diff --git a/.changeset/brave-coats-beam.md b/.changeset/brave-coats-beam.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..db00ba84fdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/brave-coats-beam.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/plugin-commands-config": patch
+"pnpm": patch
+---
+
+The config command should work with the `--location=global` CLI option [#5841](https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/5841).
diff --git a/config/plugin-commands-config/src/ConfigCommandOptions.ts b/config/plugin-commands-config/src/ConfigCommandOptions.ts
index 661b0815d53..a4bed578bc5 100644
--- a/config/plugin-commands-config/src/ConfigCommandOptions.ts
+++ b/config/plugin-commands-config/src/ConfigCommandOptions.ts
@@ -5,4 +5,7 @@ export type ConfigCommandOptions = Pick<Config,
 | 'dir'
 | 'global'
 | 'rawConfig'
-> & { json?: boolean }
+> & {
+  json?: boolean
+  location?: 'global' | 'project'
+}
diff --git a/config/plugin-commands-config/src/config.ts b/config/plugin-commands-config/src/config.ts
index 8a72533c071..7d5b584ceda 100644
--- a/config/plugin-commands-config/src/config.ts
+++ b/config/plugin-commands-config/src/config.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ export function rcOptionsTypes () {
 export function cliOptionsTypes () {
   return {
     global: Boolean,
+    location: ['global', 'project'],
     json: Boolean,
   }
 }
@@ -71,6 +72,9 @@ export async function handler (opts: ConfigCommandOptions, params: string[]) {
       hint: help(),
     })
   }
+  if (opts.location) {
+    opts.global = opts.location === 'global'
+  }
   switch (params[0]) {
   case 'set': {
     return configSet(opts, params[1], params[2] ?? '')
diff --git a/config/plugin-commands-config/test/configSet.test.ts b/config/plugin-commands-config/test/configSet.test.ts
index feeb471a48a..1a77238ec55 100644
--- a/config/plugin-commands-config/test/configSet.test.ts
+++ b/config/plugin-commands-config/test/configSet.test.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { tempDir } from '@pnpm/prepare'
 import { config } from '@pnpm/plugin-commands-config'
 import { readIniFileSync } from 'read-ini-file'
 
-test('config set', async () => {
+test('config set using the global option', async () => {
   const tmp = tempDir()
   const configDir = path.join(tmp, 'global-config')
   fs.mkdirSync(configDir, { recursive: true })
@@ -22,3 +22,59 @@ test('config set', async () => {
     'fetch-retries': '1',
   })
 })
+
+test('config set using the location=global option', async () => {
+  const tmp = tempDir()
+  const configDir = path.join(tmp, 'global-config')
+  fs.mkdirSync(configDir, { recursive: true })
+  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(configDir, 'rc'), 'store-dir=~/store')
+
+  await config.handler({
+    dir: process.cwd(),
+    configDir,
+    location: 'global',
+    rawConfig: {},
+  }, ['set', 'fetch-retries', '1'])
+
+  expect(readIniFileSync(path.join(configDir, 'rc'))).toEqual({
+    'store-dir': '~/store',
+    'fetch-retries': '1',
+  })
+})
+
+test('config set using the location=project option', async () => {
+  const tmp = tempDir()
+  const configDir = path.join(tmp, 'global-config')
+  fs.mkdirSync(configDir, { recursive: true })
+  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(tmp, '.npmrc'), 'store-dir=~/store')
+
+  await config.handler({
+    dir: process.cwd(),
+    configDir,
+    location: 'project',
+    rawConfig: {},
+  }, ['set', 'fetch-retries', '1'])
+
+  expect(readIniFileSync(path.join(tmp, '.npmrc'))).toEqual({
+    'store-dir': '~/store',
+    'fetch-retries': '1',
+  })
+})
+
+test('config set in project .npmrc file', async () => {
+  const tmp = tempDir()
+  const configDir = path.join(tmp, 'global-config')
+  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(tmp, '.npmrc'), 'store-dir=~/store')
+
+  await config.handler({
+    dir: process.cwd(),
+    configDir,
+    global: false,
+    rawConfig: {},
+  }, ['set', 'fetch-retries', '1'])
+
+  expect(readIniFileSync(path.join(tmp, '.npmrc'))).toEqual({
+    'store-dir': '~/store',
+    'fetch-retries': '1',
+  })
+})