won't error
diff --git a/lib/commands/view.js b/lib/commands/view.js
index 32b2d0f92a1a6..1875a84ec306b 100644
--- a/lib/commands/view.js
+++ b/lib/commands/view.js
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ class View extends BaseCommand {
     'include-workspace-root',
   ]
 
+  static workspaces = true
   static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
-
   static usage = ['[<package-spec>] [<field>[.subfield]...]']
 
   async completion (opts) {
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ class View extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
     if (!args.length) {
       args = ['.']
     }
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ class View extends BaseCommand {
       args = [''] // getData relies on this
     }
     const results = {}
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
     for (const name of this.workspaceNames) {
       const wsPkg = `${name}${pkg.slice(1)}`
       const [pckmnt, data] = await this.getData(wsPkg, args)
@@ -317,13 +317,13 @@ class View extends BaseCommand {
     return msg.trim()
   }
 
-  prettyView (packument, manifest) {
+  prettyView (packu, manifest) {
     // More modern, pretty printing of default view
     const unicode = this.npm.config.get('unicode')
     const tags = []
 
-    Object.keys(packument['dist-tags']).forEach((t) => {
-      const version = packument['dist-tags'][t]
+    Object.keys(packu['dist-tags']).forEach((t) => {
+      const version = packu['dist-tags'][t]
       tags.push(`${chalk.bold.green(t)}: ${version}`)
     })
     const unpackedSize = manifest.dist.unpackedSize &&
@@ -333,10 +333,10 @@ class View extends BaseCommand {
       name: chalk.green(manifest.name),
       version: chalk.green(manifest.version),
       bins: Object.keys(manifest.bin || {}),
-      versions: chalk.yellow(packument.versions.length + ''),
+      versions: chalk.yellow(packu.versions.length + ''),
       description: manifest.description,
       deprecated: manifest.deprecated,
-      keywords: packument.keywords || [],
+      keywords: packu.keywords || [],
       license: typeof licenseField === 'string'
         ? licenseField
         : (licenseField.type || 'Proprietary'),
@@ -347,9 +347,9 @@ class View extends BaseCommand {
         name: chalk.yellow(manifest._npmUser.name),
         email: chalk.cyan(manifest._npmUser.email),
       }),
-      modified: !packument.time ? undefined
-      : chalk.yellow(relativeDate(packument.time[manifest.version])),
-      maintainers: (packument.maintainers || []).map((u) => unparsePerson({
+      modified: !packu.time ? undefined
+      : chalk.yellow(relativeDate(packu.time[manifest.version])),
+      maintainers: (packu.maintainers || []).map((u) => unparsePerson({
         name: chalk.yellow(u.name),
         email: chalk.cyan(u.email),
       })),
diff --git a/lib/commands/whoami.js b/lib/commands/whoami.js
index 4497f9b3a542d..154cc870391ba 100644
--- a/lib/commands/whoami.js
+++ b/lib/commands/whoami.js
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ class Whoami extends BaseCommand {
   static description = 'Display npm username'
   static name = 'whoami'
   static params = ['registry']
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = true
 
   async exec (args) {
     const username = await getIdentity(this.npm, { ...this.npm.flatOptions })
diff --git a/lib/lifecycle-cmd.js b/lib/lifecycle-cmd.js
index 41633a4ba389c..848771a38355e 100644
--- a/lib/lifecycle-cmd.js
+++ b/lib/lifecycle-cmd.js
@@ -5,12 +5,14 @@ const BaseCommand = require('./base-command.js')
 class LifecycleCmd extends BaseCommand {
   static usage = ['[-- <args>]']
   static isShellout = true
+  static workspaces = true
+  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
 
-  async exec (args, cb) {
+  async exec (args) {
     return this.npm.exec('run-script', [this.constructor.name, ...args])
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters, cb) {
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
     return this.npm.exec('run-script', [this.constructor.name, ...args])
   }
 }
diff --git a/lib/npm.js b/lib/npm.js
index 0bdbcdb9efd8b..841d145ddcbad 100644
--- a/lib/npm.js
+++ b/lib/npm.js
@@ -20,25 +20,24 @@ const updateNotifier = require('./utils/update-notifier.js')
 const pkg = require('../package.json')
 const cmdList = require('./utils/cmd-list.js')
 
-let warnedNonDashArg = false
-const _load = Symbol('_load')
-
 class Npm extends EventEmitter {
   static get version () {
     return pkg.version
   }
 
-  command = null
   updateNotification = null
   loadErr = null
   argv = []
 
+  #command = null
   #runId = new Date().toISOString().replace(/[.:]/g, '_')
   #loadPromise = null
   #tmpFolder = null
   #title = 'npm'
   #argvClean = []
   #chalk = null
+  #npmRoot = null
+  #warnedNonDashArg = false
 
   #outputBuffer = []
   #logFile = new LogFile()
@@ -52,12 +51,30 @@ class Npm extends EventEmitter {
     },
   })
 
-  config = new Config({
-    npmPath: dirname(__dirname),
-    definitions,
-    flatten,
-    shorthands,
-  })
+  // all these options are only used by tests in order to make testing more
+  // closely resemble real world usage. for now, npm has no programmatic API so
+  // it is ok to add stuff here, but we should not rely on it more than
+  // necessary. XXX: make these options not necessary by refactoring @npmcli/config
+  //   - npmRoot: this is where npm looks for docs files and the builtin config
+  //   - argv: this allows tests to extend argv in the same way the argv would
+  //     be passed in via a CLI arg.
+  //   - excludeNpmCwd: this is a hack to get @npmcli/config to stop walking up
+  //     dirs to set a local prefix when it encounters the `npmRoot`. this
+  //     allows tests created by tap inside this repo to not set the local
+  //     prefix to `npmRoot` since that is the first dir it would encounter when
+  //     doing implicit detection
+  constructor ({ npmRoot = dirname(__dirname), argv = [], excludeNpmCwd = false } = {}) {
+    super()
+    this.#npmRoot = npmRoot
+    this.config = new Config({
+      npmPath: this.#npmRoot,
+      definitions,
+      flatten,
+      shorthands,
+      argv: [...process.argv, ...argv],
+      excludeNpmCwd,
+    })
+  }
 
   get version () {
     return this.constructor.version
@@ -89,44 +106,31 @@ class Npm extends EventEmitter {
   async cmd (cmd) {
     await this.load()
 
-    // when location isn't set and global isn't true
-    // check for a package.json at the localPrefix
-    // and set the location to project if found
-    // TODO: this logic can move to the config module loadLocalPrefix to
-    // avoid double stat calls and consolidate logic
-    if (this.config.isDefault('location') && !this.config.get('global')) {
-      const hasPackageJson = await fs.stat(resolve(this.config.localPrefix, 'package.json'))
-        .then((st) => st.isFile())
-        .catch(() => false)
-      if (hasPackageJson) {
-        this.config.set('location', 'project')
-      }
-    }
-
-    const command = this.deref(cmd)
-    if (!command) {
+    const cmdId = this.deref(cmd)
+    if (!cmdId) {
       throw Object.assign(new Error(`Unknown command ${cmd}`), {
         code: 'EUNKNOWNCOMMAND',
       })
     }
-    const Impl = require(`./commands/${command}.js`)
-    const impl = new Impl(this)
-    return impl
-  }
 
-  // Call an npm command
-  async exec (cmd, args) {
-    const command = await this.cmd(cmd)
-    const timeEnd = this.time(`command:${cmd}`)
+    const Impl = require(`./commands/${cmdId}.js`)
+    const command = new Impl(this)
 
     // since 'test', 'start', 'stop', etc. commands re-enter this function
     // to call the run-script command, we need to only set it one time.
-    if (!this.command) {
-      process.env.npm_command = command.name
-      this.command = command.name
-      this.commandInstance = command
+    if (!this.#command) {
+      this.#command = command
+      process.env.npm_command = this.command
     }
 
+    return command
+  }
+
+  // Call an npm command
+  async exec (cmd, args = this.argv) {
+    const command = await this.cmd(cmd)
+    const timeEnd = this.time(`command:${cmd}`)
+
     // this is async but we dont await it, since its ok if it doesnt
     // finish before the command finishes running. it uses command and argv
     // so it must be initiated here, after the command name is set
@@ -135,72 +139,27 @@ class Npm extends EventEmitter {
 
     // Options are prefixed by a hyphen-minus (-, \u2d).
     // Other dash-type chars look similar but are invalid.
-    if (!warnedNonDashArg) {
-      args
-        .filter(arg => /^[\u2010-\u2015\u2212\uFE58\uFE63\uFF0D]/.test(arg))
-        .forEach(arg => {
-          warnedNonDashArg = true
-          log.error(
-            'arg',
-            'Argument starts with non-ascii dash, this is probably invalid:',
-            arg
-          )
-        })
-    }
-
-    const workspacesEnabled = this.config.get('workspaces')
-    // if cwd is a workspace, the default is set to [that workspace]
-    const implicitWorkspace = this.config.get('workspace', 'default').length > 0
-    const workspacesFilters = this.config.get('workspace')
-    const includeWorkspaceRoot = this.config.get('include-workspace-root')
-    // only call execWorkspaces when we have workspaces explicitly set
-    // or when it is implicit and not in our ignore list
-    const hasWorkspaceFilters = workspacesFilters.length > 0
-    const invalidWorkspaceConfig = workspacesEnabled === false && hasWorkspaceFilters
-
-    // (-ws || -w foo) && (cwd is not a workspace || command is not ignoring implicit workspaces)
-    const filterByWorkspaces = (workspacesEnabled || hasWorkspaceFilters) &&
-      (!implicitWorkspace || !command.ignoreImplicitWorkspace)
-    // normally this would go in the constructor, but our tests don't
-    // actually use a real npm object so this.npm.config isn't always
-    // populated.  this is the compromise until we can make that a reality
-    // and then move this into the constructor.
-    command.workspaces = workspacesEnabled
-    command.workspacePaths = null
-    // normally this would be evaluated in base-command#setWorkspaces, see
-    // above for explanation
-    command.includeWorkspaceRoot = includeWorkspaceRoot
-
-    let execPromise = Promise.resolve()
-    if (this.config.get('usage')) {
-      this.output(command.usage)
-    } else if (invalidWorkspaceConfig) {
-      execPromise = Promise.reject(
-        new Error('Can not use --no-workspaces and --workspace at the same time'))
-    } else if (filterByWorkspaces) {
-      if (this.global) {
-        execPromise = Promise.reject(new Error('Workspaces not supported for global packages'))
-      } else {
-        execPromise = command.execWorkspaces(args, workspacesFilters)
+    if (!this.#warnedNonDashArg) {
+      const nonDashArgs = args.filter(a => /^[\u2010-\u2015\u2212\uFE58\uFE63\uFF0D]/.test(a))
+      if (nonDashArgs.length) {
+        this.#warnedNonDashArg = true
+        log.error(
+          'arg',
+          'Argument starts with non-ascii dash, this is probably invalid:',
+          nonDashArgs.join(', ')
+        )
       }
-    } else {
-      execPromise = command.exec(args)
     }
 
-    return execPromise.finally(timeEnd)
+    return command.cmdExec(args).finally(timeEnd)
   }
 
   async load () {
     if (!this.#loadPromise) {
-      this.#loadPromise = this.time('npm:load', async () => {
-        await this[_load]().catch((er) => {
-          this.loadErr = er
-          throw er
-        })
-        if (this.config.get('force')) {
-          log.warn('using --force', 'Recommended protections disabled.')
-        }
-      })
+      this.#loadPromise = this.time('npm:load', () => this.#load().catch((er) => {
+        this.loadErr = er
+        throw er
+      }))
     }
     return this.#loadPromise
   }
@@ -240,21 +199,17 @@ class Npm extends EventEmitter {
     this.#title = t
   }
 
