Support Bun installer for CommunityToolkit.Aspire.Hosting.JavaScript.Extensions

[foxminchan]

Related to an existing integration?

Yes

Existing integration

CommunityToolkit.Aspire.Hosting.JavaScript.Extensions

Overview

Currently, CommunityToolkit.Aspire.Hosting.JavaScript.Extensions does not provide support for installing and running with the Bun JavaScript runtime. Supporting Bun as an installer would allow developers to leverage faster startup times, improved performance, and greater interop with modern JS tooling.

Usage example

Developers could initialize their project with CommunityToolkit.Aspire.Hosting.JavaScript.Extensions using Bun as their runtime environment, enabling seamless JS service hosting through Aspire with Bun-specific benefits.

Breaking change?

No

Alternatives

The only available option today is using Node.js-based installers. There is currently no way to use Bun directly as the backing runtime for CommunityToolkit.Aspire.Hosting.JavaScript.Extensions. A custom setup or wrapper would be required.

Additional context

Bun is gaining popularity for JavaScript server-side hosting due to its performance and features. Adding support will increase adoption and flexibility for end users.

Help us help you

Yes, I'd like to be assigned to work on this item

[aaronpowell]

It's not part of the extensions, it's a package of its own:

Docs
Code
NuGet

[aaronpowell]

Oh wait, looking at the PR, I see it's to extend the monorepo stuff.

Hmm, I feel like this is going to be a tricky one, because putting Bun stuff in the JavaScript.Extensions package becomes confusing as to why it's a standalone integration and in the extensions package, but it also doesn't make sense to have the JavaScript extensions package a reference into the Bun package as that'd expand out the dependency tree a lot (it currently doesn't have any dependencies except the Aspire.Hosting package).

I don't really know what's the right answer here...

[foxminchan]

Hi @aaronpowell, One thing worth considering — Aspire 13.2 now has native Bun support built into Aspire.Hosting.JavaScript via WithBun(): https://aspire.dev/whats-new/aspire-13-2/#javascript-hosting-with-bun

This covers package manager config, install behavior, and Bun container image defaults out of the box. Given this overlap, I'm wondering if this changes the calculus on this issue — and potentially on whether CommunityToolkit.Aspire.Hosting.Bun itself is still needed as a separate package, or if it could follow the same deprecation path as Hosting.Python.Extensions.

That might also sidestep the packaging dilemma you mentioned about where Bun logic should live.