diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index a50d6bca5..ba4610d51 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -88,11 +88,11 @@ COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./.git/HEAD ./.git/HEAD
 COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./.git/refs ./.git/refs
 COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ${SETTINGS} ./settings.json
 COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./var ./var
-COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./node_modules ./node_modules
 
 FROM build as development
 
 COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./src/package.json .npmrc ./src/pnpm-lock.yaml ./src/
+COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./package.json ./package.json
 COPY --chown=etherpad:etherpad ./src/bin ./src/bin
 
 RUN { [ -z "${ETHERPAD_PLUGINS}" ] || \
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index bb4ac85ee..189c23f91 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ services:
     stdin_open: true
     volumes:
       - ./src:/opt/etherpad-lite/src
+      - ./package.json:/opt/etherpad-lite/package.json
       - node_modules:/opt/etherpad-lite/src/node_modules
       - pnpm-store:/home/etherpad/.local/share/pnpm/store/v3
     depends_on:
diff --git a/node_modules/ep_etherpad-lite b/node_modules/ep_etherpad-lite
deleted file mode 120000
index 5cd551cf2..000000000
--- a/node_modules/ep_etherpad-lite
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../src
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0c2cbc627
--- /dev/null
+++ b/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+{
+  "name": "etherpad",
+  "description": "A free and open source realtime collaborative editor",
+  "homepage": "https://etherpad.org",
+  "keywords": [
+    "etherpad",
+    "realtime",
+    "collaborative",
+    "editor"
+  ],
+  "bin": {
+    "etherpad-healthcheck": "src/bin/etherpad-healthcheck",
+    "etherpad-lite": "src/node/server.ts"
+  },
+  "scripts": {
+    "lint": "eslint .",
+    "test": "mocha --import=tsx --timeout 120000 --recursive src/tests/backend/specs src/node_modules/ep_*/static/tests/backend/specs",
+    "test-container": "mocha --import=tsx --timeout 5000 src/tests/container/specs/api",
+    "dev": "node --import tsx src/node/server.ts",
+    "prod": "node --import tsx src/node/server.ts",
+    "ts-check": "tsc --noEmit",
+    "ts-check:watch": "tsc --noEmit --watch"
+  },
+  "dependencies": {
+    "log4js": "^6.9.1",
+    "tsx": "^4.7.1",
+    "underscore": "1.13.6",
+    "fast-deep-equal": "^3.1.3",
+    "cookie-parser": "^1.4.6",
+    "jsonminify": "0.4.2",
+    "express-rate-limit": "^7.1.5",
+    "express-session": "npm:@etherpad/express-session@^1.18.2",
+    "express": "4.18.2",
+    "find-root": "1.1.0",
+    "semver": "^7.6.0",
+    "live-plugin-manager-pnpm": "^0.18.1",
+    "cross-spawn": "^7.0.3",
+    "ueberdb2": "^4.2.56",
+    "measured-core": "^2.0.0",
+    "axios": "^1.6.7",
+    "wtfnode": "^0.9.1",
+    "ep_etherpad-lite": "workspace:./src"
+  },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "@types/express": "^4.17.21",
+    "@types/node": "^20.11.19",
+    "typescript": "^5.3.3"
+  },
+  "engines": {
+    "node": ">=18.18.2",
+    "npm": ">=6.14.0",
+    "pnpm": ">=8.3.0"
+  },
+  "repository": {
+    "type": "git",
+    "url": "https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite.git"
+  },
+  "version": "1.9.7",
+  "license": "Apache-2.0"
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pnpm-workspace.yaml b/pnpm-workspace.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/src/bin/installDeps.sh b/src/bin/installDeps.sh
index dde000b7c..722dec0d0 100755
--- a/src/bin/installDeps.sh
+++ b/src/bin/installDeps.sh
@@ -35,11 +35,6 @@ fi
 
 
 log "Installing dependencies..."
-(mkdir -p node_modules &&
-cd node_modules &&
-{ [ -d ep_etherpad-lite ] || ln -sf ../src ep_etherpad-lite; } &&
-cd ep_etherpad-lite)
-
 cd src
 
 if [ -z "${ETHERPAD_PRODUCTION}" ]; then
diff --git a/tsconfig.json b/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eea5f16fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    /* Visit https://aka.ms/tsconfig to read more about this file */
+    "moduleDetection": "force",
+    "lib": ["es6"],
+    /* Language and Environment */
+    "target": "es6",                                  /* Set the JavaScript language version for emitted JavaScript and include compatible library declarations. */
+    /* Modules */
+    "module": "commonjs",                                /* Specify what module code is generated. */
+    "esModuleInterop": true,                             /* Emit additional JavaScript to ease support for importing CommonJS modules. This enables 'allowSyntheticDefaultImports' for type compatibility. */
+    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,            /* Ensure that casing is correct in imports. */
+    /* Type Checking */
+    "strict": true,                                      /* Enable all strict type-checking options. */
+    /* Completeness */
+    "skipLibCheck": true                                 /* Skip type checking all .d.ts files. */
+  }
+}