-  async [_load] () {
-    const node = this.time('npm:load:whichnode', () => {
-      try {
-        return which.sync(process.argv[0])
-      } catch {
-        // TODO should we throw here?
+  async #load () {
+    await this.time('npm:load:whichnode', async () => {
+      // TODO should we throw here?
+      const node = await which(process.argv[0]).catch(() => {})
+      if (node && node.toUpperCase() !== process.execPath.toUpperCase()) {
+        log.verbose('node symlink', node)
+        process.execPath = node
+        this.config.execPath = node
       }
     })
 
-    if (node && node.toUpperCase() !== process.execPath.toUpperCase()) {
-      log.verbose('node symlink', node)
-      process.execPath = node
-      this.config.execPath = node
-    }
-
     await this.time('npm:load:configload', () => this.config.load())
 
     // mkdir this separately since the logs dir can be set to
@@ -323,6 +278,18 @@ class Npm extends EventEmitter {
         this.config.set('scope', `@${configScope}`, this.config.find('scope'))
       }
     })
+
+    if (this.config.get('force')) {
+      log.warn('using --force', 'Recommended protections disabled.')
+    }
+  }
+
+  get isShellout () {
+    return this.#command?.constructor?.isShellout
+  }
+
+  get command () {
+    return this.#command?.name
   }
 
   get flatOptions () {
@@ -346,6 +313,10 @@ class Npm extends EventEmitter {
     return this.flatOptions.color
   }
 
+  get logColor () {
+    return this.flatOptions.logColor
+  }
+
   get chalk () {
     if (!this.#chalk) {
       let level = chalk.level
@@ -361,10 +332,6 @@ class Npm extends EventEmitter {
     return this.config.get('global') || this.config.get('location') === 'global'
   }
 
-  get logColor () {
-    return this.flatOptions.logColor
-  }
-
   get silent () {
     return this.flatOptions.silent
   }
@@ -401,6 +368,10 @@ class Npm extends EventEmitter {
     return this.#timers.file
   }
 
+  get npmRoot () {
+    return this.#npmRoot
+  }
+
   get cache () {
     return this.config.get('cache')
   }
@@ -425,6 +396,10 @@ class Npm extends EventEmitter {
     this.config.localPrefix = r
   }
 
+  get localPackage () {
+    return this.config.localPackage
+  }
+
   get globalDir () {
     return process.platform !== 'win32'
       ? resolve(this.globalPrefix, 'lib', 'node_modules')
diff --git a/lib/package-url-cmd.js b/lib/package-url-cmd.js
index eac2bbe1b6d51..20e6a16fe1523 100644
--- a/lib/package-url-cmd.js
+++ b/lib/package-url-cmd.js
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ const log = require('./utils/log-shim')
 
 const BaseCommand = require('./base-command.js')
 class PackageUrlCommand extends BaseCommand {
-  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
   static params = [
     'browser',
     'registry',
@@ -18,6 +17,8 @@ class PackageUrlCommand extends BaseCommand {
     'include-workspace-root',
   ]
 
+  static workspaces = true
+  static ignoreImplicitWorkspace = false
   static usage = ['[<pkgname> [<pkgname> ...]]']
 
   async exec (args) {
@@ -41,11 +42,11 @@ class PackageUrlCommand extends BaseCommand {
     }
   }
 
-  async execWorkspaces (args, filters) {
+  async execWorkspaces (args) {
     if (args && args.length) {
       return this.exec(args)
     }
-    await this.setWorkspaces(filters)
+    await this.setWorkspaces()
     return this.exec(this.workspacePaths)
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/utils/config/definitions.js b/lib/utils/config/definitions.js
index 0f401d6572a59..dd3d9946af819 100644
--- a/lib/utils/config/definitions.js
+++ b/lib/utils/config/definitions.js
@@ -2141,6 +2141,7 @@ define('unicode', {
     When set to true, npm uses unicode characters in the tree output.  When
     false, it uses ascii characters instead of unicode glyphs.
   `,
+  flatten,
 })
 
 define('update-notifier', {
diff --git a/lib/utils/error-message.js b/lib/utils/error-message.js
index aee376120ba27..72c7b9fe4553f 100644
--- a/lib/utils/error-message.js
+++ b/lib/utils/error-message.js
@@ -5,7 +5,21 @@ const replaceInfo = require('./replace-info.js')
 const { report } = require('./explain-eresolve.js')
 const log = require('./log-shim')
 
-module.exports = (er, npm) => {
+const messageText = msg => msg.map(line => line.slice(1).join(' ')).join('\n')
+
+const jsonError = (er, npm, { summary, detail }) => {
+  if (npm?.config.loaded && npm.config.get('json')) {
+    return {
+      error: {
+        code: er.code,
+        summary: messageText(summary),
+        detail: messageText(detail),
+      },
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+const errorMessage = (er, npm) => {
   const short = []
   const detail = []
   const files = []
@@ -329,7 +343,7 @@ module.exports = (er, npm) => {
           'Actual:   ' +
             JSON.stringify({
               npm: npm.version,
-              node: npm.config.loaded ? npm.config.get('node-version') : process.version,
+              node: process.version,
             }),
         ].join('\n'),
       ])
@@ -402,5 +416,7 @@ module.exports = (er, npm) => {
 
       break
   }
-  return { summary: short, detail, files }
+  return { summary: short, detail, files, json: jsonError(er, npm, { summary: short, detail }) }
 }
+
+module.exports = errorMessage
diff --git a/lib/utils/exit-handler.js b/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
index a9e061de7a4a5..b5fc7042bd020 100644
--- a/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
+++ b/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ const log = require('./log-shim.js')
 const errorMessage = require('./error-message.js')
 const replaceInfo = require('./replace-info.js')
 
-const messageText = msg => msg.map(line => line.slice(1).join(' ')).join('\n')
 const indent = (val) => Array.isArray(val) ? val.map(v => indent(v)) : `    ${val}`
 
 let npm = null // set by the cli
@@ -144,7 +143,7 @@ const exitHandler = err => {
     // will presumably print its own errors and exit with a proper status
     // code if there's a problem.  If we got an error with a code=0, then...
     // something else went wrong along the way, so maybe an npm problem?
-    const isShellout = npm.commandInstance && npm.commandInstance.constructor.isShellout
+    const isShellout = npm.isShellout
     const quietShellout = isShellout && typeof err.code === 'number' && err.code
     if (quietShellout) {
       exitCode = err.code
@@ -181,7 +180,8 @@ const exitHandler = err => {
         }
       }
 
-      const { summary, detail, files = [] } = errorMessage(err, npm)
+      const { summary, detail, json, files = [] } = errorMessage(err, npm)
+      jsonError = json
 
       for (let [file, content] of files) {
         file = `${npm.logPath}${file}`
@@ -189,8 +189,8 @@ const exitHandler = err => {
         try {
           fs.writeFileSync(file, content)
           detail.push(['', `\n\nFor a full report see:\n${file}`])
-        } catch (err) {
-          log.warn('', `Could not write error message to ${file} due to ${err}`)
+        } catch (logFileErr) {
+          log.warn('', `Could not write error message to ${file} due to ${logFileErr}`)
         }
       }
 
@@ -198,16 +198,6 @@ const exitHandler = err => {
         log.error(...errline)
       }
 
-      if (hasLoadedNpm && npm.config.get('json')) {
-        jsonError = {
-          error: {
-            code: err.code,
-            summary: messageText(summary),
-            detail: messageText(detail),
-          },
-        }
-      }
-
       if (typeof err.errno === 'number') {
         exitCode = err.errno
       } else if (typeof err.code === 'number') {
diff --git a/lib/utils/explain-dep.js b/lib/utils/explain-dep.js
index cd53a2269640e..58258026491dc 100644
--- a/lib/utils/explain-dep.js
+++ b/lib/utils/explain-dep.js
@@ -103,13 +103,13 @@ const explainDependents = ({ name, dependents }, depth, color) => {
     const maxLen = 50
     const showNames = []
     for (let i = max; i < dependents.length; i++) {
-      const { from: { name = 'the root project' } } = dependents[i]
-      len += name.length
+      const { from: { name: depName = 'the root project' } } = dependents[i]
+      len += depName.length
       if (len >= maxLen && i < dependents.length - 1) {
         showNames.push('...')
         break
       }
-      showNames.push(name)
+      showNames.push(depName)
     }
     const show = `(${showNames.join(', ')})`
     messages.push(`${dependents.length - max} more ${show}`)
diff --git a/lib/utils/log-file.js b/lib/utils/log-file.js
index b945eedbc96dd..f663997308ed6 100644
--- a/lib/utils/log-file.js
+++ b/lib/utils/log-file.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 const os = require('os')
-const path = require('path')
+const { join, dirname, basename } = require('path')
 const { format, promisify } = require('util')
 const glob = promisify(require('glob'))
 const MiniPass = require('minipass')
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ class LogFiles {
 
     try {
       const logPath = this.#getLogFilePath()
-      const logGlob = path.join(path.dirname(logPath), path.basename(logPath)
+      const logGlob = join(dirname(logPath), basename(logPath)
         // tell glob to only match digits
         .replace(/\d/g, '[0123456789]')
         // Handle the old (prior to 8.2.0) log file names which did not have a
diff --git a/lib/utils/npm-usage.js b/lib/utils/npm-usage.js
index 947a3073bc5ff..b04ad33f9dd79 100644
--- a/lib/utils/npm-usage.js
+++ b/lib/utils/npm-usage.js
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-const { dirname } = require('path')
 const { commands } = require('./cmd-list')
 
 const COL_MAX = 60
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ or on the command line via: npm <command> --key=value
 More configuration info: npm help config
 Configuration fields: npm help 7 config
 
-npm@${npm.version} ${dirname(dirname(__dirname))}`
+npm@${npm.version} ${npm.npmRoot}`
 }
 
 const cmdNames = () => {
diff --git a/lib/utils/open-url.js b/lib/utils/open-url.js
index 379640773fa6e..f882d0c9d3934 100644
--- a/lib/utils/open-url.js
+++ b/lib/utils/open-url.js
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ const open = async (npm, url, errMsg, isFile) => {
       if (!/^https?:$/.test(new URL(url).protocol)) {
         throw new Error()
       }
-    } catch (_) {
+    } catch {
       throw new Error('Invalid URL: ' + url)
     }
   }
diff --git a/lib/utils/queryable.js b/lib/utils/queryable.js
index 7c5bb7fe87baf..6acc1758ceea7 100644
--- a/lib/utils/queryable.js
+++ b/lib/utils/queryable.js
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 const util = require('util')
-const _data = Symbol('data')
 const _delete = Symbol('delete')
 const _append = Symbol('append')
 
@@ -236,6 +235,8 @@ const setter = ({ data, key, value, force }) => {
 }
 
 class Queryable {
+  #data = null
+
   constructor (obj) {
     if (!obj || typeof obj !== 'object') {
       throw Object.assign(new Error('Queryable needs an object to query properties from.'), {
@@ -243,7 +244,7 @@ class Queryable {
       })
     }
 
-    this[_data] = obj
+    this.#data = obj
   }
 
   query (queries) {
@@ -251,12 +252,12 @@ class Queryable {
     // with the legacy API lib/view.js is consuming, if at some point
     // we refactor that command then we can revisit making this nicer
     if (queries === '') {
-      return { '': this[_data] }
+      return { '': this.#data }
     }
 
     const q = query =>
       getter({
-        data: this[_data],
+        data: this.#data,
         key: query,
       })
 
