bun add

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

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

`--dev`

<Note>Alias — --development, -d, -D</Note>

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

bash

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

`--optional`

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

bash

bun add --optional lodash

`--peer`

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

bash

bun add --peer @types/bun

`--exact`

<Note>Alias — -E</Note>

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.

bash

bun add react --exact
bun add react -E

This will add the following to your package.json:

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:

bash

bun add --help

`--global`

<Note> **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` </Note>

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.

bash

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

txt

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

<Accordion title="Configuring global installation behavior"> ```toml bunfig.toml icon="settings" theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"dracula"}} [install] # where `bun add --global` installs packages globalDir = "~/.bun/install/global"

where globally-installed package bins are linked

globalBinDir = "~/.bun/bin"

code

</Accordion>

## 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.

```json package.json icon="file-json" theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"dracula"}}
{
"name": "my-app",
"version": "1.0.0",
"trustedDependencies": ["my-trusted-package"] // [!code ++]
}

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:

bash

bun add git@github.com:moment/moment.git

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

Bun supports a variety of protocols, including github, git, 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 installation, Bun will download and install the package from the specified tarball URL, rather than from the package registry.

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

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

json

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

CLI Usage

bash

bun add <package> <@version>

Dependency Management

<ParamField path="--production" type="boolean"> Don't install devDependencies. Alias: <code>-p</code> </ParamField> <ParamField path="--omit" type="string"> Exclude <code>dev</code>, <code>optional</code>, or <code>peer</code> dependencies from install </ParamField> <ParamField path="--global" type="boolean"> Install globally. Alias: <code>-g</code> </ParamField> <ParamField path="--dev" type="boolean"> Add dependency to <code>devDependencies</code>. Alias: <code>-d</code> </ParamField> <ParamField path="--optional" type="boolean"> Add dependency to <code>optionalDependencies</code> </ParamField> <ParamField path="--peer" type="boolean"> Add dependency to <code>peerDependencies</code> </ParamField> <ParamField path="--exact" type="boolean"> Add the exact version instead of the <code>^</code> range. Alias: <code>-E</code> </ParamField> <ParamField path="--only-missing" type="boolean"> Only add dependencies to <code>package.json</code> if they are not already present </ParamField>

Project Files & Lockfiles

<ParamField path="--yarn" type="boolean"> Write a <code>yarn.lock</code> file (yarn v1). Alias: <code>-y</code> </ParamField> <ParamField path="--no-save" type="boolean"> Don't update <code>package.json</code> or save a lockfile </ParamField> <ParamField path="--save" type="boolean" default="true"> Save to <code>package.json</code> (true by default) </ParamField> <ParamField path="--frozen-lockfile" type="boolean"> Disallow changes to lockfile </ParamField> <ParamField path="--trust" type="boolean"> Add to <code>trustedDependencies</code> in the project's <code>package.json</code> and install the package(s) </ParamField> <ParamField path="--save-text-lockfile" type="boolean"> Save a text-based lockfile </ParamField> <ParamField path="--lockfile-only" type="boolean"> Generate a lockfile without installing dependencies </ParamField>

Installation Control

<ParamField path="--dry-run" type="boolean"> Don't install anything </ParamField> <ParamField path="--force" type="boolean"> Always request the latest versions from the registry & reinstall all dependencies. Alias: <code>-f</code> </ParamField> <ParamField path="--no-verify" type="boolean"> Skip verifying integrity of newly downloaded packages </ParamField> <ParamField path="--ignore-scripts" type="boolean"> Skip lifecycle scripts in the project's <code>package.json</code> (dependency scripts are never run) </ParamField> <ParamField path="--analyze" type="boolean"> Recursively analyze & install dependencies of files passed as arguments (using Bun's bundler). Alias:{" "} <code>-a</code> </ParamField>

Network & Registry

<ParamField path="--ca" type="string"> Provide a Certificate Authority signing certificate </ParamField> <ParamField path="--cafile" type="string"> Same as <code>--ca</code>, but as a file path to the certificate </ParamField> <ParamField path="--registry" type="string"> Use a specific registry by default, overriding <code>.npmrc</code>, <code>bunfig.toml</code>, and environment variables </ParamField> <ParamField path="--network-concurrency" type="number" default="48"> Maximum number of concurrent network requests (default 48) </ParamField>

Performance & Resource

<ParamField path="--backend" type="string" default="clonefile"> Platform-specific optimizations for installing dependencies. Possible values: <code>clonefile</code> (default),{" "} <code>hardlink</code>, <code>symlink</code>, <code>copyfile</code> </ParamField> <ParamField path="--concurrent-scripts" type="number" default="5"> Maximum number of concurrent jobs for lifecycle scripts (default 5) </ParamField>

Caching

<ParamField path="--cache-dir" type="string"> Store & load cached data from a specific directory path </ParamField> <ParamField path="--no-cache" type="boolean"> Ignore manifest cache entirely </ParamField>

Output & Logging

<ParamField path="--silent" type="boolean"> Don't log anything </ParamField> <ParamField path="--verbose" type="boolean"> Excessively verbose logging </ParamField> <ParamField path="--no-progress" type="boolean"> Disable the progress bar </ParamField> <ParamField path="--no-summary" type="boolean"> Don't print a summary </ParamField>

Global Configuration & Context

<ParamField path="--config" type="string"> Specify path to config file (<code>bunfig.toml</code>). Alias: <code>-c</code> </ParamField> <ParamField path="--cwd" type="string"> Set a specific current working directory </ParamField>

Help

<ParamField path="--help" type="boolean"> Print this help menu. Alias: <code>-h</code> </ParamField>