diff --git a/packages/elastic-datemath/yarn.lock b/packages/elastic-datemath/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/elastic-datemath/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-babel-code-parser/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-babel-code-parser/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-babel-code-parser/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-babel-preset/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-babel-preset/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-babel-preset/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-dev-utils/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-dev-utils/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-dev-utils/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-es-query/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-es-query/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-es-query/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-es/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-es/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-es/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-eslint-import-resolver-kibana/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-eslint-import-resolver-kibana/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-eslint-import-resolver-kibana/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-eslint-plugin-license-header/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-eslint-plugin-license-header/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-eslint-plugin-license-header/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-i18n/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-i18n/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-i18n/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-interpreter/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-interpreter/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-interpreter/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-plugin-generator/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-plugin-generator/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-plugin-generator/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-plugin-helpers/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-pm/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-pm/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-pm/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-system-loader/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-system-loader/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-system-loader/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-test/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-test/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-test/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/kbn-ui-framework/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-ui-framework/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..3f82ebc9cdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-ui-framework/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/check_lockfile_symlinks.js b/scripts/check_lockfile_symlinks.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b41a354da83f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check_lockfile_symlinks.js
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+require('../src/setup_node_env');
+require('../src/dev/run_check_lockfile_symlinks');
diff --git a/src/dev/run_check_lockfile_symlinks.js b/src/dev/run_check_lockfile_symlinks.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..52b4a59fbd11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/dev/run_check_lockfile_symlinks.js
@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+import { existsSync, lstatSync, readFileSync, readlinkSync } from 'fs';
+import globby from 'globby';
+import { dirname } from 'path';
+
+import { run, createFailError } from './run';
+
+import { REPO_ROOT } from './constants';
+import { File } from './file';
+import { matchesAnyGlob } from './globs';
+
+const LOCKFILE_GLOBS = ['**/yarn.lock'];
+const MANIFEST_GLOBS = ['**/package.json'];
+const IGNORE_FILE_GLOBS = [
+  // tests aren't used in production, ignore them
+  '**/test/**/*',
+  // fixtures aren't used in production, ignore them
+  '**/*fixtures*/**/*',
+];
+
+run(async ({ log }) => {
+  const paths = await globby(LOCKFILE_GLOBS.concat(MANIFEST_GLOBS), {
+    cwd: REPO_ROOT,
+    nodir: true,
+    gitignore: true,
+    ignore: [
+      // the gitignore: true option makes sure that we don't
+      // include files from node_modules in the result, but it still
+      // loads all of the files from node_modules before filtering
+      // so it's still super slow. This prevents loading the files
+      // and still relies on gitignore to to final ignores
+      '**/node_modules',
+    ],
+  });
+
+  const files = paths.map(path => new File(path));
+
+  await checkLockfileSymlinks(log, files);
+});
+
+async function checkLockfileSymlinks(log, files) {
+  const filtered = files.filter(file => !matchesAnyGlob(file.getRelativePath(), IGNORE_FILE_GLOBS));
+  await checkOnlyLockfileAtProjectRoot(filtered);
+  await checkSuperfluousSymlinks(log, filtered);
+  await checkMissingSymlinks(log, filtered);
+  await checkIncorrectSymlinks(log, filtered);
+}
+
+async function checkOnlyLockfileAtProjectRoot(files) {
+  const errorPaths = [];
+
+  files
+    .filter(file => matchesAnyGlob(file.getRelativePath(), LOCKFILE_GLOBS))
+    .forEach(file => {
+      const path = file.getRelativePath();
+      const parent = dirname(path);
+      const stats = lstatSync(path);
+      if (!stats.isSymbolicLink() && parent !== '.') {
+        errorPaths.push(path);
+      }
+    });
+
+  if (errorPaths.length) {
+    throw createFailError(
+      `These directories MUST NOT have a 'yarn.lock' file:\n${listPaths(errorPaths)}`
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+async function checkSuperfluousSymlinks(log, files) {
+  const errorPaths = [];
+