@@ -283,7 +284,7 @@ class Queryable {
   // and assigns `value` to the last property of the query chain
   set (query, value, { force } = {}) {
     setter({
-      data: this[_data],
+      data: this.#data,
       key: query,
       value,
       force,
@@ -293,14 +294,14 @@ class Queryable {
   // deletes the value of the property found at `query`
   delete (query) {
     setter({
-      data: this[_data],
+      data: this.#data,
       key: query,
       value: _delete,
     })
   }
 
   toJSON () {
-    return this[_data]
+    return this.#data
   }
 
   [util.inspect.custom] () {
diff --git a/lib/utils/read-user-info.js b/lib/utils/read-user-info.js
index ac24396c6abb9..26d5b36d55b58 100644
--- a/lib/utils/read-user-info.js
+++ b/lib/utils/read-user-info.js
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ function readOTP (msg = otpPrompt, otp, isRetry) {
   }
 
   return read({ prompt: msg, default: otp || '' })
-    .then((otp) => readOTP(msg, otp, true))
+    .then((rOtp) => readOTP(msg, rOtp, true))
 }
 
 function readPassword (msg = passwordPrompt, password, isRetry) {
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ function readPassword (msg = passwordPrompt, password, isRetry) {
   }
 
   return read({ prompt: msg, silent: true, default: password || '' })
-    .then((password) => readPassword(msg, password, true))
+    .then((rPassword) => readPassword(msg, rPassword, true))
 }
 
 function readUsername (msg = usernamePrompt, username, isRetry) {
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ function readUsername (msg = usernamePrompt, username, isRetry) {
   }
 
   return read({ prompt: msg, default: username || '' })
-    .then((username) => readUsername(msg, username, true))
+    .then((rUsername) => readUsername(msg, rUsername, true))
 }
 
 function readEmail (msg = emailPrompt, email, isRetry) {
diff --git a/lib/utils/reify-output.js b/lib/utils/reify-output.js
index b5c3a593b8db0..5ac7fa4b01896 100644
--- a/lib/utils/reify-output.js
+++ b/lib/utils/reify-output.js
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 const log = require('./log-shim.js')
 const { depth } = require('treeverse')
 const ms = require('ms')
-const auditReport = require('npm-audit-report')
+const npmAuditReport = require('npm-audit-report')
 const { readTree: getFundingInfo } = require('libnpmfund')
 const auditError = require('./audit-error.js')
 
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ const getAuditReport = (npm, report) => {
   const defaultAuditLevel = npm.command !== 'audit' ? 'none' : 'low'
   const auditLevel = npm.flatOptions.auditLevel || defaultAuditLevel
 
-  const res = auditReport(report, {
+  const res = npmAuditReport(report, {
     reporter,
     ...npm.flatOptions,
     auditLevel,
diff --git a/lib/workspaces/get-workspaces.js b/lib/workspaces/get-workspaces.js
index 373af1d689cc3..2ac043d5f3943 100644
--- a/lib/workspaces/get-workspaces.js
+++ b/lib/workspaces/get-workspaces.js
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ const getWorkspaces = async (filters, { path, includeWorkspaceRoot, relativeFrom
     let msg = '!'
     if (filters.length) {
       msg = `:\n ${filters.reduce(
-        (res, filterArg) => `${res} --workspace=${filterArg}`, '')}`
+        (acc, filterArg) => `${acc} --workspace=${filterArg}`, '')}`
     }
 
     throw new Error(`No workspaces found${msg}`)
diff --git a/mock-registry/lib/index.js b/mock-registry/lib/index.js
index 637da6f6feb7e..a89c8b72b7d58 100644
--- a/mock-registry/lib/index.js
+++ b/mock-registry/lib/index.js
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class MockRegistry {
         t.fail(`Unmatched request: ${JSON.stringify(req.options, null, 2)}`)
       }
       if (debug) {
-        console.error('NO MATCH', t.name, req.options)
+        console.error('NO MATCH', t.name, req.options ? req.options : req.path)
       }
     }
 
@@ -314,6 +314,20 @@ class MockRegistry {
     return nock
   }
 
+  getPackage (name, { times = 1, code = 200, query, resp = {} }) {
+    let nock = this.nock
+    nock = nock.get(`/${npa(name).escapedName}`).times(times)
+    if (query) {
+      nock = nock.query(query)
+    }
+    if (code === 404) {
+      nock = nock.reply(code, { error: 'Not found' })
+    } else {
+      nock = nock.reply(code, resp)
+    }
+    this.nock = nock
+  }
+
   async package ({ manifest, times = 1, query, tarballs }) {
     let nock = this.nock
     const spec = npa(manifest.name)
diff --git a/tap-snapshots/test/lib/docs.js.test.cjs b/tap-snapshots/test/lib/docs.js.test.cjs
index 8038dfa30b6c2..d65e3d0745217 100644
--- a/tap-snapshots/test/lib/docs.js.test.cjs
+++ b/tap-snapshots/test/lib/docs.js.test.cjs
@@ -2380,6 +2380,7 @@ Array [
   "tag",
   "tag-version-prefix",
   "umask",
+  "unicode",
   "user-agent",
   "workspace",
   "workspaces",
@@ -2409,7 +2410,6 @@ Array [
   "prefix",
   "timing",
   "tmp",
-  "unicode",
   "update-notifier",
   "usage",
   "userconfig",
diff --git a/test/bin/npx-cli.js b/test/bin/npx-cli.js
index b526f2dfbe32e..b456d9905f77d 100644
--- a/test/bin/npx-cli.js
+++ b/test/bin/npx-cli.js
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 const t = require('tap')
+const mockGlobals = require('../fixtures/mock-globals')
 const npx = require.resolve('../../bin/npx-cli.js')
 const cli = require.resolve('../../lib/cli.js')
 const npm = require.resolve('../../bin/npm-cli.js')
 
 const logs = []
-console.error = (...msg) => logs.push(msg)
-
 t.afterEach(() => (logs.length = 0))
+mockGlobals(t, { 'console.error': (...msg) => logs.push(msg) })
 
 t.test('npx foo -> npm exec -- foo', t => {
   process.argv = ['node', npx, 'foo']
diff --git a/test/fixtures/clean-snapshot.js b/test/fixtures/clean-snapshot.js
index b0ea28cee4d81..83ddc00f4b787 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/clean-snapshot.js
+++ b/test/fixtures/clean-snapshot.js
@@ -1,19 +1,43 @@
+const { relative, dirname } = require('path')
+
+// normalize line endings (for ini)
+const cleanNewlines = (s) => s.replace(/\r\n/g, '\n')
+
 // XXX: this also cleans quoted " in json snapshots
 // ideally this could be avoided but its easier to just
 // run this command inside cleanSnapshot
-const normalizePath = (str) => str
-  .replace(/\r\n/g, '\n') // normalize line endings (for ini)
+const normalizePath = (str) => cleanNewlines(str)
   .replace(/[A-z]:\\/g, '\\') // turn windows roots to posix ones
   .replace(/\\+/g, '/') // replace \ with /
 
+const pathRegex = (p) => new RegExp(normalizePath(p), 'gi')
+
+// create a cwd replacer in the module scope, since some tests
+// overwrite process.cwd()
+const CWD = pathRegex(process.cwd())
+const TESTDIR = pathRegex(relative(process.cwd(), dirname(require.main.filename)))
+
 const cleanCwd = (path) => normalizePath(path)
-  .replace(new RegExp(normalizePath(process.cwd()), 'g'), '{CWD}')
+  // repalce CWD, TESTDIR, and TAPDIR separately
+  .replace(CWD, '{CWD}')
+  .replace(TESTDIR, '{TESTDIR}')
+  .replace(/tap-testdir-[\w-.]+/gi, '{TAPDIR}')
+  // if everything ended up in line, reduce it all to CWD
+  .replace(/\{CWD\}\/\{TESTDIR\}\/\{TAPDIR\}/g, '{CWD}')
+  // replace for platform differences in global nodemodules
+  .replace(/lib\/node_modules/g, 'node_modules')
+  .replace(/global\/lib/g, 'global')
 
 const cleanDate = (str) =>
   str.replace(/\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T\d{2}[_:]\d{2}[_:]\d{2}[_:.]\d{3}Z/g, '{DATE}')
 
+const cleanTime = str => str.replace(/in [0-9]+m?s\s*$/gm, 'in {TIME}')
+
 module.exports = {
   normalizePath,
+  pathRegex,
   cleanCwd,
   cleanDate,
+  cleanTime,
+  cleanNewlines,
 }
diff --git a/test/fixtures/merge-conflict.json b/test/fixtures/merge-conflict.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..2591c62efb37a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/merge-conflict.json
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+{
+  "array": [
+<<<<<<< HEAD
+    100,
+    {
+      "foo": "baz"
+    },
+||||||| merged common ancestors
+    1,
+=======
+    111,
+    1,
+    2,
+    3,
+    {
+      "foo": "bar"
+    },
+>>>>>>> a
+    1
+  ],
+  "a": {
+    "b": {
+<<<<<<< HEAD
+      "c": {
+        "x": "bbbb"
+      }
+||||||| merged common ancestors
+      "c": {
+        "x": "aaaa"
+      }
+=======
+      "c": "xxxx"
+>>>>>>> a
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/mock-globals.js b/test/fixtures/mock-globals.js
index 29da2a48b092d..17b2b156c17ab 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/mock-globals.js
+++ b/test/fixtures/mock-globals.js
@@ -4,15 +4,25 @@
 // Hopefully it can be removed for a feature in tap in the future
 
 const sep = '.'
+const reLastSep = new RegExp(`\\${sep}(?=[^${sep}]+$)`)
 const has = (o, k) => Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(o, k)
 const opd = (o, k) => Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(o, k)
 const po = (o) => Object.getPrototypeOf(o)
 const pojo = (o) => Object.prototype.toString.call(o) === '[object Object]'
 const last = (arr) => arr[arr.length - 1]
-const splitLast = (str) => str.split(new RegExp(`\\${sep}(?=[^${sep}]+$)`))
 const dupes = (arr) => arr.filter((k, i) => arr.indexOf(k) !== i)
 const dupesStartsWith = (arr) => arr.filter((k1) => arr.some((k2) => k2.startsWith(k1 + sep)))
 
+const splitLast = (str) => {
+  const hasNerf = str.includes('process.env') && str.includes('//')
+  if (hasNerf) {
+    const startPosition = str.indexOf('//')
+    const index = str.lastIndexOf(sep, startPosition)
+    return [str.slice(0, index), str.slice(index + 1)]
+  }
+  return str.split(reLastSep)
+}
+
 // A weird getter that can look up keys on nested objects but also
 // match keys with dots in their names, eg { 'process.env': { TERM: 'a' } }
 // can be looked up with the key 'process.env.TERM'
diff --git a/test/fixtures/mock-npm.js b/test/fixtures/mock-npm.js
index 8a744cd559eaf..0d9c98d6910b6 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/mock-npm.js
+++ b/test/fixtures/mock-npm.js
@@ -1,14 +1,45 @@
 const os = require('os')
 const fs = require('fs').promises
 const path = require('path')
+const tap = require('tap')
+const errorMessage = require('../../lib/utils/error-message')
 const mockLogs = require('./mock-logs')
 const mockGlobals = require('./mock-globals')
-const log = require('../../lib/utils/log-shim')
-const envConfigKeys = Object.keys(require('../../lib/utils/config/definitions.js'))
+const defExitCode = process.exitCode
+
+const setGlobalNodeModules = (globalDir) => {
+  const updateSymlinks = (obj, visit) => {
+    for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(obj)) {
+      if (/Fixture<symlink>/.test(value.toString())) {
+        obj[key] = tap.fixture('symlink', path.join('..', value.content))
+      } else if (typeof value === 'object') {
+        obj[key] = updateSymlinks(value, visit)
+      }
+    }
+    return obj
+  }
 
