bun install - BunDocumentation Index
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Skip to main contentBun home pageInstall packages with Bun’s fast package manager
bun install react bun install react@19.1.1 # specific version bun install react@latest # specific tagThe bun CLI contains a Node.js-compatible package manager designed to be a dramatically faster replacement for npm, yarn, and pnpm. It’s a standalone tool that will work in pre-existing Node.js projects; if your project has a package.json, bun install can help you speed up your workflow.
bun installRunning bun install will: Install all dependencies, devDependencies, and optionalDependencies. Bun will install peerDependencies by default. Run your project’s {pre|post}install and {pre|post}prepare scripts at the appropriate time. For security reasons Bun does not execute lifecycle scripts of installed dependencies. Write a bun.lock lockfile to the project root. Logging To modify logging verbosity: terminal
bun install --verbose # debug logging bun install --silent # no loggingLifecycle scripts Unlike other npm clients, Bun does not execute arbitrary lifecycle scripts like postinstall for installed dependencies. Executing arbitrary scripts represents a potential security risk. To tell Bun to allow lifecycle scripts for a particular package, add the package to trustedDependencies in your package.json. package.json
{
"name": "my-app",
"version": "1.0.0",
"trustedDependencies": ["my-trusted-package"]
}
Then re-install the package. Bun will read this field and run lifecycle scripts for my-trusted-package.
Lifecycle scripts will run in parallel during installation. To adjust the maximum number of concurrent scripts, use the --concurrent-scripts flag. The default is two times the reported cpu count or GOMAXPROCS.
terminalbun install --concurrent-scripts 5Bun automatically optimizes postinstall scripts for popular packages (like esbuild, sharp, etc.) by determining which scripts need to run. To disable these optimizations: terminal
BUN_FEATURE_FLAG_DISABLE_NATIVE_DEPENDENCY_LINKER=1 bun install BUN_FEATURE_FLAG_DISABLE_IGNORE_SCRIPTS=1 bun installWorkspaces Bun supports "workspaces" in package.json. For complete documentation refer to Package manager > Workspaces. package.json
{
"name": "my-app",
"version": "1.0.0",
"workspaces": ["packages/*"],
"dependencies": {
"preact": "^10.5.13"
}
}
Installing dependencies for specific packages
In a monorepo, you can install the dependencies for a subset of packages using the --filter flag.
terminal# Install dependencies for all workspaces except `pkg-c` bun install --filter '!pkg-c' # Install dependencies for only `pkg-a` in `./packages/pkg-a` bun install --filter './packages/pkg-a'For more information on filtering with bun install, refer to Package Manager > Filtering Overrides and resolutions Bun supports npm’s "overrides" and Yarn’s "resolutions" in package.json. These are mechanisms for specifying a version range for metadependencies—the dependencies of your dependencies. Refer to Package manager > Overrides and resolutions for complete documentation. package.json
{
"name": "my-app",
"dependencies": {
"foo": "^2.0.0"
},
"overrides": {
"bar": "~4.4.0"
}
}
Global packages
To install a package globally, use the -g/--global flag. Typically this is used for installing command-line tools.
terminalbun install --global cowsay # or `bun install -g cowsay` cowsay "Bun!"
______ ------ \ ^__^ \ (oo)\_______ (__)\ )\/\ ||----w | || ||Production mode To install in production mode (i.e. without devDependencies or optionalDependencies): terminal
bun install --productionFor reproducible installs, use --frozen-lockfile. This will install the exact versions of each package specified in the lockfile. If your package.json disagrees with bun.lock, Bun will exit with an error. The lockfile will not be updated. terminal
bun install --frozen-lockfileFor more information on Bun’s lockfile bun.lock, refer to Package manager > Lockfile. Omitting dependencies To omit dev, peer, or optional dependencies use the --omit flag. terminal
# Exclude "devDependencies" from the installation. This will apply to the # root package and workspaces if they exist. Transitive dependencies will # not have "devDependencies". bun install --omit dev # Install only dependencies from "dependencies" bun install --omit=dev --omit=peer --omit=optionalDry run To perform a dry run (i.e. don’t actually install anything): terminal
bun install --dry-runNon-npm dependencies Bun supports installing dependencies from Git, GitHub, and local or remotely-hosted tarballs. For complete documentation refer to Package manager > Git, GitHub, and tarball dependencies. package.json
{
"dependencies": {
"dayjs": "git+https://github.com/iamkun/dayjs.git",
"lodash": "git+ssh:http://github.com/lodash/lodash.git#4.17.21",
"moment": "git@github.com:moment/moment.git",
"zod": "github:colinhacks/zod",
"react": "https://registry.npmjs.org/react/-/react-18.2.0.tgz",
"bun-types": "npm:@types/bun"
}
}
Installation strategies
