Use Bun as Your Package Manager in Any Laravel Project
Bun is a fast JavaScript all-in-one toolkit that can be used as a package manager. I wrote about it in more detail: What’s the Fuss Around Bun’s Package Manager Abilities?
But first, let’s see why you should care about Bun as a Laravel developer.
Why switch away from NPM, pnpm, or Yarn?
Most Laravel developers don’t use Node.js for anything other than compiling front-end assets. So, why would you take some time to switch to Bun instead of sticking with a regular Node.js runtime?
Well, if you actually test Bun, you’ll notice how incredibly faster than Node.js it is. Up to 30x faster!
- Your front-end dependencies will install faster.
- Your assets will compile faster.
- Your continuous integration environment will also run faster since installing and compiling front-end dependencies takes less time.
Supercharge your macOS development with Bun and Homebrew
Installing Bun on macOS couldn’t be easier. Just add the new source using brew tap oven-sh/bun and install Bun by running brew install bun.
Turbocharge your Linux and WSL setup with Bun
Installing Bun on Linux is as easy as on macOS. Run curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash. That’s it!
Linux users are recommended to make sure the unzip package is installed first. You should also be running the kernel in at least version 5.1, although version 5.6 or higher is a better choice.
Windows users: Stay tuned for full Bun support
For now, unfortunately, Bun’s package manager abilities are not fully available for Windows. But this shouldn’t be a problem if you’re running WSL.
There’s currently an experimental version for Windows, but it’s not recommended for use in production.
Prepare your project for Bun: Out with the old, in with the new
Laravel doesn’t require a specific package manager, which is great news for Bun!
If you were using NPM or pnpm, remove their lock files because you won’t need them anymore. Bun uses its own lock file called bun.lockb by default.
If you were using NPM:
rm package-lock.json
If you were using pnpm:
rm pnpm-lock.yaml
And if you were using Yarn:
rm yarn.lock
Lightning-fast dependency installation with Bun
To install your dependencies using Bun, use bun install. You’ll be amazed at how fast it is!
If you encounter any issues and want to disable the cache, use bun install --no-cache.
For additional information and options, please refer to the official documentation of the bun install command.
Add packages at warp speed with Bun
Adding a package using Bun is a breeze with the bun add command. You’ll certainly appreciate how incredibly fast it is as well.
Here’s an example with 3 packages:
bun add tailwindcss autoprefixer postcss
For additional information and options, please refer to the official documentation of the bun add command.
Effortlessly remove packages with Bun
Removing a package using Bun is just as easy with the bun remove command. You’ll be impressed by its speed here as well.
Let’s use Axios as an example, as it’s still installed by default on every new Laravel project:
bun remove axios
For additional information and options, please refer to the official documentation of the bun remove command.
Seamlessly run your scripts with Bun
Bun integrates effortlessly into your existing workflow. Run the scripts defined in your package.json file just like before, using bun run.
We can run our compilation process, which uses Vite or Mix by default on Laravel projects:
bun run dev
For additional information and options, please refer to the official documentation of the bun run command.
