diff --git a/packages/cli/index.ts b/packages/cli/index.ts
index eb29494c..9f5c80a1 100644
--- a/packages/cli/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/index.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import { glob } from "tinyglobby";
 import ignore from "ignore";
 import "./environments";
 import { isBinaryFile } from "isbinaryfile";
-import { writePackageJSON, type PackageJson } from "pkg-types";
+import type { PackageJson } from "pkg-types";
 import pkg from "./package.json" with { type: "json" };
 import { createDefaultTemplate } from "./template";
 
@@ -251,13 +251,7 @@ const main = defineCommand({
 
             console.warn("preparing template:", pJson.name);
 
-            const restore = await writeDeps(
-              templateDir,
-              pJsonContents,
-              pJson,
-              deps,
-              realDeps,
-            );
+            const restore = writeDeps(templateDir, pJson, deps, realDeps);
 
             const gitignorePath = path.join(templateDir, ".gitignore");
             const ig = ignore().add("node_modules").add(".git");
@@ -334,10 +328,7 @@ const main = defineCommand({
               continue;
             }
 
-            restoreMap.set(
-              p,
-              await writeDeps(p, pJsonContents, pJson, deps, realDeps),
-            );
+            restoreMap.set(p, await writeDeps(p, pJson, deps, realDeps));
           }
 
           const shasums: Record<string, string> = {};
@@ -552,9 +543,8 @@ async function resolveTarball(pm: "npm" | "pnpm", p: string) {
   return { filename, shasum };
 }
 
-async function writeDeps(
+function writeDeps(
   p: string,
-  pJsonContents: string,
   pJson: PackageJson,
   deps: Map<string, string>,
   realDeps: Map<string, string> | null,
@@ -569,9 +559,7 @@ async function writeDeps(
     hijackDeps(realDeps, pJson.peerDependencies);
   }
 
-  await writePackageJSON(pJsonPath, pJson);
-
-  return () => fs.writeFile(pJsonPath, pJsonContents);
+  return () => fs.writeFile(pJsonPath, JSON.stringify(pJson, null, 2));
 }
 
 function hijackDeps(