openclaw/docs/install/bun.md

---
summary: "Bun workflow (experimental): installs and gotchas vs pnpm"
read_when:
  - You want the fastest local dev loop (bun + watch)
  - You hit Bun install/patch/lifecycle script issues
title: "Bun (Experimental)"
---

# Bun (Experimental)

<Warning>
Bun is **not recommended for gateway runtime** (known issues with WhatsApp and Telegram). Use Node for production.
</Warning>

Bun is an optional local runtime for running TypeScript directly (`bun run ...`, `bun --watch ...`). The default package manager remains `pnpm`, which is fully supported and used by docs tooling. Bun cannot use `pnpm-lock.yaml` and will ignore it.

## Install

<Steps>
  <Step title="Install dependencies">
    ```sh
    bun install
    ```

    `bun.lock` / `bun.lockb` are gitignored, so there is no repo churn. To skip lockfile writes entirely:

    ```sh
    bun install --no-save
    ```

  </Step>
  <Step title="Build and test">
    ```sh
    bun run build
    bun run vitest run
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Lifecycle Scripts

Bun blocks dependency lifecycle scripts unless explicitly trusted. For this repo, the commonly blocked scripts are not required:

- `@whiskeysockets/baileys` `preinstall` -- checks Node major >= 20 (OpenClaw defaults to Node 24 and still supports Node 22 LTS, currently `22.16+`)
- `protobufjs` `postinstall` -- emits warnings about incompatible version schemes (no build artifacts)

If you hit a runtime issue that requires these scripts, trust them explicitly:

```sh
bun pm trust @whiskeysockets/baileys protobufjs
```

## Caveats

Some scripts still hardcode pnpm (for example `docs:build`, `ui:*`, `protocol:check`). Run those via pnpm for now.