bun add

Add packages to your project with Bun’s fast package manager

To add a particular package:

terminal

bun add preact

To specify a version, version range, or tag:

terminal

bun add zod@3.20.0
bun add zod@^3.0.0
bun add zod@latest

--dev

Alias — --development, -d, -D

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

terminal

bun add --dev @types/react
bun add -d @types/react

--optional

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

terminal

bun add --optional lodash

--peer

To add a package as a peer dependency ("peerDependencies"):

terminal

bun add --peer @types/bun

--exact

Alias — -E

To add a package and pin to the resolved version, use --exact. This will resolve the version of the package and add it to your package.json with an exact version number instead of a version range.

terminal

bun add react --exact
bun add react -E

This will add the following to your package.json:

package.json

{
  "dependencies": {
    // without --exact
    "react": "^18.2.0", // this matches >= 18.2.0 < 19.0.0

    // with --exact
    "react": "18.2.0" // this matches only 18.2.0 exactly
  }
}

To view a complete list of options for this command:

terminal

bun add --help

--global

Note — This would not modify package.json of your current project folder. Alias - bun add --global, bun add -g, bun install --global and bun install -g

To install a package globally, use the -g/--global flag. This will not modify the package.json of your current project. Typically this is used for installing command-line tools.

terminal

bun add --global cowsay # or `bun add -g cowsay`
cowsay "Bun!"

 ______
< Bun! >
 ------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Configuring global installation behavior

bunfig.toml

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

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

Trusted dependencies

Unlike other npm clients, Bun does not execute arbitrary lifecycle scripts for installed dependencies, such as postinstall. These scripts represent a potential security risk, as they can execute arbitrary code on your machine.

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"] 
}

Bun reads this field and will run lifecycle scripts for my-trusted-package.

Git dependencies

To add a dependency from a public or private git repository:

terminal

bun add [e-mail]:moment/moment.git

To install private repositories, your system needs the appropriate SSH credentials to access the repository.

Bun supports a variety of protocols, including github, git, git+ssh, git+https, and many more.

package.json

{
  "dependencies": {
    "dayjs": "git+https://github.com/iamkun/dayjs.git",
    "lodash": "git+ssh://github.com/lodash/lodash.git#4.17.21",
    "moment": "[e-mail]:moment/moment.git",
    "zod": "github:colinhacks/zod"
  }
}

Tarball dependencies

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

terminal

bun add zod@https://registry.npmjs.org/zod/-/zod-3.21.4.tgz

This will add the following line to your package.json:

package.json

{
  "dependencies": {
    "zod": "https://registry.npmjs.org/zod/-/zod-3.21.4.tgz"
  }
}

---

CLI Usage

bun add <package> <@version>

Dependency Management

--production · boolean

Don’t install devDependencies. Alias: -p

--omit · string

Exclude dev, optional, or peer dependencies from install

--global · boolean

Install globally. Alias: -g

--dev · boolean

Add dependency to devDependencies. Alias: -d

--optional · boolean

Add dependency to optionalDependencies

--peer · boolean

Add dependency to peerDependencies

--exact · boolean

Add the exact version instead of the ^ range. Alias: -E

--only-missing · boolean

Only add dependencies to package.json if they are not already present

Project Files & Lockfiles

--yarn · boolean

Write a yarn.lock file (yarn v1). Alias: -y

--no-save · boolean

Don’t update package.json or save a lockfile

--save · boolean · default: "true"

Save to package.json (true by default)

--frozen-lockfile · boolean

Disallow changes to lockfile

--trust · boolean

Add to trustedDependencies in the project’s package.json and install the package(s)

--save-text-lockfile · boolean

Save a text-based lockfile

--lockfile-only · boolean

Generate a lockfile without installing dependencies

Installation Control

--dry-run · boolean

Don’t install anything

--force · boolean

Always request the latest versions from the registry & reinstall all dependencies. Alias: -f

--no-verify · boolean

Skip verifying integrity of newly downloaded packages

--ignore-scripts · boolean

Skip lifecycle scripts in the project’s package.json (dependency scripts are never run)

--analyze · boolean

Recursively analyze & install dependencies of files passed as arguments (using Bun’s bundler). Alias: -a

Network & Registry

--ca · string

Provide a Certificate Authority signing certificate

--cafile · string

Same as —ca, but as a file path to the certificate

--registry · string

Use a specific registry by default, overriding .npmrc, bunfig.toml, and environment variables

--network-concurrency · number · default: "48"

Maximum number of concurrent network requests (default 48)

Performance & Resource

--backend · string · default: "clonefile"

Platform-specific optimizations for installing dependencies. Possible values: clonefile (default), hardlink, symlink, copyfile

--concurrent-scripts · number · default: "5"

Maximum number of concurrent jobs for lifecycle scripts (default 5)

Caching

--cache-dir · string

Store & load cached data from a specific directory path

--no-cache · boolean

Ignore manifest cache entirely

Output & Logging

--silent · boolean

Don’t log anything

--verbose · boolean

Excessively verbose logging

--no-progress · boolean

Disable the progress bar

--no-summary · boolean

Don’t print a summary

Global Configuration & Context

--config · string

Specify path to config file (bunfig.toml). Alias: -c

--cwd · string

Set a specific current working directory

Help

--help · boolean

Print this help menu. Alias: -h