Bun supports two package installation strategies that determine how dependencies are organized in node_modules:
Hoisted installs
The traditional npm/Yarn approach that flattens dependencies into a shared node_modules directory:
terminalbun install --linker hoistedIsolated installs A pnpm-like approach that creates strict dependency isolation to prevent phantom dependencies: terminal
bun install --linker isolatedIsolated installs create a central package store in node_modules/.bun/ with symlinks in the top-level node_modules. This ensures packages can only access their declared dependencies. Default strategy The default linker strategy depends on whether you’re starting fresh or have an existing project: New workspaces/monorepos: isolated (prevents phantom dependencies) New single-package projects: hoisted (traditional npm behavior) Existing projects (made pre-v1.3.2): hoisted (preserves backward compatibility) The default is controlled by a configVersion field in your lockfile. For a detailed explanation, see Package manager > Isolated installs. Minimum release age To protect against supply chain attacks where malicious packages are quickly published, you can configure a minimum age requirement for npm packages. Package versions published more recently than the specified threshold (in seconds) will be filtered out during installation. terminal
# Only install package versions published at least 3 days ago bun add @types/bun --minimum-release-age 259200 # secondsYou can also configure this in bunfig.toml: bunfig.toml
[install] # Only install package versions published at least 3 days ago minimumReleaseAge = 259200 # seconds # Exclude trusted packages from the age gate minimumReleaseAgeExcludes = ["@types/node", "typescript"]When the minimum age filter is active: Only affects new package resolution - existing packages in bun.lock remain unchanged All dependencies (direct and transitive) are filtered to meet the age requirement when being resolved When versions are blocked by the age gate, a stability check detects rapid bugfix patterns If multiple versions were published close together just outside your age gate, it extends the filter to skip those potentially unstable versions and selects an older, more mature version Searches up to 7 days after the age gate, however if still finding rapid releases it ignores stability check Exact version requests (like package@1.1.1) still respect the age gate but bypass the stability check Versions without a time field are treated as passing the age check (npm registry should always provide timestamps) For more advanced security scanning, including integration with services & custom filtering, see Package manager > Security Scanner API. Configuration Configuring bun install with bunfig.toml bunfig.toml is searched for in the following paths on bun install, bun remove, and bun add: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/.bunfig.toml or $HOME/.bunfig.toml ./bunfig.toml If both are found, the results are merged together. Configuring with bunfig.toml is optional. Bun tries to be zero configuration in general, but that’s not always possible. The default behavior of bun install can be configured in bunfig.toml. The default values are shown below. bunfig.toml
[install] # whether to install optionalDependencies optional = true # whether to install devDependencies dev = true # whether to install peerDependencies peer = true # equivalent to `--production` flag production = false # equivalent to `--save-text-lockfile` flag saveTextLockfile = false # equivalent to `--frozen-lockfile` flag frozenLockfile = false # equivalent to `--dry-run` flag dryRun = false # equivalent to `--concurrent-scripts` flag concurrentScripts = 16 # (cpu count or GOMAXPROCS) x2 # installation strategy: "hoisted" or "isolated" # default depends on lockfile configVersion and workspaces: # - configVersion = 1: "isolated" if using workspaces, otherwise "hoisted" # - configVersion = 0: "hoisted" linker = "hoisted" # minimum age config minimumReleaseAge = 259200 # seconds minimumReleaseAgeExcludes = ["@types/node", "typescript"]Configuring with environment variables Environment variables have a higher priority than bunfig.toml. NameDescriptionBUN_CONFIG_REGISTRYSet an npm registry (default: https://registry.npmjs.org)BUN_CONFIG_TOKENSet an auth token (currently does nothing)BUN_CONFIG_YARN_LOCKFILESave a Yarn v1-style yarn.lockBUN_CONFIG_LINK_NATIVE_BINSPoint bin in package.json to a platform-specific dependencyBUN_CONFIG_SKIP_SAVE_LOCKFILEDon’t save a lockfileBUN_CONFIG_SKIP_LOAD_LOCKFILEDon’t load a lockfileBUN_CONFIG_SKIP_INSTALL_PACKAGESDon’t install any packages Bun always tries to use the fastest available installation method for the target platform. On macOS, that’s clonefile and on Linux, that’s hardlink. You can change which installation method is used with the --backend flag. When unavailable or on error, clonefile and hardlink fallsback to a platform-specific implementation of copying files. Bun stores installed packages from npm in ~/.bun/install/cache/${name}@${version}. Note that if the semver version has a build or a pre tag, it is replaced with a hash of that value instead. This is to reduce the chances of errors from long file paths, but unfortunately complicates figuring out where a package was installed on disk. When the node_modules folder exists, before installing, Bun checks if the "name" and "version" in package/package.json in the expected node_modules folder matches the expected name and version. This is how it determines whether it should install. It uses a custom JSON parser which stops parsing as soon as it finds "name" and "version". When a bun.lock doesn’t exist or package.json has changed dependencies, tarballs are downloaded & extracted eagerly while resolving. When a bun.lock exists and package.json hasn’t changed, Bun downloads missing dependencies lazily. If the package with a matching name & version already exists in the expected location within node_modules, Bun won’t attempt to download the tarball. CI/CD Use the official oven-sh/setup-bun action to install bun in a GitHub Actions pipeline: .github/workflows/release.yml
name: bun-types jobs: build: name: build-app runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Checkout repo uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Install bun uses: oven-sh/setup-bun@v2 - name: Install dependencies run: bun install - name: Build app run: bun run buildFor CI/CD environments that want to enforce reproducible builds, use bun ci to fail the build if the package.json is out of sync with the lockfile: terminal
bun ciThis is equivalent to bun install --frozen-lockfile. It installs exact versions from bun.lock and fails if package.json doesn’t match the lockfile. To use bun ci or bun install --frozen-lockfile, you must commit bun.lock to version control. And instead of running bun install, run bun ci. .github/workflows/release.yml
name: bun-types jobs: build: name: build-app runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Checkout repo uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Install bun uses: oven-sh/setup-bun@v2 - name: Install dependencies run: bun ci - name: Build app run: bun run buildPlatform-specific dependencies? bun stores normalized cpu and os values from npm in the lockfile, along with the resolved packages. It skips downloading, extracting, and installing packages disabled for the current target at runtime. This means the lockfile won’t change between platforms/architectures even if the packages ultimately installed do change. --cpu and --os flags You can override the target platform for package selection:
bun install --cpu=x64 --os=linuxThis installs packages for the specified platform instead of the current system. Useful for cross-platform builds or when preparing deployments for different environments. Accepted values for --cpu: arm64, x64, ia32, ppc64, s390x Accepted values for --os: linux, darwin, win32, freebsd, openbsd, sunos, aix Peer dependencies? Peer dependencies are handled similarly to yarn. bun install will automatically install peer dependencies. If the dependency is marked optional in peerDependenciesMeta, an existing dependency will be chosen if possible. Lockfile bun.lock is Bun’s lockfile format. See our blogpost about the text lockfile. Prior to Bun 1.2, the lockfile was binary and called bun.lockb. Old lockfiles can be upgraded to the new format by running bun install --save-text-lockfile --frozen-lockfile --lockfile-only, and then deleting bun.lockb. Cache To delete the cache:
bun pm cache rm # or rm -rf ~/.bun/install/cachePlatform-specific backends bun install uses different system calls to install dependencies depending on the platform. This is a performance optimization. You can force a specific backend with the --backend flag. hardlink is the default backend on Linux. Benchmarking showed it to be the fastest on Linux.
rm -rf node_modules bun install --backend hardlinkclonefile is the default backend on macOS. Benchmarking showed it to be the fastest on macOS. It is only available on macOS.
rm -rf node_modules bun install --backend clonefileclonefile_each_dir is similar to clonefile, except it clones each file individually per directory. It is only available on macOS and tends to perform slower than clonefile. Unlike clonefile, this does not recursively clone subdirectories in one system call.
rm -rf node_modules bun install --backend clonefile_each_dircopyfile is the fallback used when any of the above fail, and is the slowest. on macOS, it uses fcopyfile() and on linux it uses copy_file_range().
rm -rf node_modules bun install --backend copyfilesymlink is typically only used for file: dependencies (and eventually link:) internally. To prevent infinite loops, it skips symlinking the node_modules folder. If you install with --backend=symlink, Node.js won’t resolve node_modules of dependencies unless each dependency has its own node_modules folder or you pass --preserve-symlinks to node or bun. See Node.js documentation on --preserve-symlinks.
