Is Lerna Still Maintained in 2026?
Yes. Here's the Current Status.
Short answer (60 words)
Yes, Lerna is maintained by Nrwl (the Nx company) since May 2022. Lerna v9 was released September 2025. It dropped bootstrap, add, and link. Its 2026 use case is narrower than v3-v5: primarily lerna version and lerna publish.
Timeline
Lerna v1 created by Sebastian McKenzie (Babel author)
Lerna v2-v3: dominates JS monorepo space. Used by Babel, Jest, React ecosystem.
Lerna stagnates. Maintainer burnout. npm/yarn workspaces mature, reducing bootstrap necessity.
Daniel Stockman publishes deprecation notice. SERP fills with 'Lerna is dead' articles.
Nrwl takes over Lerna maintenance. Announces Lerna v5 with Nx integration.
Lerna v5-v8: useNx flag added. Build tasks delegate to Nx. Publishing commands maintained.
Lerna v9: bootstrap, add, link removed. Scope formally narrowed to version + publish.
Lerna v9 maintained. Recommended only for publishing workflows. New projects: use Nx or Turborepo.
What Lerna v9 Removed vs What Remains
Removed in v9
lerna bootstraplerna addlerna linklerna link convertThese were the commands that made Lerna a monorepo manager. npm/yarn workspaces replaced the need for them years earlier.
Still works in v9
lerna versionBump versions, conventional commits, changelogs, git tagslerna publishPublish to npm registry (all changed packages)lerna changedList packages changed since last releaselerna diffShow git diff since last releaselerna lsList all packages in the monorepolerna runRun npm scripts (delegates to Nx if configured)What to Do in 2026
Running Lerna v3-v5 on lerna run for builds
Migrate build tasks to Nx or Turborepo. Keep lerna version + publish or switch to Changesets.
Using lerna version + lerna publish
You're fine. This is Lerna's maintained use case. Upgrade to v9 and remove any bootstrap/add/link usage.
Starting a new monorepo in 2026
Use Nx or Turborepo for builds. Use Changesets or nx release for versioning. Do not start with Lerna.
Open source library monorepo
Changesets is the community standard for OSS versioning in 2026. Turborepo for builds. Lerna is optional if your team knows it.