-const RealMockNpm = (t, otherMocks = {}) => {
+  if (globalDir.lib) {
+    throw new Error('`globalPrefixDir` should not have a top-level `lib/` directory, only a ' +
+      'top-level `node_modules/` dir that gets set in the correct location based on platform. ' +
+      `Received the following top level entries: ${Object.keys(globalDir).join(', ')}.`
+    )
+  }
+
+  if (process.platform !== 'win32' && globalDir.node_modules) {
+    const { node_modules: nm, ...rest } = globalDir
+    return {
+      ...rest,
+      lib: { node_modules: updateSymlinks(nm) },
+    }
+  }
+
+  return globalDir
+}
+
+const getMockNpm = async (t, { mocks, globals, npm, init, load }) => {
   const mock = {
-    ...mockLogs(otherMocks),
+    ...mockLogs(mocks),
     outputs: [],
     outputErrors: [],
     joinedOutput: () => mock.outputs.map(o => o.join(' ')).join('\n'),
@@ -16,11 +47,30 @@ const RealMockNpm = (t, otherMocks = {}) => {
 
   const Npm = t.mock('../../lib/npm.js', {
     '../../lib/utils/update-notifier.js': async () => {},
-    ...otherMocks,
+    ...mocks,
     ...mock.logMocks,
   })
 
   mock.Npm = class MockNpm extends Npm {
+    constructor () {
+      mockGlobals(t, globals)
+      super(npm)
+    }
+
+    async exec (...args) {
+      const [res, err] = await super.exec(...args).then((r) => [r]).catch(e => [null, e])
+      // This mimics how the exit handler flushes output for commands that have
+      // buffered output. It also uses the same json error processing from the
+      // error message fn. This is necessary for commands with buffered output
+      // to read the output after exec is called. This is not *exactly* how it
+      // works in practice, but it is close enough for now.
+      this.flushOutput(err ? errorMessage(err, this).json : null)
+      if (err) {
+        throw err
+      }
+      return res
+    }
+
     // lib/npm.js tests needs this to actually test the function!
     originalOutput (...args) {
       super.output(...args)
@@ -39,77 +89,91 @@ const RealMockNpm = (t, otherMocks = {}) => {
     }
   }
 
-  return mock
-}
-
-const setLoglevel = (t, loglevel, reset = true) => {
-  if (t && reset) {
-    const _level = log.level
-    t.teardown(() => log.level = _level)
+  if (init) {
+    mock.npm = new mock.Npm()
+    if (load) {
+      await mock.npm.load()
+    }
   }
 
-  if (loglevel) {
-    // Set log level on the npmlog singleton and shared across everything
-    log.level = loglevel
-  }
+  return mock
 }
 
-// Resolve some options to a function call with supplied args
-const result = (fn, ...args) => typeof fn === 'function' ? fn(...args) : fn
+const mockNpms = new Map()
 
-const LoadMockNpm = async (t, {
+const setupMockNpm = async (t, {
   init = true,
   load = init,
+  // preload a command
+  command = null, // string name of the command
+  exec = null, // optionally exec the command before returning
+  // test dirs
   prefixDir = {},
   homeDir = {},
   cacheDir = {},
-  globalPrefixDir = { lib: {} },
-  config = {},
-  mocks = {},
+  globalPrefixDir = { node_modules: {} },
   otherDirs = {},
-  globals = null,
+  // setup config, env vars, mocks, npm opts
+  config: _config = {},
+  mocks = {},
+  globals = {},
+  npm: npmOpts = {},
+  argv: rawArgv = [],
 } = {}) => {
-  // Mock some globals with their original values so they get torn down
-  // back to the original at the end of the test since they are manipulated
-  // by npm itself
-  const npmConfigEnv = {}
-  for (const key in process.env) {
-    if (key.startsWith('npm_config_')) {
-      npmConfigEnv[key] = undefined
+  // easy to accidentally forget to pass in tap
+  if (!(t instanceof tap.Test)) {
+    throw new Error('first argument must be a tap instance')
+  }
+
+  // mockNpm is designed to only be run once per test chain so we assign it to
+  // the test in the cache and error if it is attempted to run again
+  let tapInstance = t
+  while (tapInstance) {
+    if (mockNpms.has(tapInstance)) {
+      throw new Error('mockNpm can only be called once in each t.test chain')
     }
+    tapInstance = tapInstance.parent
+  }
+  mockNpms.set(t, true)
+
+  if (!init && load) {
+    throw new Error('cant `load` without `init`')
+  }
+
+  if (!init && load) {
+    throw new Error('cant `load` without `init`')
   }
+
+  const npmEnvs = Object.keys(process.env).filter(k => k.startsWith('npm_'))
+
+  // These are globals manipulated by npm itself that we need to reset to their
+  // original values between tests
   mockGlobals(t, {
     process: {
       title: process.title,
       execPath: process.execPath,
       env: {
-        npm_command: process.env.npm_command,
+        NODE_ENV: process.env.NODE_ENV,
         COLOR: process.env.COLOR,
-        ...npmConfigEnv,
+        // further, these are npm controlled envs that we need to zero out before
+        // before the test. setting them to undefined ensures they are not set and
+        // also returned to their original value after the test
+        ...npmEnvs.reduce((acc, k) => {
+          acc[k] = undefined
+          return acc
+        }, {}),
       },
     },
   })
 
-  const { Npm, ...rest } = RealMockNpm(t, mocks)
-
-  // We want to fail fast when writing tests. Default this to 0 unless it was
-  // explicitly set in a test.
-  config = { 'fetch-retries': 0, ...config }
-
-  if (!init && load) {
-    throw new Error('cant `load` without `init`')
-  }
-
-  // Set log level as early as possible since
-  setLoglevel(t, config.loglevel)
-
   const dir = t.testdir({
     home: homeDir,
     prefix: prefixDir,
     cache: cacheDir,
-    global: globalPrefixDir,
+    global: setGlobalNodeModules(globalPrefixDir),
     other: otherDirs,
   })
+
   const dirs = {
     testdir: dir,
     prefix: path.join(dir, 'prefix'),
@@ -119,52 +183,93 @@ const LoadMockNpm = async (t, {
     other: path.join(dir, 'other'),
   }
 
-  // Set cache to testdir via env var so it is available when load is run
-  // XXX: remove this for a solution where cache argv is passed in
-  mockGlobals(t, {
+  // Option objects can also be functions that are called with all the dir paths
+  // so they can be used to set configs that need to be based on paths
+  const withDirs = (v) => typeof v === 'function' ? v(dirs) : v
+
+  const { argv, env, config } = Object.entries({
+    // We want to fail fast when writing tests. Default this to 0 unless it was
+    // explicitly set in a test.
+    'fetch-retries': 0,
+    cache: dirs.cache,
+    ...withDirs(_config),
+  })
+    .reduce((acc, [key, value]) => {
+      // nerfdart configs passed in need to be set via env var instead of argv
+      if (key.startsWith('//')) {
+        acc.env[`process.env.npm_config_${key}`] = value
+      } else {
+        const values = [].concat(value)
+        acc.argv.push(...values.flatMap(v => [`--${key}`, v.toString()]))
+      }
+      acc.config[key] = value
+      return acc
+    }, { argv: [...rawArgv], env: {}, config: {} })
+
+  // process.cwd shouldnt be mocked unless we are actually initializing npm
+  // here, since it messes with other things like t.mock paths
+  const { 'process.cwd': processCwd, ...mockedGlobals } = {
     'process.env.HOME': dirs.home,
-    'process.env.npm_config_cache': dirs.cache,
-    ...(globals ? result(globals, { ...dirs }) : {}),
-    // Some configs don't work because they can't be set via npm.config.set until
-    // config is loaded. But some config items are needed before that. So this is
-    // an explicit set of configs that must be loaded as env vars.
-    // XXX(npm9): make this possible by passing in argv directly to npm/config
-    ...Object.entries(config)
-      .filter(([k]) => envConfigKeys.includes(k))
-      .reduce((acc, [k, v]) => {
-        acc[`process.env.npm_config_${k.replace(/-/g, '_')}`] =
-          result(v, { ...dirs }).toString()
-        return acc
-      }, {}),
+    // global prefix and prefix cannot be (easily) set via argv
+    // so this is the easiest way to set them that also closely mimics the
+    // behavior a user would see since they will already be set while
+    // `npm.load()` is being run
+    'process.env.PREFIX': dirs.globalPrefix,
+    'process.cwd': () => dirs.prefix,
+    ...withDirs(globals),
+  }
+
+  mockGlobals(t, mockedGlobals)
+
+  const { npm, ...mockNpm } = await getMockNpm(t, {
+    init,
+    load,
+    mocks: withDirs(mocks),
+    npm: { argv, excludeNpmCwd: true, ...withDirs(npmOpts) },
+    globals: { ...env, 'process.cwd': processCwd },
   })
 
-  const npm = init ? new Npm() : null
+  if (config.omit?.includes('prod')) {
+    // XXX: --omit=prod is not a valid config according to the definitions but
+    // it was being hacked in via flatOptions for older tests so this is to
+    // preserve that behavior and reduce churn in the snapshots. this should be
+    // removed or fixed in the future
+    npm.flatOptions.omit.push('prod')
+  }
+
   t.teardown(() => {
-    npm && npm.unload()
+    if (npm) {
+      npm.unload()
+    }
+    // only set exitCode back if we're passing tests
+    if (t.passing()) {
+      process.exitCode = defExitCode
+    }
   })
 
-  if (load) {
-    await npm.load()
-    for (const [k, v] of Object.entries(result(config, { npm, ...dirs }))) {
-      if (typeof v === 'object' && v.value && v.where) {
-        npm.config.set(k, v.value, v.where)
-      } else {
-        npm.config.set(k, v)
-      }
+  const mockCommand = {}
+  if (command) {
+    const cmd = await npm.cmd(command)
+    const usage = await cmd.usage
+    mockCommand.cmd = cmd
+    mockCommand[command] = {
+      usage,
+      exec: (args) => npm.exec(command, args),
+      completion: (args) => cmd.completion(args),
+    }
+    if (exec) {
+      await mockCommand[command].exec(exec)
+      // assign string output to the command now that we have it
+      // for easier testing
+      mockCommand[command].output = mockNpm.joinedOutput()
     }
-    // Set global loglevel *again* since it possibly got reset during load
-    // XXX: remove with npmlog
-    setLoglevel(t, config.loglevel, false)
-    npm.prefix = dirs.prefix
-    npm.cache = dirs.cache
-    npm.globalPrefix = dirs.globalPrefix
   }
 
   return {
-    ...rest,
-    ...dirs,
-    Npm,
     npm,
+    ...mockNpm,
+    ...dirs,
+    ...mockCommand,
     debugFile: async () => {
       const readFiles = npm.logFiles.map(f => fs.readFile(f))
       const logFiles = await Promise.all(readFiles)
@@ -180,80 +285,6 @@ const LoadMockNpm = async (t, {
   }
 }
 
-const realConfig = require('../../lib/utils/config')
-
-// Basic npm fixture that you can give a config object that acts like
-// npm.config You still need a separate flatOptions. Tests should migrate to
-// using the real npm mock above
-class MockNpm {
-  constructor (base = {}, t) {
-    this._mockOutputs = []
-    this.isMockNpm = true
-    this.base = base
-
-    const config = base.config || {}
-
-    for (const attr in base) {
-      if (attr !== 'config') {
-        this[attr] = base[attr]
-      }
-    }
-
-    this.flatOptions = base.flatOptions || {}
-    this.config = {
-      // for now just set `find` to what config.find should return
-      // this works cause `find` is not an existing config entry
-      find: (k) => ({ ...realConfig.defaults, ...config })[k],
-      // for now isDefault is going to just return false if a value was defined
-      isDefault: (k) => !Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(config, k),
-      get: (k) => ({ ...realConfig.defaults, ...config })[k],
-      set: (k, v) => {
-        config[k] = v
-        // mock how real npm derives silent
-        if (k === 'loglevel') {
-          this.flatOptions.silent = v === 'silent'
-          this.silent = v === 'silent'
-        }
-      },
-      list: [{ ...realConfig.defaults, ...config }],
-      validate: () => {},
-    }
-
-    if (t && config.loglevel) {
-      setLoglevel(t, config.loglevel)
-    }
-
-    if (config.loglevel) {
-      this.config.set('loglevel', config.loglevel)
-    }
-  }
-
-  get global () {
-    return this.config.get('global') || this.config.get('location') === 'global'
-  }
-
-  output (...msg) {
-    if (this.base.output) {
-      return this.base.output(msg)
-    }
-    this._mockOutputs.push(msg)
-  }
-
-  // with the older fake mock npm there is no
-  // difference between output and outputBuffer
-  // since it just collects the output and never
-  // calls the exit handler, so we just mock the
-  // method the same as output.
-  outputBuffer (...msg) {
-    this.output(...msg)
-  }
-}
-
-const FakeMockNpm = (base = {}, t) => {
-  return new MockNpm(base, t)
-}
-
-module.exports = {
-  fake: FakeMockNpm,
-  load: LoadMockNpm,
-}
+module.exports = setupMockNpm
+module.exports.load = setupMockNpm
+module.exports.setGlobalNodeModules = setGlobalNodeModules
diff --git a/test/lib/arborist-cmd.js b/test/lib/arborist-cmd.js
index f3c1d2573d33f..64d260552f849 100644
--- a/test/lib/arborist-cmd.js
+++ b/test/lib/arborist-cmd.js
@@ -1,115 +1,142 @@
 const { resolve } = require('path')
 const t = require('tap')
-const ArboristCmd = require('../../lib/arborist-cmd.js')
 
