Bun Best Practices

Foundational knowledge for Bun adoption decisions. Bun serves two distinct roles—understand when each applies.

Two Distinct Roles

Bun as Package Manager

Replaces pnpm/npm/yarn for dependency management:

• bun install — Install dependencies (fast, binary lockfile)
• bun add <pkg> — Add dependency
• bun remove <pkg> — Remove dependency
• bun --filter <workspace> — Run in specific workspace

Key differences from pnpm:

• Lockfile: bun.lock (binary) vs pnpm-lock.yaml (YAML)
• Workspaces: Defined in root package.json, no separate pnpm-workspace.yaml
• Speed: Significantly faster installs due to binary lockfile and caching