rm -rf node_modules bun install --backend symlink bun --preserve-symlinks ./my-file.js node --preserve-symlinks ./my-file.js # https://nodejs.org/api/cli.html#--preserve-symlinksnpm registry metadata Bun uses a binary format for caching NPM registry responses. This loads much faster than JSON and tends to be smaller on disk. You will see these files in ~/.bun/install/cache/*.npm. The filename pattern is ${hash(packageName)}.npm. It’s a hash so that extra directories don’t need to be created for scoped packages. Bun’s usage of Cache-Control ignores Age. This improves performance, but means bun may be about 5 minutes out of date to receive the latest package version metadata from npm. pnpm migration Bun automatically migrates projects from pnpm to bun. When a pnpm-lock.yaml file is detected and no bun.lock file exists, Bun will automatically migrate the lockfile to bun.lock during installation. The original pnpm-lock.yaml file remains unmodified. terminal
bun installNote: Migration only runs when bun.lock is absent. There is currently no opt-out flag for pnpm migration. The migration process handles: Lockfile Migration Converts pnpm-lock.yaml to bun.lock format Preserves package versions and resolution information Maintains dependency relationships and peer dependencies Handles patched dependencies with integrity hashes Workspace Configuration When a pnpm-workspace.yaml file exists, Bun migrates workspace settings to your root package.json: pnpm-workspace.yaml
packages: - "apps/*" - "packages/*" catalog: react: ^18.0.0 typescript: ^5.0.0 catalogs: build: webpack: ^5.0.0 babel: ^7.0.0The workspace packages list and catalogs are moved to the workspaces field in package.json: package.json
{
"workspaces": {
"packages": ["apps/*", "packages/*"],
"catalog": {
"react": "^18.0.0",
"typescript": "^5.0.0"
},
"catalogs": {
"build": {
"webpack": "^5.0.0",
"babel": "^7.0.0"
}
}
}
}
Catalog Dependencies
Dependencies using pnpm’s catalog: protocol are preserved:
package.json{
"dependencies": {
"react": "catalog:",
"webpack": "catalog:build"
}
}
Configuration Migration
The following pnpm configuration is migrated from both pnpm-lock.yaml and pnpm-workspace.yaml:
Overrides: Moved from pnpm.overrides to root-level overrides in package.json
Patched Dependencies: Moved from pnpm.patchedDependencies to root-level patchedDependencies in package.json
Workspace Overrides: Applied from pnpm-workspace.yaml to root package.json
Requirements
Requires pnpm lockfile version 7 or higher
Workspace packages must have a name field in their package.json
All catalog entries referenced by dependencies must exist in the catalogs definition
After migration, you can safely remove pnpm-lock.yaml and pnpm-workspace.yaml files.
CLI Usage
terminalbun install name>@version>General Configuration --configstringp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Specify path to config file (bunfig.toml) --cwdstringp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Set a specific cwd Dependency Scope & Management --productionbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Don’t install devDependencies --no-savebooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Don’t update package.json or save a lockfile --savebooleandefault:"true"p:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Save to package.json --omitstringp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Exclude ‘dev’, ‘optional’, or ‘peer’ dependencies from install --only-missingbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Only add dependencies to package.json if they are not already present Dependency Type & Versioning --devbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Add dependency to “devDependencies” --optionalbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Add dependency to “optionalDependencies” --peerbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Add dependency to “peerDependencies” --exactbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Add the exact version instead of the ^range Lockfile Control --yarnbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Write a yarn.lock file (yarn v1) --frozen-lockfilebooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Disallow changes to lockfile --save-text-lockfilebooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Save a text-based lockfile --lockfile-onlybooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Generate a lockfile without installing dependencies Network & Registry Settings --castringp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Provide a Certificate Authority signing certificate --cafilestringp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">File path to Certificate Authority signing certificate --registrystringp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Use a specific registry by default, overriding .npmrc, bunfig.toml and environment variables Installation Process Control --dry-runbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Don’t install anything --forcebooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Always request the latest versions from the registry & reinstall all dependencies --globalbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Install globally --backendstringdefault:"clonefile"p:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Platform-specific optimizations: “clonefile”, “hardlink”, “symlink”, “copyfile” --filterstringp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Install packages for the matching workspaces --analyzebooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Analyze & install all dependencies of files passed as arguments recursively Caching Options --cache-dirstringp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Store & load cached data from a specific directory path --no-cachebooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Ignore manifest cache entirely Output & Logging --silentbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Don’t log anything --verbosebooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Excessively verbose logging --no-progressbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Disable the progress bar --no-summarybooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Don’t print a summary Security & Integrity --no-verifybooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Skip verifying integrity of newly downloaded packages --trustbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Add to trustedDependencies in the project’s package.json and install the package(s) Concurrency & Performance --concurrent-scriptsnumberdefault:"5"p:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Maximum number of concurrent jobs for lifecycle scripts --network-concurrencynumberdefault:"48"p:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Maximum number of concurrent network requests Lifecycle Script Management --ignore-scriptsbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Skip lifecycle scripts in the project’s package.json (dependency scripts are never run) Help Information --helpbooleanp:first-child]:mt-0 [&_.prose>p:last-child]:mb-0" data-component-part="field-content">Print this help menu
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