-const configMock = {
-  validate: () => {},
-  get: (key) => {
-    if (key === 'location') {
-      return 'project'
-    }
-  },
-  isDefault: () => {},
-}
+const { load: loadMockNpm } = require('../fixtures/mock-npm')
 
-t.test('arborist-cmd', async t => {
-  const path = t.testdir({
-    'package.json': JSON.stringify({
-      name: 'simple-workspaces-list',
-      version: '1.1.1',
-      workspaces: [
-        'a',
-        'b',
-        'group/*',
-      ],
-    }),
-    node_modules: {
-      abbrev: {
-        'package.json': JSON.stringify({ name: 'abbrev', version: '1.1.1' }),
+const mockArboristCmd = async (t, exec, workspace, { mocks = {}, ...opts } = {}) => {
+  const ArboristCmd = t.mock('../../lib/arborist-cmd.js', mocks)
+
+  const config = (typeof workspace === 'function')
+    ? (dirs) => ({ workspace: workspace(dirs) })
+    : { workspace }
+
+  const mock = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+    config,
+    prefixDir: {
+      'package.json': JSON.stringify({
+        name: 'simple-workspaces-list',
+        version: '1.1.1',
+        workspaces: [
+          'a',
+          'b',
+          'group/*',
+        ],
+      }),
+      node_modules: {
+        abbrev: {
+          'package.json': JSON.stringify({ name: 'abbrev', version: '1.1.1' }),
+        },
+        a: t.fixture('symlink', '../a'),
+        b: t.fixture('symlink', '../b'),
       },
-      a: t.fixture('symlink', '../a'),
-      b: t.fixture('symlink', '../b'),
-    },
-    a: {
-      'package.json': JSON.stringify({ name: 'a', version: '1.0.0' }),
-    },
-    b: {
-      'package.json': JSON.stringify({ name: 'b', version: '1.0.0' }),
-    },
-    group: {
-      c: {
-        'package.json': JSON.stringify({
-          name: 'c',
-          version: '1.0.0',
-          dependencies: {
-            abbrev: '^1.1.1',
-          },
-        }),
+      a: {
+        'package.json': JSON.stringify({ name: 'a', version: '1.0.0' }),
+      },
+      b: {
+        'package.json': JSON.stringify({ name: 'b', version: '1.0.0' }),
       },
-      d: {
-        'package.json': JSON.stringify({ name: 'd', version: '1.0.0' }),
+      group: {
+        c: {
+          'package.json': JSON.stringify({
+            name: 'c',
+            version: '1.0.0',
+            dependencies: {
+              abbrev: '^1.1.1',
+            },
+          }),
+        },
+        d: {
+          'package.json': JSON.stringify({ name: 'd', version: '1.0.0' }),
+        },
       },
     },
+    ...opts,
   })
 
-  class TestCmd extends ArboristCmd {}
-
-  const cmd = new TestCmd({ localPrefix: path, config: configMock })
-
-  // check filtering for a single workspace name
-  cmd.exec = async function (args) {
-    t.same(this.workspaceNames, ['a'], 'should set array with single ws name')
-    t.same(args, ['foo'], 'should get received args')
+  let execArg
+  class TestCmd extends ArboristCmd {
+    async exec (arg) {
+      execArg = arg
+    }
   }
-  await cmd.execWorkspaces(['foo'], ['a'])
 
-  // check filtering single workspace by path
-  cmd.exec = async function (args) {
-    t.same(this.workspaceNames, ['a'],
-      'should set array with single ws name from path')
+  const cmd = new TestCmd(mock.npm)
+  if (exec) {
+    await cmd.execWorkspaces(exec)
   }
-  await cmd.execWorkspaces([], ['./a'])
 
-  // check filtering single workspace by full path
-  cmd.exec = function (args) {
-    t.same(this.workspaceNames, ['a'],
-      'should set array with single ws name from full path')
-  }
-  await cmd.execWorkspaces([], [resolve(path, './a')])
+  return { ...mock, cmd, getArg: () => execArg }
+}
 
-  // filtering multiple workspaces by name
-  cmd.exec = async function (args) {
-    t.same(this.workspaceNames, ['a', 'c'],
-      'should set array with multiple listed ws names')
-  }
-  await cmd.execWorkspaces([], ['a', 'c'])
+t.test('arborist-cmd', async t => {
+  await t.test('single name', async t => {
+    const { cmd, getArg } = await mockArboristCmd(t, ['foo'], 'a')
 
-  // filtering multiple workspaces by path names
-  cmd.exec = async function (args) {
-    t.same(this.workspaceNames, ['a', 'c'],
-      'should set array with multiple ws names from paths')
-  }
-  await cmd.execWorkspaces([], ['./a', 'group/c'])
+    t.same(cmd.workspaceNames, ['a'], 'should set array with single ws name')
+    t.same(getArg(), ['foo'], 'should get received args')
+  })
 
-  // filtering multiple workspaces by parent path name
-  cmd.exec = async function (args) {
-    t.same(this.workspaceNames, ['c', 'd'],
-      'should set array with multiple ws names from a parent folder name')
-  }
-  await cmd.execWorkspaces([], ['./group'])
+  await t.test('single path', async t => {
+    const { cmd } = await mockArboristCmd(t, [], './a')
+
+    t.same(cmd.workspaceNames, ['a'], 'should set array with single ws name')
+  })
+
+  await t.test('single full path', async t => {
+    const { cmd } = await mockArboristCmd(t, [], ({ prefix }) => resolve(prefix, 'a'))
+
+    t.same(cmd.workspaceNames, ['a'], 'should set array with single ws name')
+  })
+
+  await t.test('multiple names', async t => {
+    const { cmd } = await mockArboristCmd(t, [], ['a', 'c'])
+
+    t.same(cmd.workspaceNames, ['a', 'c'], 'should set array with single ws name')
+  })
+
+  await t.test('multiple paths', async t => {
+    const { cmd } = await mockArboristCmd(t, [], ['./a', 'group/c'])
+
+    t.same(cmd.workspaceNames, ['a', 'c'], 'should set array with single ws name')
+  })
+
+  await t.test('parent path', async t => {
+    const { cmd } = await mockArboristCmd(t, [], './group')
+
+    t.same(cmd.workspaceNames, ['c', 'd'], 'should set array with single ws name')
+  })
+
+  await t.test('parent path', async t => {
+    const { cmd } = await mockArboristCmd(t, [], './group')
+
+    t.same(cmd.workspaceNames, ['c', 'd'], 'should set array with single ws name')
+  })
+
+  await t.test('prefix inside cwd', async t => {
+    const { npm, cmd, prefix } = await mockArboristCmd(t, null, ['a', 'c'], {
+      globals: (dirs) => ({
+        'process.cwd': () => dirs.testdir,
+      }),
+    })
+
+    npm.localPrefix = prefix
+    await cmd.execWorkspaces([])
+
+    t.same(cmd.workspaceNames, ['a', 'c'], 'should set array with single ws name')
+  })
 })
 
 t.test('handle getWorkspaces raising an error', async t => {
-  const ArboristCmd = t.mock('../../lib/arborist-cmd.js', {
-    '../../lib/workspaces/get-workspaces.js': async () => {
-      throw new Error('oopsie')
+  const { cmd } = await mockArboristCmd(t, null, 'a', {
+    mocks: {
+      '../../lib/workspaces/get-workspaces.js': async () => {
+        throw new Error('oopsie')
+      },
     },
   })
-  class TestCmd extends ArboristCmd {}
-  const cmd = new TestCmd({ localPrefix: t.testdir(), config: configMock })
 
   await t.rejects(
-    cmd.execWorkspaces(['foo'], ['a']),
+    cmd.execWorkspaces(['foo']),
     { message: 'oopsie' }
   )
 })
diff --git a/test/lib/cli.js b/test/lib/cli.js
index 42a22a20b3964..b77e8fb7bbc45 100644
--- a/test/lib/cli.js
+++ b/test/lib/cli.js
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 const t = require('tap')
-
 const { load: loadMockNpm } = require('../fixtures/mock-npm.js')
 
 const cliMock = async (t, opts) => {
@@ -42,24 +41,18 @@ t.test('print the version, and treat npm_g as npm -g', async t => {
   t.strictSame(process.argv, ['node', 'npm', '-g', '-v'], 'system process.argv was rewritten')
   t.strictSame(logsBy('cli'), [['node npm']])
   t.strictSame(logsBy('title'), [['npm']])
-  t.strictSame(logsBy('argv'), [['"--global" "--version"']])
+  t.match(logsBy('argv'), [['"--global" "--version"']])
   t.strictSame(logs.info, [
     ['using', 'npm@%s', Npm.version],
     ['using', 'node@%s', process.version],
   ])
+  t.equal(outputs.length, 1)
   t.strictSame(outputs, [[Npm.version]])
   t.strictSame(exitHandlerCalled(), [])
 })
 
 t.test('calling with --versions calls npm version with no args', async t => {
   const { logsBy, cli, outputs, exitHandlerCalled } = await cliMock(t, {
-    mocks: {
-      '../../lib/commands/version.js': class Version {
-        async exec (args) {
-          t.strictSame(args, [])
-        }
-      },
-    },
     globals: {
       'process.argv': ['node', 'npm', 'install', 'or', 'whatever', '--versions'],
     },
@@ -69,18 +62,14 @@ t.test('calling with --versions calls npm version with no args', async t => {
   t.equal(process.title, 'npm install or whatever')
   t.strictSame(logsBy('cli'), [['node npm']])
   t.strictSame(logsBy('title'), [['npm install or whatever']])
-  t.strictSame(logsBy('argv'), [['"install" "or" "whatever" "--versions"']])
-  t.strictSame(outputs, [])
+  t.match(logsBy('argv'), [['"install" "or" "whatever" "--versions"']])
+  t.equal(outputs.length, 1)
+  t.match(outputs[0][0], { npm: String, node: String, v8: String })
   t.strictSame(exitHandlerCalled(), [])
 })
 
 t.test('logged argv is sanitized', async t => {
   const { logsBy, cli } = await cliMock(t, {
-    mocks: {
-      '../../lib/commands/version.js': class Version {
-        async exec () {}
-      },
-    },
     globals: {
       'process.argv': [
         'node',
@@ -96,16 +85,11 @@ t.test('logged argv is sanitized', async t => {
   t.equal(process.title, 'npm version')
   t.strictSame(logsBy('cli'), [['node npm']])
   t.strictSame(logsBy('title'), [['npm version']])
-  t.strictSame(logsBy('argv'), [['"version" "--registry" "https://u:***@npmjs.org/password"']])
+  t.match(logsBy('argv'), [['"version" "--registry" "https://u:***@npmjs.org/password"']])
 })
 
 t.test('logged argv is sanitized with equals', async t => {
   const { logsBy, cli } = await cliMock(t, {
-    mocks: {
-      '../../lib/commands/version.js': class Version {
-        async exec () {}
-      },
-    },
     globals: {
       'process.argv': [
         'node',
@@ -117,7 +101,7 @@ t.test('logged argv is sanitized with equals', async t => {
   })
   await cli(process)
 
