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Node remains OpenClaw’s primary, default, and recommended runtime. Bun 1.4+ builds that provide WAL-reset-safe node:sqlite can run the CLI, Gateway, and managed node host as an explicit opt-in. OpenClaw requires SQLite 3.51.3+, 3.50.7+ within 3.50.x, or 3.44.6+ within 3.44.x; older Bun versions and builds with unsafe SQLite are rejected.
Bun remains usable as an optional package-script runner. The default package manager remains pnpm, which is fully supported and used by docs tooling. Bun cannot use pnpm-lock.yaml and ignores it, and current Bun versions fail to resolve this repo’s pnpm-workspace.yaml layout during bun install, so dependency installs should use pnpm install.

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Install

1

Install dependencies

Bun cannot resolve this repo’s pnpm workspace layout, so bun install fails during workspace resolution. Use pnpm install.
2

Build and test

Use Node by default for commands that launch OpenClaw.
3

Run OpenClaw with Bun

To run onboarding under Bun and install the managed Gateway under Bun:
For a managed node host, select Bun separately:

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Lifecycle scripts

Bun blocks dependency lifecycle scripts unless explicitly trusted. For this repo, the commonly blocked scripts are not required:
  • baileys preinstall: checks Node major >= 20 (OpenClaw requires Node 24.16+ or 26.1+, with Node 26 recommended)
  • protobufjs postinstall: emits warnings about incompatible version schemes (no build artifacts)
If you hit a runtime issue that needs these scripts, trust them explicitly:

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Caveats

On macOS, run brew install sqlite for native vector search. Bun 1.4.2 can retain SQLite handles and WAL/shared-memory files after close; use Node when prompt file release matters. See Bun compatibility for library selection, requirements, and limitations. Some package scripts hardcode pnpm internally (for example check:docs, ui:*, protocol:check). Running them via bun run still shells out to pnpm, so just run those via pnpm directly.