Bun Package Manager

Bun Package Manager

Bun's package manager is a dramatically faster replacement for npm, yarn, and pnpm. Up to 25x faster than npm install.

Quick Start

# Install all dependencies
bun install

# Add packages
bun add react react-dom
bun add -D typescript @types/​react

# Remove packages
bun remove lodash

# Update packages
bun update

# Run package binaries
bunx create-next-app

Core Commands

Installation Flags

# Production mode (no devDependencies)
bun install --production

# Frozen lockfile (CI/​CD)
bun install --frozen-lockfile
bun ci  # shorthand

# Dry run
bun install --dry-run

# Verbose/​Silent
bun install --verbose
bun install --silent

# Force reinstall
bun install --force

# Global packages
bun install -g cowsay

Lockfile

Bun uses bun.lock (text-based since v1.2):

# Generate text lockfile
bun install --save-text-lockfile

# Upgrade from binary bun.lockb
bun install --save-text-lockfile --frozen-lockfile --lockfile-only
rm bun.lockb

Workspaces (Monorepos)

{
  "name": "my-monorepo",
  "workspaces": ["packages/​*", "apps/​*"]
}

Run commands across workspaces:

# Run in matching packages
bun run --filter 'pkg-*' build

# Run in all workspaces
bun run --filter '*' test

# Install for specific packages
bun install --filter 'pkg-a'

Lifecycle Scripts

Bun does not run lifecycle scripts from dependencies by default (security). Whitelist trusted packages:

{
  "trustedDependencies": ["my-trusted-package"]
}

# Skip all lifecycle scripts
bun install --ignore-scripts

# Concurrent scripts
bun install --concurrent-scripts 5

Overrides & Resolutions

Force specific versions for nested dependencies:

{
  "overrides": {
    "lodash": "4.17.21"
  }
}

Yarn-style resolutions also supported:

{
  "resolutions": {
    "lodash": "4.17.21"
  }
}

Non-npm Dependencies

{
  "dependencies": {
    "dayjs": "git+https://github.com/​iamkun/​dayjs.git",
    "lodash": "git+ssh://github.com/​lodash/​lodash.git#4.17.21",
    "zod": "github:colinhacks/​zod",
    "react": "https://registry.npmjs.org/​react/​-/​react-18.2.0.tgz",
    "bun-types": "npm:@types/​bun"
  }
}

Installation Strategies

Hoisted (default for single packages)

Traditional flat node_modules:

bun install --linker hoisted

Isolated (default for workspaces)

pnpm-like strict isolation:

bun install --linker isolated

Isolated prevents "phantom dependencies" - packages can only access declared dependencies.

CI/​CD

# GitHub Actions
- uses: oven-sh/​setup-bun@v2
- run: bun ci  # frozen lockfile

Platform-Specific

# Install for different platform
bun install --cpu=x64 --os=linux

Common Errors

Migration from Other Package Managers

From pnpm

Bun automatically migrates pnpm-lock.yaml:

bun install  # Auto-converts to bun.lock

Workspace config moves to package.json:

{
  "workspaces": {
    "packages": ["apps/​*", "packages/​*"],
    "catalog": {
      "react": "^18.0.0"
    }
  }
}

From npm/​Yarn

Simply run bun install - Bun reads package-lock.json and yarn.lock.

When to Load References

Load references/​cli-commands.md when:

• Need complete CLI flag reference
• Working with advanced options

Load references/​workspaces.md when:

• Setting up monorepos
• Configuring workspace filters

Load references/​migration.md when:

• Migrating from npm/​yarn/​pnpm
• Converting lockfiles