-  t.strictSame(logsBy('argv'), [['"version" "--registry" "https://u:***@npmjs.org"']])
+  t.match(logsBy('argv'), [['"version" "--registry" "https://u:***@npmjs.org"']])
 })
 
 t.test('print usage if no params provided', async t => {
diff --git a/test/lib/commands/config.js b/test/lib/commands/config.js
index 35872e722e17e..f2bdcc7231ddf 100644
--- a/test/lib/commands/config.js
+++ b/test/lib/commands/config.js
@@ -26,16 +26,10 @@ t.test('config ignores workspaces', async t => {
   await t.rejects(
     sandbox.run('config', ['--workspaces']),
     {
-      code: 'EUSAGE',
+      code: 'ENOWORKSPACES',
     },
     'rejects with usage'
   )
-
-  t.match(
-    sandbox.logs.warn,
-    [['config', 'This command does not support workspaces.']],
-    'logged the warning'
-  )
 })
 
 t.test('config list', async t => {
diff --git a/test/lib/fixtures/mock-globals.js b/test/lib/fixtures/mock-globals.js
index 02566e575af5e..ef3d5637032b7 100644
--- a/test/lib/fixtures/mock-globals.js
+++ b/test/lib/fixtures/mock-globals.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 const t = require('tap')
 const mockGlobals = require('../../fixtures/mock-globals')
 
+/* eslint-disable no-console */
 const originals = {
   platform: process.platform,
   error: console.error,
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ t.test('console', async t => {
 
   t.equal(console.error, originals.error)
 })
+/* eslint-enable no-console */
 
 t.test('platform', async (t) => {
   t.equal(process.platform, originals.platform)
@@ -299,11 +301,11 @@ t.test('multiple mocks and resets', async (t) => {
 
     await t.test('platforms', async (t) => {
       const resets = platforms.map((p) => {
-        const { teardown, reset } = mockGlobals(t, { 'process.platform': p })
+        const { teardown: nestedTeardown, reset } = mockGlobals(t, { 'process.platform': p })
         t.equal(process.platform, p)
         return [
           reset['process.platform'],
-          teardown,
+          nestedTeardown,
         ]
       })
 
diff --git a/test/lib/load-all-commands.js b/test/lib/load-all-commands.js
index aaf6a69c27cd6..dd55560369310 100644
--- a/test/lib/load-all-commands.js
+++ b/test/lib/load-all-commands.js
@@ -7,28 +7,41 @@ const util = require('util')
 const { load: loadMockNpm } = require('../fixtures/mock-npm.js')
 const { allCommands } = require('../../lib/utils/cmd-list.js')
 
+const isAsyncFn = (v) => typeof v === 'function' && /^\[AsyncFunction:/.test(util.inspect(v))
+
 t.test('load each command', async t => {
   for (const cmd of allCommands) {
     t.test(cmd, async t => {
-      const { npm, outputs } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+      const { npm, outputs, cmd: impl } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+        command: cmd,
         config: { usage: true },
       })
-      const impl = await npm.cmd(cmd)
+      const ctor = impl.constructor
+
       if (impl.completion) {
         t.type(impl.completion, 'function', 'completion, if present, is a function')
       }
-      t.type(impl.exec, 'function', 'implementation has an exec function')
-      t.type(impl.execWorkspaces, 'function', 'implementation has an execWorkspaces function')
-      t.equal(util.inspect(impl.exec), '[AsyncFunction: exec]', 'exec function is async')
-      t.equal(
-        util.inspect(impl.execWorkspaces),
-        '[AsyncFunction: execWorkspaces]',
-        'execWorkspaces function is async'
-      )
+
+      // exec fn
+      t.ok(isAsyncFn(impl.exec), 'exec is async')
+      t.ok(impl.exec.length <= 1, 'exec fn has 0 or 1 args')
+
+      // workspaces
+      t.type(ctor.ignoreImplicitWorkspace, 'boolean', 'ctor has ignoreImplictWorkspace boolean')
+      t.type(ctor.workspaces, 'boolean', 'ctor has workspaces boolean')
+      if (ctor.workspaces) {
+        t.ok(isAsyncFn(impl.execWorkspaces), 'execWorkspaces is async')
+        t.ok(impl.exec.length <= 1, 'execWorkspaces fn has 0 or 1 args')
+      } else {
+        t.notOk(impl.execWorkspaces, 'has no execWorkspaces fn')
+      }
+
+      // name/desc
       t.ok(impl.description, 'implementation has a description')
       t.ok(impl.name, 'implementation has a name')
       t.equal(cmd, impl.name, 'command list and name are the same')
-      t.ok(impl.ignoreImplicitWorkspace !== undefined, 'implementation has ignoreImplictWorkspace')
+
+      // usage
       t.match(impl.usage, cmd, 'usage contains the command')
       await npm.exec(cmd, [])
       t.match(outputs[0][0], impl.usage, 'usage is what is output')
diff --git a/test/lib/npm.js b/test/lib/npm.js
index f850ff6aff8a4..2dd692a404170 100644
--- a/test/lib/npm.js
+++ b/test/lib/npm.js
@@ -1,39 +1,10 @@
 const t = require('tap')
 const { resolve, dirname, join } = require('path')
 const fs = require('fs')
-
 const { load: loadMockNpm } = require('../fixtures/mock-npm.js')
 const mockGlobals = require('../fixtures/mock-globals')
 const { commands } = require('../../lib/utils/cmd-list.js')
 
-// delete this so that we don't have configs from the fact that it
-// is being run by 'npm test'
-const event = process.env.npm_lifecycle_event
-
-for (const env of Object.keys(process.env).filter(e => /^npm_/.test(e))) {
-  if (env === 'npm_command') {
-    // should only be running this in the 'test' or 'run-script' command!
-    // if the lifecycle event is 'test', then it'll be either 'test' or 'run',
-    // otherwise it should always be run-script. Of course, it'll be missing
-    // if this test is just run directly, which is also acceptable.
-    if (event === 'test') {
-      t.ok(
-        ['test', 'run-script'].some(i => i === process.env[env]),
-        'should match "npm test" or "npm run test"'
-      )
-    } else {
-      t.match(process.env[env], /^(run-script|exec)$/)
-    }
-  }
-  delete process.env[env]
-}
-
-t.afterEach(async (t) => {
-  for (const env of Object.keys(process.env).filter(e => /^npm_/.test(e))) {
-    delete process.env[env]
-  }
-})
-
 t.test('not yet loaded', async t => {
   const { npm, logs } = await loadMockNpm(t, { load: false })
   t.match(npm, {
@@ -160,8 +131,8 @@ t.test('npm.load', async t => {
       prefixDir: {
         bin: t.fixture('symlink', dirname(process.execPath)),
       },
-      globals: ({ prefix }) => ({
-        'process.env.PATH': resolve(prefix, 'bin'),
+      globals: (dirs) => ({
+        'process.env.PATH': resolve(dirs.prefix, 'bin'),
         'process.argv': [
           node,
           process.argv[1],
@@ -299,9 +270,6 @@ t.test('npm.load', async t => {
       },
     })
 
-    // verify that calling the command with a short name still sets
-    // the npm.command property to the full canonical name of the cmd.
-    npm.command = null
     await npm.exec('run', [])
 
     t.equal(npm.command, 'run-script', 'npm.command set to canonical name')
@@ -357,9 +325,7 @@ t.test('npm.load', async t => {
         ],
       },
     })
-    // verify that calling the command with a short name still sets
-    // the npm.command property to the full canonical name of the cmd.
-    npm.command = null
+
     await t.rejects(
       npm.exec('run', []),
       /Workspaces not supported for global packages/
@@ -441,9 +407,9 @@ t.test('debug log', async t => {
   t.test('can load with bad dir', async t => {
     const { npm, testdir } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
       load: false,
-      config: {
-        'logs-dir': (c) => join(c.testdir, 'my_logs_dir'),
-      },
+      config: (dirs) => ({
+        'logs-dir': join(dirs.testdir, 'my_logs_dir'),
+      }),
     })
     const logsDir = join(testdir, 'my_logs_dir')
 
diff --git a/test/lib/utils/error-message.js b/test/lib/utils/error-message.js
index 29753c3039f36..7810f126e4d9c 100644
--- a/test/lib/utils/error-message.js
+++ b/test/lib/utils/error-message.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 const t = require('tap')
-const path = require('path')
+const { resolve } = require('path')
+const fs = require('fs/promises')
 const { load: _loadMockNpm } = require('../../fixtures/mock-npm.js')
 const mockGlobals = require('../../fixtures/mock-globals.js')
 const { cleanCwd, cleanDate } = require('../../fixtures/clean-snapshot.js')
@@ -8,6 +9,9 @@ t.formatSnapshot = (p) => {
   if (Array.isArray(p.files) && !p.files.length) {
     delete p.files
   }
+  if (p?.json === undefined) {
+    delete p.json
+  }
   return p
 }
 t.cleanSnapshot = p => cleanDate(cleanCwd(p))
@@ -22,35 +26,26 @@ mockGlobals(t, {
   },
 })
 
-const loadMockNpm = async (t, { load, command, prefixDir, config } = {}) => {
-  const { npm, ...rest } = await _loadMockNpm(t, {
-    load,
-    prefixDir,
-    config,
+const loadMockNpm = async (t, { errorMocks, ...opts } = {}) => {
+  const mockError = t.mock('../../../lib/utils/error-message.js', errorMocks)
+  const res = await _loadMockNpm(t, {
+    ...opts,
     mocks: {
+      ...opts.mocks,
       '../../package.json': {
         version: '123.456.789-npm',
       },
     },
   })
-  if (command !== undefined) {
-    npm.command = command
-  }
   return {
-    npm,
-    ...rest,
+    ...res,
+    errorMessage: (er) => mockError(er, res.npm),
   }
 }
 
-const errorMessage = (er, { mocks, logMocks, npm } = {}) =>
-  t.mock('../../../lib/utils/error-message.js', { ...mocks, ...logMocks })(er, npm)
-
 t.test('just simple messages', async t => {
-  const npm = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+  const { errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
     command: 'audit',
-    config: {
-      'node-version': '99.99.99',
-    },
   })
   const codes = [
     'ENOAUDIT',
@@ -77,8 +72,7 @@ t.test('just simple messages', async t => {
     'E403',
     'ERR_SOCKET_TIMEOUT',
   ]
-  t.plan(codes.length)
-  codes.forEach(async code => {
+  for (const code of codes) {
     const path = '/some/path'
     const pkgid = 'some@package'
     const file = '/some/file'
@@ -90,12 +84,12 @@ t.test('just simple messages', async t => {
       file,
       stack,
     })
-    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
-  })
+    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
+  }
 })
 
 t.test('replace message/stack sensistive info', async t => {
-  const npm = await loadMockNpm(t, { command: 'audit' })
+  const { errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t, { command: 'audit' })
   const path = '/some/path'
   const pkgid = 'some@package'
   const file = '/some/file'
@@ -108,11 +102,11 @@ t.test('replace message/stack sensistive info', async t => {
     file,
     stack,
   })
-  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
 })
 
 t.test('bad engine without config loaded', async t => {
-  const npm = await loadMockNpm(t, { load: false })
+  const { errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t, { load: false })
   const path = '/some/path'
   const pkgid = 'some@package'
   const file = '/some/file'
@@ -124,11 +118,11 @@ t.test('bad engine without config loaded', async t => {
     file,
     stack,
   })
-  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
 })
 
 t.test('enoent without a file', async t => {
-  const npm = await loadMockNpm(t)
+  const { errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t)
   const path = '/some/path'
   const pkgid = 'some@package'
   const stack = 'dummy stack trace'
@@ -138,11 +132,11 @@ t.test('enoent without a file', async t => {
     pkgid,
     stack,
   })
-  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
 })
 
 t.test('enolock without a command', async t => {
-  const npm = await loadMockNpm(t, { command: null })
+  const { errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t, { command: null })
   const path = '/some/path'
   const pkgid = 'some@package'
   const file = '/some/file'
@@ -154,41 +148,43 @@ t.test('enolock without a command', async t => {
     file,
     stack,
   })
-  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
 })
 
