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+Module resolution in JavaScript is a complex topic.
+
+The ecosystem is currently in the midst of a years-long transition from CommonJS modules to native ES modules. TypeScript enforces its own set of rules around import extensions that aren't compatible with ESM. Different build tools support path re-mapping via disparate non-compatible mechanisms.
+
+Bun aims to provide a consistent and predictable module resolution system that just works. Unfortunately it's still quite complex.
+
+## Syntax
+
+Consider the following files.
+
+{% codetabs %}
+
+```ts#index.ts
+import { hello } from "./hello";
+
+hello();
+```
+
+```ts#hello.ts
+export function hello() {
+ console.log("Hello world!");
+}
+```
+
+{% /codetabs %}
+
+When we run `index.ts`, it prints "Hello world".
+
+```bash
+$ bun index.ts
+Hello world!
+```
+
+In this case, we are importing from `./hello`, a relative path with no extension. To resolve this import, Bun will check for the following files in order:
+
+- `./hello.ts`
+- `./hello.tsx`
+- `./hello.js`
+- `./hello.mjs`
+- `./hello.cjs`
+- `./hello/index.ts`
+- `./hello/index.js`
+- `./hello/index.json`
+- `./hello/index.mjs`
+
+Import paths are case-insensitive.
+
+```ts#index.ts
+import { hello } from "./hello";
+import { hello } from "./HELLO";
+import { hello } from "./hElLo";
+```
+
+Import paths can optionally include extensions. If an extension is present, Bun will only check for a file with that exact extension.
+
+```ts#index.ts
+import { hello } from "./hello";
+import { hello } from "./hello.ts"; // this works
+```
+
+There is one exception: if you import `from "*.js{x}"`, Bun will additionally check for a matching `*.ts{x}` file, to be compatible with TypeScript's [ES module support](https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/release-notes/typescript-4-7.html#new-file-extensions).
+
+```ts#index.ts
+import { hello } from "./hello";
+import { hello } from "./hello.ts"; // this works
+import { hello } from "./hello.js"; // this also works
+```
+
+Bun supports both ES modules (`import`/`export` syntax) and CommonJS modules (`require()`/`module.exports`). The following CommonJS version would also work in Bun.
+
+{% codetabs %}
+
+```ts#index.js
+const { hello } = require("./hello");
+
+hello();
+```
+
+```ts#hello.js
+function hello() {
+ console.log("Hello world!");
+}
+
+exports.hello = hello;
+```
+
+{% /codetabs %}
+
+That said, using CommonJS is discouraged in new projects.
+
+## Resolution
+
+Bun implements the Node.js module resolution algorithm, so you can import packages from `node_modules` with a bare specifier.
+
+```ts
+import { stuff } from "foo";
+```
+
+The full specification of this algorithm are officially documented in the [Node.js documentation](https://nodejs.org/api/modules.html); we won't rehash it here. Briefly: if you import `from "foo"`, Bun scans up the file system for a `node_modules` directory containing the package `foo`.
+
+Once it finds the `foo` package, Bun reads the `package.json` to determine how the package should be imported. Unless `"type": "module"` is specified, Bun assumes the package is using CommonJS and transpiles into a synchronous ES module internally. To determine the package's entrypoint, Bun first reads the `exports` field in and checks the following conditions in order:
+
+```jsonc#package.json
+{
+ "name": "foo",
+ "exports": {
+ "bun": "./index.js", // highest priority
+ "worker": "./index.js",
+ "module": "./index.js",
+ "node": "./index.js",
+ "browser": "./index.js",
+ "default": "./index.js" // lowest priority
+ }
+}
+```
+
+Bun respects subpath [`"exports"`](https://nodejs.org/api/packages.html#subpath-exports) and [`"imports"`](https://nodejs.org/api/packages.html#imports). Specifying any subpath in the `"exports"` map will prevent other subpaths from being importable.
+
+```jsonc#package.json
+{
+ "name": "foo",
+ "exports": {
+ ".": "./index.js",
+ "./package.json": "./package.json" # subpath
+ }
+}
+```
+
+{% callout %}
+**Shipping TypeScript** — Note that Bun supports the special `"bun"` export condition. If your library is written in TypeScript, you can publish your (un-transpiled!) TypeScript files to `npm` directly. If you specify your package's `*.ts` entrypoint in the `"bun"` condition, Bun will directly import and execute your TypeScript source files.
+{% /callout %}
+
+If `exports` is not defined, Bun falls back to `"module"` (ESM imports only) then [`"main"`](https://nodejs.org/api/packages.html#main).
+
+```json#package.json
+{
+ "name": "foo",
+ "module": "./index.js",
+ "main": "./index.js"
+}
+```
+
+## Path re-mapping
+
+In the spirit of treating TypeScript as a first-class citizen, the Bun runtime will re-map import paths according to the [`compilerOptions.paths`](https://www.typescriptlang.org/tsconfig#paths) field in `tsconfig.json`. This is a major divergence from Node.js, which doesn't support any form of import path re-mapping.
+
+```jsonc#tsconfig.json
+{
+ "compilerOptions": {
+ "paths": {
+ "config": ["./config.ts"], // map specifier to file
+ "components/*": ["components/*"], // wildcard matching
+ }
+ }
+}
+```
+
+If you aren't a TypeScript user, you can create a [`jsconfig.json`](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/jsconfig) in your project root to achieve the same behavior.
