diff --git a/packages/spec/scripts/check-generated.ts b/packages/spec/scripts/check-generated.ts
index 26b47d29cb4..630f8b56aee 100644
--- a/packages/spec/scripts/check-generated.ts
+++ b/packages/spec/scripts/check-generated.ts
@@ -684,7 +684,10 @@ function runScript(script: string): { ok: boolean; output: string } {
   // the build alone; every gate keeps the caller's environment.
   if (script === SPEC_BUILD) delete env.OS_SKIP_DTS;
   try {
-    const output = execSync(`pnpm -s ${script}`, { cwd: pkgRoot, env, stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'] }).toString();
+    // `--silent`, never `-s`: a global pnpm 11+/12 `@pnpm/exe` frontend parses the
+    // argv before handing off to the pinned pnpm and rejects `-s` with exit 2, which
+    // reads here as every gate stale.
+    const output = execSync(`pnpm --silent ${script}`, { cwd: pkgRoot, env, stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'] }).toString();
     return { ok: true, output };
   } catch (err: any) {
     return { ok: false, output: `${err?.stdout?.toString() ?? ''}${err?.stderr?.toString() ?? ''}`.trim() };
diff --git a/scripts/build-console.sh b/scripts/build-console.sh
index dec6466d11d..62272092ac9 100755
--- a/scripts/build-console.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-console.sh
@@ -321,9 +321,18 @@ pushd "$BUILD_ROOT" > /dev/null
 
 # objectui's root package.json may pin packages that aren't available on
 # every mirror. Fall back to the public registry just for this install.
+#
+# The console build needs objectui's devDependencies, so production mode is
+# forced OFF: an inherited `npm_config_production=true` or an .npmrc
+# `production=true` would otherwise skip them (NODE_ENV=production alone does
+# not, under pnpm 10). Spelled `--config.production=false`, never
+# `--prod=false`: a global pnpm 11+/12 `@pnpm/exe` frontend parses the argv
+# itself before handing off to the version objectui pins, rejects a value on its
+# boolean `--prod` and exits 2 without installing anything. The pinned pnpm and
+# that frontend both accept this spelling.
 NPM_CONFIG_REGISTRY_OVERRIDE="${OBJECTUI_NPM_REGISTRY:-https://registry.npmjs.org}"
 npm_config_registry="$NPM_CONFIG_REGISTRY_OVERRIDE" \
-  pnpm install --frozen-lockfile --prefer-offline --prod=false
+  pnpm install --frozen-lockfile --prefer-offline --config.production=false
 
 # Build the console's workspace deps via turbo, then the SPA itself directly
 # (see DEPS_BUILD_CMD/BUILD_CMD above for why these are split).
diff --git a/scripts/check-regen-pending.mjs b/scripts/check-regen-pending.mjs
index ca127a866a9..dda041ea4d7 100755
--- a/scripts/check-regen-pending.mjs
+++ b/scripts/check-regen-pending.mjs
@@ -859,9 +859,12 @@ export function gateCouldNotRun(output, exitCode, fromDir, gate = null) {
   return null;
 }
 
+// `--silent`, never `-s`: a global pnpm 11+/12 `@pnpm/exe` frontend parses the argv
+// before handing off to the pinned pnpm and rejects `-s` with exit 2 — every artifact
+// would read as stale and every commit would be refused.
 function runCheck(script, cwd) {
   try {
-    execSync(`pnpm -s ${script}`, { cwd, stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'] });
+    execSync(`pnpm --silent ${script}`, { cwd, stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'] });
     return { ok: true, output: '', code: 0 };
   } catch (err) {
     return {
@@ -1396,7 +1399,7 @@ function fixtureSelfTest() {
   /**
    * The pnpm the fixture's stub gate runs under, pinned to the repository's own.
    *
-   * `runCheck` spawns every gate with `pnpm -s`, and CI reaches pnpm through
+   * `runCheck` spawns every gate with `pnpm --silent`, and CI reaches pnpm through
    * Corepack (`.github/actions/setup-pnpm`). Corepack resolves the version from
    * the project it is invoked IN, so a fixture carrying no `packageManager` field
    * does not inherit this repo's pin and does not get "whatever the machine has"
@@ -1405,8 +1408,10 @@ function fixtureSelfTest() {
    * published that morning: the day `latest` moved to a major whose CLI rejects
    * `-s`, the "clean" stub exited 2 without ever running, and every case that
    * reads the stub's own exit code went red on a tree nobody had touched. It is
-   * the FIXTURE that was unpinned, never production — the real hook runs `pnpm -s`
-   * in this repository, which is pinned.
+   * the FIXTURE that was unpinned, never production — the real hook runs in this
+   * repository, which is pinned. A pin does not reach the argv parser of a global
+   * pnpm 11+ `@pnpm/exe` frontend, though, which is why the spawn is spelled
+   * `--silent` rather than `-s`.
    *
    * Read off the ROOT manifest rather than written as a literal, so the fixture
    * cannot drift from the pnpm this repo pins. The case below asserts both halves,
@@ -1508,7 +1513,7 @@ function fixtureSelfTest() {
     const merge = runHook('stale');
 