 t.test('default message', async t => {
-  const npm = await loadMockNpm(t)
-  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(new Error('error object'), npm))
-  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage('error string', npm))
+  const { errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t)
+  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(new Error('error object')))
+  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage('error string'))
   t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(Object.assign(new Error('cmd err'), {
     cmd: 'some command',
     signal: 'SIGYOLO',
     args: ['a', 'r', 'g', 's'],
     stdout: 'stdout',
     stderr: 'stderr',
-  }), npm))
+  })))
 })
 
 t.test('args are cleaned', async t => {
-  const npm = await loadMockNpm(t)
+  const { errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t)
   t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(Object.assign(new Error('cmd err'), {
     cmd: 'some command',
     signal: 'SIGYOLO',
     args: ['a', 'r', 'g', 's', 'https://evil:password@npmjs.org'],
     stdout: 'stdout',
     stderr: 'stderr',
-  }), npm))
+  })))
 })
 
 t.test('eacces/eperm', async t => {
   const runTest = (windows, loaded, cachePath, cacheDest) => async t => {
-    if (windows) {
-      mockGlobals(t, { 'process.platform': 'win32' })
-    }
-    const npm = await loadMockNpm(t, { windows, load: loaded })
-    const path = `${cachePath ? npm.cache : '/not/cache/dir'}/path`
-    const dest = `${cacheDest ? npm.cache : '/not/cache/dir'}/dest`
+    const { errorMessage, logs, cache } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+      windows,
+      load: loaded,
+      globals: windows ? { 'process.platform': 'win32' } : [],
+    })
+
+    const path = `${cachePath ? cache : '/not/cache/dir'}/path`
+    const dest = `${cacheDest ? cache : '/not/cache/dir'}/dest`
     const er = Object.assign(new Error('whoopsie'), {
       code: 'EACCES',
       path,
@@ -196,8 +192,8 @@ t.test('eacces/eperm', async t => {
       stack: 'dummy stack trace',
     })
 
-    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
-    t.matchSnapshot(npm.logs.verbose)
+    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
+    t.matchSnapshot(logs.verbose)
   }
 
   for (const windows of [true, false]) {
@@ -217,50 +213,14 @@ t.test('json parse', t => {
 
   t.test('merge conflict in package.json', async t => {
     const prefixDir = {
-      'package.json': `
-{
-  "array": [
-<<<<<<< HEAD
-    100,
-    {
-      "foo": "baz"
-    },
-||||||| merged common ancestors
-    1,
-=======
-    111,
-    1,
-    2,
-    3,
-    {
-      "foo": "bar"
-    },
->>>>>>> a
-    1
-  ],
-  "a": {
-    "b": {
-<<<<<<< HEAD
-      "c": {
-        "x": "bbbb"
-      }
-||||||| merged common ancestors
-      "c": {
-        "x": "aaaa"
-      }
-=======
-      "c": "xxxx"
->>>>>>> a
+      'package.json': await fs.readFile(
+        resolve(__dirname, '../../fixtures/merge-conflict.json'), 'utf-8'),
     }
-  }
-}
-`,
-    }
-    const npm = await loadMockNpm(t, { prefixDir })
+    const { errorMessage, npm } = await loadMockNpm(t, { prefixDir })
     t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(Object.assign(new Error('conflicted'), {
       code: 'EJSONPARSE',
-      path: path.resolve(npm.prefix, 'package.json'),
-    }), npm))
+      path: resolve(npm.prefix, 'package.json'),
+    })))
     t.end()
   })
 
@@ -268,11 +228,11 @@ t.test('json parse', t => {
     const prefixDir = {
       'package.json': 'not even slightly json',
     }
-    const npm = await loadMockNpm(t, { prefixDir })
+    const { errorMessage, npm } = await loadMockNpm(t, { prefixDir })
     t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(Object.assign(new Error('not json'), {
       code: 'EJSONPARSE',
-      path: path.resolve(npm.prefix, 'package.json'),
-    }), npm))
+      path: resolve(npm.prefix, 'package.json'),
+    })))
     t.end()
   })
 
@@ -280,11 +240,11 @@ t.test('json parse', t => {
     const prefixDir = {
       'blerg.json': 'not even slightly json',
     }
-    const npm = await loadMockNpm(t, { prefixDir })
+    const { npm, errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t, { prefixDir })
     t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(Object.assign(new Error('not json'), {
       code: 'EJSONPARSE',
-      path: path.resolve(npm.prefix, 'blerg.json'),
-    }), npm))
+      path: resolve(npm.prefix, 'blerg.json'),
+    })))
     t.end()
   })
 
@@ -292,26 +252,26 @@ t.test('json parse', t => {
 })
 
 t.test('eotp/e401', async t => {
-  const npm = await loadMockNpm(t)
+  const { errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t)
 
   t.test('401, no auth headers', t => {
     t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(Object.assign(new Error('nope'), {
       code: 'E401',
-    }), npm))
+    })))
     t.end()
   })
 
   t.test('401, no message', t => {
     t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage({
       code: 'E401',
-    }, npm))
+    }))
     t.end()
   })
 
   t.test('one-time pass challenge code', t => {
     t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(Object.assign(new Error('nope'), {
       code: 'EOTP',
-    }), npm))
+    })))
     t.end()
   })
 
@@ -319,7 +279,7 @@ t.test('eotp/e401', async t => {
     const message = 'one-time pass'
     t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(Object.assign(new Error(message), {
       code: 'E401',
-    }), npm))
+    })))
     t.end()
   })
 
@@ -339,7 +299,7 @@ t.test('eotp/e401', async t => {
           },
           code: 'E401',
         })
-        t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+        t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
         t.end()
       })
     }
@@ -347,11 +307,11 @@ t.test('eotp/e401', async t => {
 })
 
 t.test('404', async t => {
-  const npm = await loadMockNpm(t)
+  const { errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t)
 
   t.test('no package id', t => {
     const er = Object.assign(new Error('404 not found'), { code: 'E404' })
-    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
     t.end()
   })
   t.test('you should publish it', t => {
@@ -359,7 +319,7 @@ t.test('404', async t => {
       pkgid: 'yolo',
       code: 'E404',
     })
-    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
     t.end()
   })
   t.test('name with warning', t => {
@@ -367,7 +327,7 @@ t.test('404', async t => {
       pkgid: new Array(215).fill('x').join(''),
       code: 'E404',
     })
-    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
     t.end()
   })
   t.test('name with error', t => {
@@ -375,7 +335,7 @@ t.test('404', async t => {
       pkgid: 'node_modules',
       code: 'E404',
     })
-    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
     t.end()
   })
   t.test('cleans sensitive info from package id', t => {
@@ -383,13 +343,13 @@ t.test('404', async t => {
       pkgid: 'http://evil:password@npmjs.org/not-found',
       code: 'E404',
     })
-    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
     t.end()
   })
 })
 
 t.test('bad platform', async t => {
-  const npm = await loadMockNpm(t)
+  const { errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t)
 
   t.test('string os/arch', t => {
     const er = Object.assign(new Error('a bad plat'), {
@@ -404,7 +364,7 @@ t.test('bad platform', async t => {
       },
       code: 'EBADPLATFORM',
     })
-    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
     t.end()
   })
   t.test('array os/arch', t => {
@@ -420,23 +380,16 @@ t.test('bad platform', async t => {
       },
       code: 'EBADPLATFORM',
     })
-    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, npm))
+    t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
     t.end()
   })
 })
 
 t.test('explain ERESOLVE errors', async t => {
-  const { npm, ...rest } = await loadMockNpm(t)
   const EXPLAIN_CALLED = []
 
-  const er = Object.assign(new Error('could not resolve'), {
-    code: 'ERESOLVE',
-  })
-
-  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er, {
-    npm,
-    ...rest,
-    mocks: {
+  const { errorMessage } = await loadMockNpm(t, {
+    errorMocks: {
       '../../../lib/utils/explain-eresolve.js': {
         report: (...args) => {
           EXPLAIN_CALLED.push(args)
@@ -444,6 +397,12 @@ t.test('explain ERESOLVE errors', async t => {
         },
       },
     },
-  }))
+  })
+
+  const er = Object.assign(new Error('could not resolve'), {
+    code: 'ERESOLVE',
+  })
+
+  t.matchSnapshot(errorMessage(er))
   t.match(EXPLAIN_CALLED, [[er, false]])
 })
diff --git a/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js b/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
index d22ec4dd141a8..ef06ae9641b49 100644
--- a/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
+++ b/test/lib/utils/exit-handler.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ const t = require('tap')
 const os = require('os')
 const fs = require('fs')
 const fsMiniPass = require('fs-minipass')
-const { join } = require('path')
+const { join, resolve } = require('path')
 const EventEmitter = require('events')
 const { format } = require('../../../lib/utils/log-file')
 const { load: loadMockNpm } = require('../../fixtures/mock-npm')
@@ -61,10 +61,10 @@ const mockExitHandler = async (t, { init, load, testdir, config, mocks, files }
       },
       ...mocks,
     },
-    config: {
+    config: (dirs) => ({
       loglevel: 'notice',
-      ...config,
-    },
+      ...(typeof config === 'function' ? config(dirs) : config),
+    }),
     globals: {
       'console.error': (err) => errors.push(err),
     },
@@ -75,6 +75,13 @@ const mockExitHandler = async (t, { init, load, testdir, config, mocks, files }
       summary: [['ERR SUMMARY', err.message]],
       detail: [['ERR DETAIL', err.message]],
       ...(files ? { files } : {}),
+      json: {
+        error: {
+          code: err.code,
+          summary: err.message,
+          detail: err.message,
+        },
+      },
     }),
     os: {
       type: () => 'Foo',
@@ -101,8 +108,8 @@ const mockExitHandler = async (t, { init, load, testdir, config, mocks, files }
     // to t.plan() every test to make sure we get process.exit called. Also
     // introduce a small artificial delay so the logs are consistently finished
     // by the time the exit handler forces process.exit
-    exitHandler: (...args) => new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(() => {
-      process.once('exit', resolve)
+    exitHandler: (...args) => new Promise(res => setTimeout(() => {
+      process.once('exit', res)
       exitHandler(...args)
     }, 50)),
   }
@@ -352,10 +359,10 @@ t.test('timers fail to write', async (t) => {
   })
 
   const { exitHandler, logs } = await mockExitHandler(t, {
-    config: {
-      'logs-dir': 'LOGS_DIR',
+    config: (dirs) => ({
+      'logs-dir': resolve(dirs.prefix, 'LOGS_DIR'),
       timing: true,
-    },
+    }),
     mocks: {
       // note, this is relative to test/fixtures/mock-npm.js not this file
       '../../lib/utils/timers.js': mockTimers,
@@ -381,9 +388,9 @@ t.test('log files fail to write', async (t) => {
   })
 
   const { exitHandler, logs } = await mockExitHandler(t, {
-    config: {
-      'logs-dir': 'LOGS_DIR',
-    },
+    config: (dirs) => ({
+      'logs-dir': resolve(dirs.prefix, 'LOGS_DIR'),
+    }),
     mocks: {
       // note, this is relative to test/fixtures/mock-npm.js not this file
       '../../lib/utils/log-file.js': mockLogFile,
@@ -417,9 +424,9 @@ t.test('files from error message', async (t) => {
 
 t.test('files from error message with error', async (t) => {
   const { exitHandler, logs } = await mockExitHandler(t, {
-    config: {
-      'logs-dir': 'LOGS_DIR',
-    },
+    config: (dirs) => ({
+      'logs-dir': resolve(dirs.prefix, 'LOGS_DIR'),
+    }),
     files: [
       ['error-file.txt', '# error file content'],
     ],
@@ -587,10 +594,7 @@ t.test('exits uncleanly when only emitting exit event', async (t) => {
 t.test('do no fancy handling for shellouts', async t => {
   const { exitHandler, npm, logs } = await mockExitHandler(t)
 