+
+## Bun-style resolution
+
+{% callout %}
+**Note** — Added in Bun v0.3.0
+{% /callout %}
+
+If no `node_modules` directory is found in the working directory or higher, Bun will abandon Node.js-style module resolution in favor of the **Bun module resolution algorithm**.
+
+Under Bun-style module resolution, all imported packages are auto-installed on the fly into a [global module cache](/docs/cli/install#global-cache) during execution (the same cache used by [`bun install`](/docs/cli/install)).
+
+```ts
+import { foo } from "foo"; // install `latest` version
+
+foo();
+```
+
+The first time you run this script, Bun will auto-install `"foo"` and cache it. The next time you run the script, it will use the cached version.
+
+### Version resolution
+
+To determine which version to install, Bun follows the following algorithm:
+
+1. Check for a `bun.lockb` file in the project root. If it exists, use the version specified in the lockfile.
+2. Otherwise, scan up the tree for a `package.json` that includes `"foo"` as a dependency. If found, use the specified semver version or version range.
+3. Otherwise, use `latest`.
+
+### Cache behavior
+
+Once a version or version range has been determined, Bun will:
+
+1. Check the module cache for a compatible version. If one exists, use it.
+2. When resolving `latest`, Bun will check if `package@latest` has been downloaded and cached in the last _24 hours_. If so, use it.
+3. Otherwise, download and install the appropriate version from the `npm` registry.
+
+### Installation
+
+Packages are installed and cached into `<cache>/<pkg>@<version>`, so multiple versions of the same package can be cached at once. Additional, a symlink is created under `<cache>/<pkg>/<version>` to make it faster to look up all versions of a package exist in the cache.
+
+### Version specifiers
+
+This entire resolution algorithm can be short-circuited by specifying a version or version range directly in your import statement.
+
+```ts
+import { z } from "zod@3.0.0"; // specific version
+import { z } from "zod@next"; // npm tag
+import { z } from "zod@^3.20.0"; // semver range
+```
+
+### Benefits
+
+This auto-installation approach is useful for a few reasons:
+
+- **Space efficiency** — Each version of a dependency only exists in one place on disk. This is a huge space and time savings compared to redundant per-project installations.
+- **Portability** — To share simple scripts and gists, your source file is _self-contained_. No need to `zip` together a directory containing your code and config files. With version specifiers in `import` statements, even a `package.json` isn't necessary.
+- **Convenience** — There's no need to run `npm install` or `bun install` before running a file or script. Just `bun run` it.
+- **Backwards compatibility** — Because Bun still respects the versions specified in `package.json` if one exists, you can switch to Bun-style resolution with a single command: `rm -rf node_modules`.
+
+### Limitations
+
+- No Intellisense. TypeScript auto-completion in IDEs relies on the existence of type declaration files inside `node_modules`. We are investigating various solutions to this.
+- No [patch-package](https://github.com/ds300/patch-package) support
+
+<!-- - The implementation details of Bun's install cache will change between versions. Don't think of it as an API. To reliably resolve packages, use Bun's builtin APIs (such as `Bun.resolveSync` or `import.meta.resolve`) instead of relying on the filesystem directly. Bun will likely move to a binary archive format where packages may not correspond to files/folders on disk at all - so if you depend on the filesystem structure instead of the JavaScript API, your code will eventually break. -->
+
+<!-- ### Customizing behavior
+
+To prefer locally-installed versions of packages. Instead of checking npm for latest versions, you can pass the `--prefer-offline` flag to prefer locally-installed versions of packages.
+
+```bash
+$ bun run --prefer-offline my-script.ts
+```
+
+This will check the install cache for installed versions of packages before checking the npm registry. If no matching version of a package is installed, only then will it check npm for the latest version.
+
+#### Prefer latest
+
+To always use the latest version of a package, you can pass the `--prefer-latest` flag.
+
+```bash
+$ bun run --prefer-latest my-script.ts
+``` -->
+
+### FAQ
+
+{% details summary="How is this different from what pnpm does?" %}
+
+With pnpm, you have to run `pnpm install`, which creates a `node_modules` folder of symlinks for the runtime to resolve. By contrast, Bun resolves dependencies on the fly when you run a file; there's no need to run any `install` command ahead of time. Bun also doesn't create a `node_modules` folder.
+
+{% /details %}
+
+{% details summary="How is this different from Yarn Plug'N'Play does?" %}
+With Yarn, you must run `yarn install` before you run a script. By contrast, Bun resolves dependencies on the fly when you run a file; there's no need to run any `install` command ahead of time.
+
+Yarn Plug'N'Play also uses zip files to store dependencies. This makes dependency loading [slower at runtime](https://twitter.com/jarredsumner/status/1458207919636287490), as random access reads on zip files tend to be slower than the equivalent disk lookup.
+{% /details %}
+
+{% details summary="How is this different from what Deno does?" %}
+
+Deno requires an `npm:` specifier before each npm `import`, lacks support for import maps via `compilerOptions.paths` in `tsconfig.json`, and has incomplete support for `package.json` settings. Unlike Deno, Bun does not currently support URL imports.
+{% /details %}