Workspace Configuration in Bun.js

Workspace Configuration in Bun.js 🧩

Bun.js is more than just a fast JavaScript runtime—it’s also a robust toolkit that supports scalable project structures. One powerful feature is the Workspace configuration, which helps you manage multiple packages within a single repository.

This is a game-changer for monorepos and modular architectures.

📦 What Are Workspaces in Bun?

Workspaces allow you to group related packages and manage them under one root project. This is ideal for projects like design systems, microservices, or full-stack apps where frontend, backend, and shared components live together.

With Bun’s workspace support, managing dependencies and scripts becomes much more efficient.

🛠️ How to Configure Workspaces

To get started, you need a bunfig.toml file at the root of your repository. Define the packages you want to include in the workspace using the [workspace] section:

[workspace]
packages = ["packages/*", "tools/*"]

This tells Bun to treat any folders under packages/ and tools/ as part of the workspace.

📁 Example Folder Structure

.
├── bunfig.toml
├── packages/
│   ├── app/
│   │   └── package.json
│   └── shared/
│       └── package.json
└── tools/
    └── cli/
        └── package.json

Each subfolder has its own package.json and can represent a different logical part of your project.

🔗 Linking Local Dependencies

One key advantage of workspaces is the ability to link local packages automatically.

If your app package depends on shared, you can declare it like this:

"dependencies": {
  "shared": "workspace:*"
}

Bun resolves this using the local version instead of downloading it from the registry.

⚙️ Running Commands Across Workspaces

Although Bun doesn’t currently have a built-in “run in all workspaces” feature, you can manually navigate to each package and use bun run for script execution:

cd packages/app
bun run dev

For now, use a task runner or shell script to automate running commands across all packages if needed.

🚀 Why use Bun Workspaces?

• Centralized dependency management
• Local linking of packages
• Optimized for monorepos
• Improved developer workflow

Whether you’re managing frontend-backend apps or shared libraries, workspaces help keep things clean and maintainable.

🧪 TypeScript + Bun Workspaces

If you’re using TypeScript with Bun, you can simplify module resolution using paths in your tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "paths": {
      "shared": ["packages/shared/src"],
      "cli": ["tools/cli/src"]
    }
  }
}

This ensures both Bun and your IDE understand where to locate local packages.

🏁 Conclusion

The Workspace Configuration in Bun.js is a must-know feature for building scalable and maintainable projects. It helps you organize your codebase, manage shared dependencies, and develop modular applications—all with the speed of Bun.

Whether you're building a design system or running a microservice architecture, workspaces keep things simple and efficient.