Runtime
Bundler
Package Manager
Test Runner
Guides
Reference
Blog
Install Bun
Runtime Interop & Tooling

Transpiler

Use Bun's transpiler to transpile JavaScript and TypeScript code

Bun exposes its internal transpiler via the Bun.Transpiler class. To create an instance of Bun's transpiler:

const transpiler = new Bun.Transpiler({
  loader: "tsx", // "js | "jsx" | "ts" | "tsx"
});

.transformSync()

Transpile code synchronously with the .transformSync() method. Modules are not resolved and the code is not executed. The result is a string of vanilla JavaScript code.

const transpiler = new Bun.Transpiler({
  loader: 'tsx',
});

const code = `
import * as whatever from "./whatever.ts"
export function Home(props: {title: string}){
  return <p>{props.title}</p>;
}`;

const result = transpiler.transformSync(code);

To override the default loader specified in the new Bun.Transpiler() constructor, pass a second argument to .transformSync().

transpiler.transformSync("<div>hi!</div>", "tsx");


.transform()

The transform() method is an async version of .transformSync() that returns a Promise<string>.

const transpiler = new Bun.Transpiler({ loader: "jsx" });
const result = await transpiler.transform("<div>hi!</div>");
console.log(result);

Unless you're transpiling many large files, you should probably use Bun.Transpiler.transformSync. The cost of the threadpool will often take longer than actually transpiling code.

await transpiler.transform("<div>hi!</div>", "tsx");

.scan()

The Transpiler instance can also scan some source code and return a list of its imports and exports, plus additional metadata about each one. Type-only imports and exports are ignored.

const transpiler = new Bun.Transpiler({
  loader: "tsx",
});

const code = `
import React from 'react';
import type {ReactNode} from 'react';
const val = require('./cjs.js')
import('./loader');

export const name = "hello";
`;

const result = transpiler.scan(code);

Each import in the imports array has a path and kind. Bun categories imports into the following kinds:

  • import-statement: import React from 'react'
  • require-call: const val = require('./cjs.js')
  • require-resolve: require.resolve('./cjs.js')
  • dynamic-import: import('./loader')
  • import-rule: @import 'foo.css'
  • url-token: url('./foo.png')

.scanImports()

For performance-sensitive code, you can use the .scanImports() method to get a list of imports. It's faster than .scan() (especially for large files) but marginally less accurate due to some performance optimizations.

const transpiler = new Bun.Transpiler({
  loader: "tsx",
});

const code = `
import React from 'react';
import type {ReactNode} from 'react';
const val = require('./cjs.js')
import('./loader');

export const name = "hello";
`;

const result = transpiler.scanImports(code);

Reference

type Loader = "jsx" | "js" | "ts" | "tsx";

interface TranspilerOptions {
  // Replace key with value. Value must be a JSON string.
  // { "process.env.NODE_ENV": "\"production\"" }
  define?: Record<string, string>,

  // Default loader for this transpiler
  loader?: Loader,

  // Default platform to target
  // This affects how import and/or require is used
  target?: "browser" | "bun" | "node",

  // Specify a tsconfig.json file as stringified JSON or an object
  // Use this to set a custom JSX factory, fragment, or import source
  // For example, if you want to use Preact instead of React. Or if you want to use Emotion.
  tsconfig?: string | TSConfig,

  // Replace imports with macros
  macro?: MacroMap,

  // Specify a set of exports to eliminate
  // Or rename certain exports
  exports?: {
      eliminate?: string[];
      replace?: Record<string, string>;
  },

  // Whether to remove unused imports from transpiled file
  // Default: false
  trimUnusedImports?: boolean,

  // Whether to enable a set of JSX optimizations
  // jsxOptimizationInline ...,

  // Experimental whitespace minification
  minifyWhitespace?: boolean,

  // Whether to inline constant values
  // Typically improves performance and decreases bundle size
  // Default: true
  inline?: boolean,
}

// Map import paths to macros
interface MacroMap {
  // {
  //   "react-relay": {
  //     "graphql": "bun-macro-relay/bun-macro-relay.tsx"
  //   }
  // }
  [packagePath: string]: {
    [importItemName: string]: string,
  },
}

class Bun.Transpiler {
  constructor(options: TranspilerOptions)

  transform(code: string, loader?: Loader): Promise<string>
  transformSync(code: string, loader?: Loader): string

  scan(code: string): {exports: string[], imports: Import}
  scanImports(code: string): Import[]
}

type Import = {
  path: string,
  kind:
  // import foo from 'bar'; in JavaScript
  | "import-statement"
  // require("foo") in JavaScript
  | "require-call"
  // require.resolve("foo") in JavaScript
  | "require-resolve"
  // Dynamic import() in JavaScript
  | "dynamic-import"
  // @import() in CSS
  | "import-rule"
  // url() in CSS
  | "url-token"
  // The import was injected by Bun
  | "internal"
  // Entry point (not common)
  | "entry-point-build"
  | "entry-point-run"
}

const transpiler = new Bun.Transpiler({ loader: "jsx" });