+  files
+    .filter(file => matchesAnyGlob(file.getRelativePath(), LOCKFILE_GLOBS))
+    .forEach(file => {
+      const path = file.getRelativePath();
+      const parent = dirname(path);
+      const stats = lstatSync(path);
+      if (!stats.isSymbolicLink()) {
+        return;
+      }
+
+      const manifestPath = `${parent}/package.json`;
+      if (!existsSync(manifestPath)) {
+        log.warning(
+          `No manifest found at '${manifestPath}', but found an adjacent 'yarn.lock' symlink.`
+        );
+        errorPaths.push(path);
+        return;
+      }
+
+      try {
+        const manifest = readFileSync(manifestPath);
+        try {
+          const json = JSON.parse(manifest);
+          if (!json.dependencies || !Object.keys(json.dependencies).length) {
+            log.warning(
+              `Manifest at '${manifestPath}' has an adjacent 'yarn.lock' symlink, but manifest has no dependencies.`
+            );
+            errorPaths.push(path);
+          }
+        } catch (err) {
+          log.warning(
+            `Manifest at '${manifestPath}' has an adjacent 'yarn.lock' symlink, but could not parse manifest JSON (${err.message}).`
+          );
+          errorPaths.push(path);
+        }
+      } catch (err) {
+        log.warning(
+          `Manifest at '${manifestPath}', has an adjacent 'yarn.lock' symlink, but could not read manifest (${err.message}).`
+        );
+        errorPaths.push(path);
+      }
+    });
+
+  if (errorPaths.length) {
+    throw createFailError(
+      `These directories MUST NOT have a 'yarn.lock' symlink:\n${listPaths(errorPaths)}`
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+async function checkMissingSymlinks(log, files) {
+  const errorPaths = [];
+
+  files
+    .filter(file => matchesAnyGlob(file.getRelativePath(), MANIFEST_GLOBS))
+    .forEach(file => {
+      const path = file.getRelativePath();
+      const parent = dirname(path);
+      const lockfilePath = `${parent}/yarn.lock`;
+      if (existsSync(lockfilePath)) {
+        return;
+      }
+
+      try {
+        const manifest = readFileSync(path);
+        try {
+          const json = JSON.parse(manifest);
+          if (json.dependencies && Object.keys(json.dependencies).length) {
+            const correctSymlink = getCorrectSymlink(lockfilePath);
+            log.warning(
+              `Manifest at '${path}' has dependencies, but did not find an adjacent 'yarn.lock' symlink to '${correctSymlink}'.`
+            );
+            errorPaths.push(`${parent}/yarn.lock`);
+          }
+        } catch (err) {
+          log.warning(`Could not parse manifest JSON at '${path}' (${err.message}).`);
+        }
+      } catch (err) {
+        log.warning(`Could not read manifest at '${path}' (${err.message}).`);
+      }
+    });
+
+  if (errorPaths.length) {
+    throw createFailError(
+      `These directories MUST have a 'yarn.lock' symlink:\n${listPaths(errorPaths)}`
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+async function checkIncorrectSymlinks(log, files) {
+  const errorPaths = [];
+
+  files
+    .filter(file => matchesAnyGlob(file.getRelativePath(), LOCKFILE_GLOBS))
+    .forEach(file => {
+      const path = file.getRelativePath();
+      const stats = lstatSync(path);
+      if (!stats.isSymbolicLink()) {
+        return;
+      }
+
+      const symlink = readlinkSync(path);
+      const correctSymlink = getCorrectSymlink(path);
+      if (symlink !== correctSymlink) {
+        log.warning(
+          `Symlink at '${path}' points to '${symlink}', but it should point to '${correctSymlink}'.`
+        );
+        errorPaths.push(path);
+      }
+    });
+
+  if (errorPaths.length) {
+    throw createFailError(
+      `These symlinks do NOT point to the 'yarn.lock' file in the project root:\n${listPaths(
+        errorPaths
+      )}`
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+function getCorrectSymlink(path) {
+  const count = path.split('/').length - 1;
+  return `${'../'.repeat(count)}yarn.lock`;
+}
+
+function listPaths(paths) {
+  return paths.map(path => ` - ${path}`).join('\n');
+}
diff --git a/tasks/config/run.js b/tasks/config/run.js
index 5fd4b49cac29..3f13d6b48d85 100644
--- a/tasks/config/run.js
+++ b/tasks/config/run.js
@@ -102,6 +102,16 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
       ]
     },
 
+    // used by the test and jenkins:unit tasks
+    //    runs the check_lockfile_symlinks script to ensure manifests with non-dev dependencies have adjacent lockfile symlinks
+    checkLockfileSymlinks: {
+      cmd: process.execPath,
+      args: [
+        require.resolve('../../scripts/check_lockfile_symlinks'),
+        '--quiet', // only log errors, not warnings
+      ],
+    },
+
     // used by the test and jenkins:unit tasks
     //    runs the tslint script to check for Typescript linting errors
     typeCheck: {
diff --git a/tasks/jenkins.js b/tasks/jenkins.js
index 47b9429fed00..8c56a7fef7c9 100644
--- a/tasks/jenkins.js
+++ b/tasks/jenkins.js
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
     'run:checkFileCasing',
     'licenses',
     'verifyDependencyVersions',
+    'run:checkLockfileSymlinks',
     'run:verifyNotice',
     'test:server',
     'test:jest',
diff --git a/x-pack/.gitignore b/x-pack/.gitignore
index 32bd16a0f022..eb1aec466bbf 100644
--- a/x-pack/.gitignore
+++ b/x-pack/.gitignore
@@ -10,6 +10,3 @@
 /.env
 /.kibana-plugin-helpers.dev.*
 !/plugins/infra/**/target
-
-# We don't want any yarn.lock files in here
-/yarn.lock
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/infra/yarn.lock b/x-pack/plugins/infra/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..6e09764ec763
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/infra/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/x-pack/yarn.lock b/x-pack/yarn.lock
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..1fe23b6e377d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x-pack/yarn.lock
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../yarn.lock
\ No newline at end of file