     // The fixture's OWN prerequisite, asserted before any verdict is read out of a
-    // gate's exit code: every case below spawns `pnpm -s` inside this directory, so
+    // gate's exit code: every case below spawns `pnpm --silent` inside this directory, so
     // an unpinned fixture grades the registry's `latest` pnpm instead of the one
     // this repository pins, and the failure lands on cases that have nothing to do
     // with pnpm. ⛔ Not `=== rootPackageManager` on its own: were the root manifest
diff --git a/scripts/git-merge-regen.mjs b/scripts/git-merge-regen.mjs
index a5df11fb1a0..cac3150afdd 100755
--- a/scripts/git-merge-regen.mjs
+++ b/scripts/git-merge-regen.mjs
@@ -1194,7 +1194,7 @@ function reconcileOwnership() {
       'a package command filters to its owner',
       ownerRunCommand(DEFAULT_OWNER, 'gen:x') === `pnpm --filter ${DEFAULT_OWNER} gen:x`,
     ],
-    ['a spawn asks for silence', ownerRunCommand(ROOT_OWNER, 'check:x', { silent: true }) === 'pnpm -s check:x'],
+    ['a spawn asks for silence', ownerRunCommand(ROOT_OWNER, 'check:x', { silent: true }) === 'pnpm --silent check:x'],
   ];
 
   const failures = cases.filter(([, ok]) => !ok).map(([name]) => name);
@@ -1715,7 +1715,7 @@ function endToEndWorktreeRefusal() {
     const target = REGEN_ARTIFACTS[0].path;
     const gateScript = REGEN_ARTIFACTS[0].check;
 
-    /* The stub gate, and the pin that keeps it honest. `pnpm -s` resolves its own
+    /* The stub gate, and the pin that keeps it honest. `pnpm --silent` resolves its own
      * version from the manifest of the directory it runs in, so a fixture with no
      * `packageManager` grades whatever Corepack resolves as `latest` instead of the
      * pnpm this repository pins — the same trap `check-regen-pending.mjs`'s fixture
diff --git a/scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjs b/scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjs
index c4656786dba..5dd62afcb7a 100644
--- a/scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjs
+++ b/scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjs
@@ -9316,7 +9316,7 @@ export function governedReadCensus({ files = null, read = null } = {}) {
  * quoted literal that `resolvePathExpression` refuses by construction, so
  * admitting them would add a scan that cannot return a target: dead code that
  * reads as coverage. Live specimens of the refused class in this tree, both
- * shell-quoted: `pnpm -s ${script}` and `git rev-parse --show-toplevel`.
+ * shell-quoted: `pnpm --silent ${script}` and `git rev-parse --show-toplevel`.
  *
  * THE PROGRAM POSITION ONLY — argument 0, plus the elements of an argv ARRAY
  * LITERAL in argument 1. That is where a program path is; an options object is
diff --git a/scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.self-test.mjs b/scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.self-test.mjs
index a03261c64f0..61d68d432f8 100644
--- a/scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.self-test.mjs
+++ b/scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.self-test.mjs
@@ -8728,7 +8728,7 @@ export function selfTest({ tier = 'full' } = {}) {
     "const r1 = spawnSync(process.execPath, [join(ROOT, TOOL), '--self-test'], { stdio: 'inherit' });", // followed: argv array, component NAMED
     "const r2 = execFileSync('node', [join(ROOT, 'scripts/invoked-as.mjs')]);", // followed: component written out
     "const r3 = spawnSync('git', ['ls-files'], { cwd: ROOT });", // a program that is not in this tree
-    'const r4 = execSync(`pnpm -s ${script}`);', // shell form: a command STRING, never scanned
+    'const r4 = execSync(`pnpm --silent ${script}`);', // shell form: a command STRING, never scanned
     "const r5 = spawnSync(process.execPath, [join(ROOT, 'package.json')]);", // tracked, but not program text
     "const r6 = spawnSync(process.execPath, [join(ROOT, 'scripts/does-not-exist.mjs')]);", // resolves, untracked
     "const r7 = spawnSync(process.execPath, [join(ROOT, 'scripts/fixture.mjs')]);", // itself: the identity key owns it
diff --git a/scripts/regen-artifacts.mjs b/scripts/regen-artifacts.mjs
index 1dcf2599b90..483b1cfcbf5 100644
--- a/scripts/regen-artifacts.mjs
+++ b/scripts/regen-artifacts.mjs
@@ -957,11 +957,13 @@ export function ownerDir(owner, workspacePkgs) {
  *
  * @param {string} owner
  * @param {string} script
- * @param {{ silent?: boolean }} [options] `silent` adds `-s`, for a spawn rather than advice
+ * @param {{ silent?: boolean }} [options] `silent` adds `--silent`, for a spawn rather than
+ *   advice — never `-s`, which a global pnpm 11+ `@pnpm/exe` frontend rejects before the
+ *   pinned pnpm ever runs
  * @returns {string}
  */
 export function ownerRunCommand(owner, script, { silent = false } = {}) {
-  const s = silent ? ' -s' : '';
+  const s = silent ? ' --silent' : '';
   return owner === ROOT_OWNER ? `pnpm${s} ${script}` : `pnpm${s} --filter ${owner} ${script}`;
 }