diff --git a/cli/internal/backends/nodejs/nodejs.go b/cli/internal/backends/nodejs/nodejs.go
index 7f2f1d9291adc..92cc67b5ec483 100644
--- a/cli/internal/backends/nodejs/nodejs.go
+++ b/cli/internal/backends/nodejs/nodejs.go
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package nodejs
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
+	"log"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"turbo/internal/api"
 	"turbo/internal/fs"
 	"turbo/internal/util"
@@ -42,7 +44,7 @@ var NodejsYarnBackend = api.LanguageBackend{
 				return false, nil
 			}
 
-			isBerry, err := util.IsBerry(cwd, version)
+			isBerry, err := util.IsBerry(cwd, version, true)
 			if err != nil {
 				return false, fmt.Errorf("could not determine yarn version (v1 or berry): %w", err)
 			}
@@ -50,6 +52,20 @@ var NodejsYarnBackend = api.LanguageBackend{
 			if !isBerry {
 				return true, nil
 			}
+		} else {
+			log.Println("[WARNING] Did not find \"packageManager\" in your package.json. Please run \"npx @turbo/codemod add-package-manager\"")
+
+			specfileExists := fs.FileExists(filepath.Join(cwd, backend.Specfile))
+			lockfileExists := fs.FileExists(filepath.Join(cwd, backend.Lockfile))
+
+			isBerry, err := util.IsBerry(cwd, "", false)
+			if err != nil {
+				return false, fmt.Errorf("could not check if yarn is berry: %w", err)
+			}
+
+			if specfileExists && lockfileExists && !isBerry {
+				return true, nil
+			}
 		}
 
 		return false, nil
@@ -85,7 +101,7 @@ var NodejsBerryBackend = api.LanguageBackend{
 				return false, nil
 			}
 
-			isBerry, err := util.IsBerry(cwd, version)
+			isBerry, err := util.IsBerry(cwd, version, true)
 			if err != nil {
 				return false, fmt.Errorf("could not determine yarn version (v1 or berry): %w", err)
 			}
@@ -98,6 +114,27 @@ var NodejsBerryBackend = api.LanguageBackend{
 					return false, fmt.Errorf("only yarn v2/v3 with `nodeLinker: node-modules` is supported at this time")
 				}
 
+				return true, nil
+			}
+		} else {
+			log.Println("[WARNING] Did not find \"packageManager\" in your package.json. Please set the \"packageManager\" field to your package.json")
+
+			specfileExists := fs.FileExists(filepath.Join(cwd, backend.Specfile))
+			lockfileExists := fs.FileExists(filepath.Join(cwd, backend.Lockfile))
+
+			isBerry, err := util.IsBerry(cwd, "", false)
+			if err != nil {
+				return false, fmt.Errorf("could not check if yarn is berry: %w", err)
+			}
+
+			if specfileExists && lockfileExists && isBerry {
+				isNMLinker, err := util.IsNMLinker(cwd)
+				if err != nil {
+					return false, fmt.Errorf("could not check if yarn is using nm-linker: %w", err)
+				} else if !isNMLinker {
+					return false, fmt.Errorf("only yarn nm-linker is supported")
+				}
+
 				return true, nil
 			}
 		}
@@ -139,13 +176,22 @@ var NodejsPnpmBackend = api.LanguageBackend{
 	GetRunCommand: func() []string {
 		return []string{"pnpm", "run"}
 	},
-	Detect: func(_ string, pkg *fs.PackageJSON, backend *api.LanguageBackend) (bool, error) {
+	Detect: func(cwd string, pkg *fs.PackageJSON, backend *api.LanguageBackend) (bool, error) {
 		if pkg.PackageManager != "" {
 			packageManager, _ := util.GetPackageManagerAndVersion(pkg.PackageManager)
 
 			if packageManager == "pnpm" {
 				return true, nil
 			}
+		} else {
+			log.Println("[WARNING] Did not find \"packageManager\" in your package.json. Please run \"npx @turbo/codemod add-package-manager\"")
+
+			specfileExists := fs.FileExists(filepath.Join(cwd, backend.Specfile))
+			lockfileExists := fs.FileExists(filepath.Join(cwd, backend.Lockfile))
+
+			if specfileExists && lockfileExists {
+				return true, nil
+			}
 		}
 
 		return false, nil
@@ -173,13 +219,22 @@ var NodejsNpmBackend = api.LanguageBackend{
 	GetRunCommand: func() []string {
 		return []string{"npm", "run"}
 	},
-	Detect: func(_ string, pkg *fs.PackageJSON, backend *api.LanguageBackend) (bool, error) {
+	Detect: func(cwd string, pkg *fs.PackageJSON, backend *api.LanguageBackend) (bool, error) {
 		if pkg.PackageManager != "" {
 			packageManager, _ := util.GetPackageManagerAndVersion(pkg.PackageManager)
 
 			if packageManager == "npm" {
 				return true, nil
 			}
+		} else {
+			log.Println("[WARNING] Did not find \"packageManager\" in your package.json. Please run \"npx @turbo/codemod add-package-manager\"")
+
+			specfileExists := fs.FileExists(filepath.Join(cwd, backend.Specfile))
+			lockfileExists := fs.FileExists(filepath.Join(cwd, backend.Lockfile))
+
+			if specfileExists && lockfileExists {
+				return true, nil
+			}
 		}
 
 		return false, nil
diff --git a/cli/internal/util/backends.go b/cli/internal/util/backends.go
index 8dfa362a19410..1f4b6241bf97a 100644
--- a/cli/internal/util/backends.go
+++ b/cli/internal/util/backends.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package util
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
+	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
@@ -19,7 +20,8 @@ func IsYarn(backendName string) bool {
 	return backendName == "nodejs-yarn" || backendName == "nodejs-berry"
 }
 
-func IsBerry(cwd string, version string) (bool, error) {
+func IsBerry(cwd string, version string, pkgManager bool) (bool, error) {
+	if pkgManager {
 		v, err := semver.NewVersion(version)
 		if err != nil {
 			return false, fmt.Errorf("could not parse yarn version: %w", err)
@@ -30,6 +32,25 @@ func IsBerry(cwd string, version string) (bool, error) {
 		}
 
 		return c.Check(v), nil
+	} else {
+		cmd := exec.Command("yarn", "--version")
+		cmd.Dir = cwd
+		out, err := cmd.Output()
+		if err != nil {
+			return false, fmt.Errorf("could not detect yarn version: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		v, err := semver.NewVersion(strings.TrimSpace(string(out)))
+		if err != nil {
+			return false, fmt.Errorf("could not parse yarn version: %w", err)
+		}
+		c, err := semver.NewConstraint(">=2.0.0")
+		if err != nil {
+			return false, fmt.Errorf("could not create constraint: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		return c.Check(v), nil
+	}
 }
 
 func IsNMLinker(cwd string) (bool, error) {
@@ -53,4 +74,3 @@ func GetPackageManagerAndVersion(packageManager string) (string, string) {
 
 	return strings.Split(match, "@")[0], strings.Split(match, "@")[1]
 }
-