The `bun` CLI contains an `npm`-compatible package manager designed to be a faster replacement for existing package management tools like `npm`, `yarn`, and `pnpm`. It's designed for Node.js compatibility; use it in any Bun or Node.js project.

{% callout %}

**⚡️ 80x faster** — Switch from `npm install` to `bun install` in any Node.js project to make your installations up to 80x faster.

{% image src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/709451/147004342-571b6123-17a9-49a2-8bfd-dcfc5204047e.png" height="200" /%}

{% /callout %}

{% details summary="For Linux users" %}
The minimum Linux Kernel version is 5.1. If you're on Linux kernel 5.1 - 5.5, `bun install` should still work, but HTTP requests will be slow due to a lack of support for io_uring's `connect()` operation.

If you're using Ubuntu 20.04, here's how to install a [newer kernel](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack):

```bash
# If this returns a version >= 5.6, you don't need to do anything
uname -r

# Install the official Ubuntu hardware enablement kernel
sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-20.04
```

{% /details %}

## Manage dependencies

### `bun install`

To install all dependencies of a project:

```bash
$ bun install
```

On Linux, `bun install` tends to install packages 20-100x faster than `npm install`. On macOS, it's more like 4-80x.

![package install benchmark](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/709451/147004342-571b6123-17a9-49a2-8bfd-dcfc5204047e.png)

Running `bun install` will:

- **Install** all `dependencies`, `devDependencies`, and `optionalDependencies`. Bun does not install `peerDependencies` by default.
- **Run** your project's `{pre|post}install` scripts at the appropriate time. For security reasons Bun _does not execute_ lifecycle scripts of installed dependencies.
- **Write** a `bun.lockb` lockfile to the project root.

To install in production mode (i.e. without `devDependencies`):

```bash
$ bun install --production
```

To install dependencies without allowing changes to lockfile (useful on CI):

```bash
$ bun install --frozen-lockfile
```

To perform a dry run (i.e. don't actually install anything):

```bash
$ bun install --dry-run
```

To modify logging verbosity:

```bash
$ bun install --verbose # debug logging
$ bun install --silent  # no logging
```

{% details summary="Configuring behavior" %}
The default behavior of `bun install` can be configured in `bunfig.toml`:

```toml
[install]

# whether to install optionalDependencies
optional = true

# whether to install devDependencies
dev = true

# whether to install peerDependencies
peer = false

# equivalent to `--production` flag
production = false

# equivalent to `--frozen-lockfile` flag
frozenLockfile = false

# equivalent to `--dry-run` flag
dryRun = false
```

{% /details %}

### `bun add`

To add a particular package:

```bash
$ bun add preact
```

To specify a version, version range, or tag:

```bash
$ bun add zod@3.20.0
$ bun add zod@^3.0.0
$ bun add zod@latest
```

To add a package as a dev dependency (`"devDependencies"`):

```bash
$ bun add --dev @types/react
$ bun add -d @types/react
```

To add a package as an optional dependency (`"optionalDependencies"`):

```bash
$ bun add --optional lodash
```

To install a package globally:

```bash
$ bun add --global cowsay # or `bun add -g cowsay`
$ cowsay "Bun!"
 ______
< Bun! >
 ------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||
```

{% details summary="Configuring global installation behavior" %}

```toml
[install]
# where `bun install --global` installs packages
globalDir = "~/.bun/install/global"

# where globally-installed package bins are linked
globalBinDir = "~/.bun/bin"
```

{% /details %}
To view a complete list of options for a given command:

```bash
$ bun add --help
```

### `bun remove`

To remove a dependency:

```bash
$ bun remove preact
```

## Git dependencies

To add a dependency from a git repository:

```bash
$ bun install git@github.com:moment/moment.git
```

Bun supports a variety of protocols, including [`github`](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v9/configuring-npm/package-json#github-urls), [`git`](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v9/configuring-npm/package-json#git-urls-as-dependencies), `git+ssh`, `git+https`, and many more.

```json
{
  "dependencies": {
    "dayjs": "git+https://github.com/iamkun/dayjs.git",
    "lodash": "git+ssh://github.com/lodash/lodash.git#4.17.21",
    "moment": "git@github.com:moment/moment.git",
    "zod": "github:colinhacks/zod"
  }
}
```

## Tarball dependencies

A package name can correspond to a publicly hosted `.tgz` file. During `bun install`, Bun will download and install the package from the specified tarball URL, rather than from the package registry.

```json#package.json
{
  "dependencies": {
    "zod": "https://registry.npmjs.org/zod/-/zod-3.21.4.tgz"
  }
}
```