Bun Package Manager

Sub-skill of bun. Owns dependency installation, lockfile, and workspace topology for the dean-stack TurboRepo monorepo.

When to invoke

• Adding/removing a package to apps/web or any packages/*.
• Setting up the workspace globs in the root package.json.
• Diagnosing a lockfile diff in CI or a slow bun install.
• Pinning a transitive dep via overrides.

Owns

bun install, bun add, lockfile (bun.lock — text JSONC since Bun 1.2), workspace resolution, packageManager pin, and overrides/resolutions.

Defers to

• bun (parent) — for the version pin contract.
• turborepo — for "how installed deps are sequenced into tasks" (turbo orchestrates; bun installs).
• bun-runtime — for actually executing scripts after install.

Dean-stack rules

• Pillar 4 (CLI-gate-first) means: CI runs bun install --frozen-lockfile so a stale bun.lock fails the gate. Local dev uses plain bun install.
• The lockfile in this repo is bun.lock (text JSONC since Bun 1.2). Do not commit bun.lockb. Do not delete the lockfile to "fix" install issues — find the actual conflict.
• Workspace deps use the workspace:* protocol; never a published version range pointing at a local package.

Patterns

Root package.json workspace shape

// package.json (repo root)
{
  "name": "dean-stack",
  "private": true,
  "packageManager": "bun@1.3.13",
  "workspaces": ["apps/*", "packages/*"],
  "scripts": {
    "check": "turbo run check",
    "dev": "turbo run dev",
    "build": "turbo run build"
  }
}

workspaces is the only place workspace globs live. Per-package package.json files reference siblings via workspace:*.

Adding deps to a specific workspace

bun add --cwd apps/web jotai idb
bun add --cwd packages/schemas zod
bun add -d --cwd apps/web @types/node

Always use --cwd to target the correct workspace. Adding at the root pulls in a tool that every workspace shares (rare).

Workspace-internal dep

// apps/web/package.json
{
  "dependencies": {
    "@dean-stack/schemas": "workspace:*"
  }
}

Then bun install from the root resolves it to the local packages/schemas.

Frozen install in CI

bun install --frozen-lockfile

Used by GitHub Actions and by the pre-commit hook. Fails if bun.lock would have to change — which is exactly what you want before bun run check.

Pin a transitive dep with overrides

// package.json (repo root)
{
  "overrides": {
    "react": "19.0.0"
  }
}

Use sparingly — overrides defeat the lockfile contract for that dep.

Anti-patterns

• Don't commit bun.lockb — the text bun.lock is the source of truth in this repo; the binary form is older.
• Don't run npm install / pnpm install / yarn install — they will not honor packageManager and will produce a non-Bun lockfile.
• Don't use link: or file: for in-monorepo deps — workspace:* is the only correct form.
• Don't reach for nodemon/dotenv/tsx/rimraf/cross-env/concurrently — Bun's runtime covers all of these natively (see bun-runtime).
• Don't bypass --frozen-lockfile in CI to "make it pass" — fix the lockfile locally and commit.

Triggers on

bun install, bun add, bun remove, bun.lockb, bun workspace, bun overrides, bun lockfile