-  const exec = await npm.cmd('exec')
-
-  npm.command = 'exec'
-  npm.commandInstance = exec
+  await npm.cmd('exec')
 
   const loudNoises = () =>
     logs.filter(([level]) => ['warn', 'error'].includes(level))
diff --git a/test/lib/utils/update-notifier.js b/test/lib/utils/update-notifier.js
index fa4a04bad9839..41f131cf43040 100644
--- a/test/lib/utils/update-notifier.js
+++ b/test/lib/utils/update-notifier.js
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ let PACOTE_ERROR = null
 const pacote = {
   manifest: async (spec, opts) => {
     if (!spec.match(/^npm@/)) {
-      console.error(new Error('should only fetch manifest for npm'))
       process.exit(1)
     }
     MANIFEST_REQUEST.push(spec)
@@ -53,22 +52,15 @@ const fs = {
   ...require('fs'),
   stat: (path, cb) => {
     if (basename(path) !== '_update-notifier-last-checked') {
-      console.error(
-        new Error('should only write to notifier last checked file')
-      )
       process.exit(1)
     }
     process.nextTick(() => cb(STAT_ERROR, { mtime: new Date(STAT_MTIME) }))
   },
   writeFile: (path, content, cb) => {
     if (content !== '') {
-      console.error(new Error('should not be writing content'))
       process.exit(1)
     }
     if (basename(path) !== '_update-notifier-last-checked') {
-      console.error(
-        new Error('should only write to notifier last checked file')
-      )
       process.exit(1)
     }
     process.nextTick(() => cb(WRITE_ERROR))
diff --git a/workspaces/config/lib/index.js b/workspaces/config/lib/index.js
index e1d47ffcd3736..1ddf267839195 100644
--- a/workspaces/config/lib/index.js
+++ b/workspaces/config/lib/index.js
@@ -17,6 +17,14 @@ const {
   mkdir,
 } = require('fs/promises')
 
+const fileExists = (...p) => stat(resolve(...p))
+  .then((st) => st.isFile())
+  .catch(() => false)
+
+const dirExists = (...p) => stat(resolve(...p))
+  .then((st) => st.isDirectory())
+  .catch(() => false)
+
 const hasOwnProperty = (obj, key) =>
   Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(obj, key)
 
@@ -90,6 +98,7 @@ class Config {
     platform = process.platform,
     execPath = process.execPath,
     cwd = process.cwd(),
+    excludeNpmCwd = false,
   }) {
     // turn the definitions into nopt's weirdo syntax
     this.definitions = definitions
@@ -117,10 +126,12 @@ class Config {
     this.execPath = execPath
     this.platform = platform
     this.cwd = cwd
+    this.excludeNpmCwd = excludeNpmCwd
 
     // set when we load configs
     this.globalPrefix = null
     this.localPrefix = null
+    this.localPackage = null
 
     // defaults to env.HOME, but will always be *something*
     this.home = null
@@ -311,15 +322,11 @@ class Config {
     // default the globalconfig file to that location, instead of the default
     // global prefix.  It's weird that `npm get globalconfig --prefix=/foo`
     // returns `/foo/etc/npmrc`, but better to not change it at this point.
-    settableGetter(data, 'globalconfig', () =>
-      resolve(this[_get]('prefix'), 'etc/npmrc'))
+    settableGetter(data, 'globalconfig', () => resolve(this[_get]('prefix'), 'etc/npmrc'))
   }
 
   loadHome () {
-    if (this.env.HOME) {
-      return this.home = this.env.HOME
-    }
-    this.home = homedir()
+    this.home = this.env.HOME || homedir()
   }
 
   loadGlobalPrefix () {
@@ -330,7 +337,7 @@ class Config {
     if (this.env.PREFIX) {
       this.globalPrefix = this.env.PREFIX
     } else if (this.platform === 'win32') {
-    // c:\node\node.exe --> prefix=c:\node\
+      // c:\node\node.exe --> prefix=c:\node\
       this.globalPrefix = dirname(this.execPath)
     } else {
       // /usr/local/bin/node --> prefix=/usr/local
@@ -599,6 +606,12 @@ class Config {
     // we return to make sure localPrefix is set
     await this.loadLocalPrefix()
 
+    // if we have not detected a local package json yet, try now that we
+    // have a local prefix
+    if (this.localPackage == null) {
+      this.localPackage = await fileExists(this.localPrefix, 'package.json')
+    }
+
     if (this[_get]('global') === true || this[_get]('location') === 'global') {
       this.data.get('project').source = '(global mode enabled, ignored)'
       this.sources.set(this.data.get('project').source, 'project')
@@ -630,16 +643,17 @@ class Config {
     const isGlobal = this[_get]('global') || this[_get]('location') === 'global'
 
     for (const p of walkUp(this.cwd)) {
-      const hasNodeModules = await stat(resolve(p, 'node_modules'))
-        .then((st) => st.isDirectory())
-        .catch(() => false)
+      // HACK: this is an option set in tests to stop the local prefix from being set
+      // on tests that are created inside the npm repo
+      if (this.excludeNpmCwd && p === this.npmPath) {
+        break
+      }
 
-      const hasPackageJson = await stat(resolve(p, 'package.json'))
-        .then((st) => st.isFile())
-        .catch(() => false)
+      const hasPackageJson = await fileExists(p, 'package.json')
 
-      if (!this.localPrefix && (hasNodeModules || hasPackageJson)) {
+      if (!this.localPrefix && (hasPackageJson || await dirExists(p, 'node_modules'))) {
         this.localPrefix = p
+        this.localPackage = hasPackageJson
 
         // if workspaces are disabled, or we're in global mode, return now
         if (cliWorkspaces === false || isGlobal) {
@@ -663,11 +677,7 @@ class Config {
         for (const w of workspaces.values()) {
           if (w === this.localPrefix) {
             // see if there's a .npmrc file in the workspace, if so log a warning
-            const hasNpmrc = await stat(resolve(this.localPrefix, '.npmrc'))
-              .then((st) => st.isFile())
-              .catch(() => false)
-
-            if (hasNpmrc) {
+            if (await fileExists(this.localPrefix, '.npmrc')) {
               log.warn(`ignoring workspace config at ${this.localPrefix}/.npmrc`)
             }
 
@@ -675,6 +685,7 @@ class Config {
             const { data } = this.data.get('default')
             data.workspace = [this.localPrefix]
             this.localPrefix = p
+            this.localPackage = hasPackageJson
             log.info(`found workspace root at ${this.localPrefix}`)
             // we found a root, so we return now
             return
diff --git a/workspaces/config/test/index.js b/workspaces/config/test/index.js
index 8dbee05880619..d7d55c2366237 100644
--- a/workspaces/config/test/index.js
+++ b/workspaces/config/test/index.js
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ loglevel = yolo
       npmPath: `${path}/npm`,
       env: {},
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename, '--userconfig', `${path}/npm/npmrc`],
-      cwd: `${path}/project`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/project`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
     })
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ loglevel = yolo
       npmPath: `${path}/npm`,
       env: {},
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename, '--global'],
-      cwd: `${path}/project`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/project`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
     })
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ loglevel = yolo
       npmPath: `${path}/npm`,
       env: {},
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename, '--location', 'global'],
-      cwd: `${path}/project`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/project`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
     })
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ loglevel = yolo
       npmPath: `${path}/npm`,
       env,
       argv,
-      cwd: `${path}/project`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/project`),
 
       shorthands,
       definitions,
@@ -410,7 +410,7 @@ loglevel = yolo
       npmPath: `${path}/npm`,
       env,
       argv,
-      cwd: `${path}/project`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/project`),
 
       shorthands,
       definitions,
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ loglevel = yolo
       npmPath: `${path}/npm`,
       env,
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename, '--userconfig', `${path}/project/.npmrc`],
-      cwd: `${path}/project`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/project`),
 
       shorthands,
       definitions,
@@ -487,7 +487,7 @@ loglevel = yolo
       npmPath: path,
       env,
       argv,
-      cwd: `${path}/project-no-config`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/project-no-config`),
 
       // should prepend DESTDIR to /global
       DESTDIR: path,
@@ -887,7 +887,7 @@ t.test('finding the local prefix', t => {
   })
   t.test('has node_modules', async t => {
     const c = new Config({
-      cwd: `${path}/hasNM/x/y/z`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/hasNM/x/y/z`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
       npmPath: path,
@@ -897,7 +897,7 @@ t.test('finding the local prefix', t => {
   })
   t.test('has package.json', async t => {
     const c = new Config({
-      cwd: `${path}/hasPJ/x/y/z`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/hasPJ/x/y/z`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
       npmPath: path,
@@ -907,13 +907,13 @@ t.test('finding the local prefix', t => {
   })
   t.test('nada, just use cwd', async t => {
     const c = new Config({
-      cwd: '/this/path/does/not/exist/x/y/z',
+      cwd: join('/this/path/does/not/exist/x/y/z'),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
       npmPath: path,
     })
     await c.load()
-    t.equal(c.localPrefix, '/this/path/does/not/exist/x/y/z')
+    t.equal(c.localPrefix, join('/this/path/does/not/exist/x/y/z'))
   })
   t.end()
 })
@@ -1131,7 +1131,7 @@ t.test('workspaces', async (t) => {
       npmPath: cwd,
       env: {},
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename],
-      cwd: `${path}/workspaces/one`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/workspaces/one`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
     })
@@ -1152,7 +1152,7 @@ t.test('workspaces', async (t) => {
       npmPath: process.cwd(),
       env: {},
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename, '--workspace', '../two'],
-      cwd: `${path}/workspaces/one`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/workspaces/one`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
     })
@@ -1173,7 +1173,7 @@ t.test('workspaces', async (t) => {
       npmPath: process.cwd(),
       env: {},
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename],
-      cwd: `${path}/workspaces/three`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/workspaces/three`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
     })
@@ -1195,7 +1195,7 @@ t.test('workspaces', async (t) => {
       npmPath: process.cwd(),
       env: {},
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename, '--prefix', './'],
-      cwd: `${path}/workspaces/one`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/workspaces/one`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
     })
@@ -1215,7 +1215,7 @@ t.test('workspaces', async (t) => {
       npmPath: process.cwd(),
       env: {},
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename, '--no-workspaces'],
-      cwd: `${path}/workspaces/one`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/workspaces/one`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
     })
@@ -1235,7 +1235,7 @@ t.test('workspaces', async (t) => {
       npmPath: process.cwd(),
       env: {},
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename, '--global'],
-      cwd: `${path}/workspaces/one`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/workspaces/one`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
     })
@@ -1255,7 +1255,7 @@ t.test('workspaces', async (t) => {
       npmPath: process.cwd(),
       env: {},
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename, '--location=global'],
-      cwd: `${path}/workspaces/one`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/workspaces/one`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
     })
@@ -1266,6 +1266,27 @@ t.test('workspaces', async (t) => {
     t.equal(logs.length, 0, 'got no log messages')
   })
 
+  t.test('excludeNpmCwd skips auto detect', async (t) => {
+    const cwd = process.cwd()
+    t.teardown(() => process.chdir(cwd))
+    process.chdir(`${path}/workspaces/one`)
+
+    const config = new Config({
+      npmPath: process.cwd(),
+      env: {},
+      argv: [process.execPath, __filename],
+      cwd: join(`${path}/workspaces/one`),
+      shorthands,
+      definitions,
+      excludeNpmCwd: true,
+    })
+
+    await config.load()
+    t.equal(config.localPrefix, join(path, 'workspaces', 'one'), 'localPrefix is the root')
+    t.same(config.get('workspace'), [], 'did not set workspace')
+    t.equal(logs.length, 0, 'got no log messages')
+  })
+
   t.test('does not error for invalid package.json', async (t) => {
     const invalidPkg = join(path, 'workspaces', 'package.json')
     const cwd = process.cwd()
@@ -1281,7 +1302,7 @@ t.test('workspaces', async (t) => {
       npmPath: cwd,
       env: {},
       argv: [process.execPath, __filename],
-      cwd: `${path}/workspaces/one`,
+      cwd: join(`${path}/workspaces/one`),
       shorthands,
       definitions,
     })