MCPInstall

bun-dev-server

by daleseoBackend & APIs

Set up high-performance development servers with Hot Module Replacement. Use when creating dev servers for web apps, setting up React Fast Refresh, or configuring API servers with live reload.

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Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/daleseo/bun-skills --skill bun-dev-server
  1. 01

    Install

    Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.

  2. 02

    Describe the task

    Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads bun-dev-server automatically when relevant.

  3. 03

    Review the result

    The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Bun Development Server Setup

You are assisting with setting up a high-performance development server using Bun.serve with Hot Module Replacement (HMR) and React Fast Refresh.

Workflow

1. Determine Server Type

Ask the user what type of development server they need:

  • React/Frontend App: SPA with React Fast Refresh
  • API Server: REST/GraphQL API with auto-reload
  • Full-Stack App: Frontend + API combined
  • Static Server: File server with live reload

2. Check Prerequisites

# Verify Bun installation
bun --version

# Check if project has package.json
ls -la package.json

If no package.json exists, suggest running bun init first.

3. Install Dependencies

For React Apps:

bun add react react-dom
bun add -d @types/react @types/react-dom

For API with Hono (recommended):

bun add hono

For Full-Stack:

bun add react react-dom hono
bun add -d @types/react @types/react-dom

4. Create Server Configuration

React Development Server

Create server.ts in the project root:

import type { ServerWebSocket } from "bun";

const clients = new Set<ServerWebSocket<unknown>>();

const server = Bun.serve({
  port: 3000,

  async fetch(request, server) {
    const url = new URL(request.url);

    // WebSocket for HMR
    if (url.pathname === "/_hmr") {
      const upgraded = server.upgrade(request);
      if (upgraded) return undefined;
      return new Response("WebSocket upgrade failed", { status: 500 });
    }

    // Serve index.html for SPA routing
    if (url.pathname === "/" || !url.pathname.includes(".")) {
      return new Response(
        Bun.file("public/index.html"),
        { headers: { "Content-Type": "text/html" } }
      );
    }

    // Serve static files
    const filePath = `public${url.pathname}`;
    const file = Bun.file(filePath);

    if (await file.exists()) {
      return new Response(file);
    }

    return new Response("Not Found", { status: 404 });
  },

  websocket: {
    open(ws) {
      clients.add(ws);
      console.log("HMR client connected");
    },

    close(ws) {
      clients.delete(ws);
      console.log("HMR client disconnected");
    },

    message(ws, message) {
      // Handle client messages if needed
    },
  },
});

console.log(`🚀 Dev server running at http://localhost:${server.port}`);

// Watch for file changes
const watcher = Bun.file.watch(import.meta.dir + "/src", {
  recursive: true,
});

for await (const event of watcher) {
  if (event.kind === "change" && event.path.endsWith(".tsx")) {
    console.log(`📝 File changed: ${event.path}`);

    // Notify all connected clients to reload
    for (const client of clients) {
      client.send(JSON.stringify({ type: "reload" }));
    }
  }
}

Create public/index.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>Bun + React App</title>
</head>
<body>
  <div id="root"></div>
  <script type="module" src="/src/index.tsx"></script>

  <!-- HMR Client -->
  <script>
    const ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:3000/_hmr');

    ws.addEventListener('message', (event) => {
      const data = JSON.parse(event.data);

      if (data.type === 'reload') {
        console.log('🔄 Reloading...');
        window.location.reload();
      }
    });

    ws.addEventListener('close', () => {
      console.log('❌ HMR connection lost. Reconnecting...');
      setTimeout(() => window.location.reload(), 1000);
    });
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Create src/index.tsx:

import { render } from 'react-dom';
import App from './App';

const root = document.getElementById('root');
render(<App />, root);

Create src/App.tsx:

export default function App() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Welcome to Bun + React!</h1>
      <p>Edit src/App.tsx to see HMR in action</p>
    </div>
  );
}

API Server with Hono

Create server.ts:

import { Hono } from 'hono';
import { cors } from 'hono/cors';
import { logger } from 'hono/logger';

const app = new Hono();

// Middleware
app.use('*', cors());
app.use('*', logger());

// Routes
app.get('/', (c) => {
  return c.json({ message: 'Welcome to Bun API' });
});

app.get('/api/health', (c) => {
  return c.json({ status: 'ok', timestamp: Date.now() });
});

// Example POST endpoint
app.post('/api/users', async (c) => {
  const body = await c.req.json();
  return c.json({ created: true, data: body }, 201);
});

// Start server
const server = Bun.serve({
  port: process.env.PORT || 3000,
  fetch: app.fetch,
});

console.log(`🚀 API server running at http://localhost:${server.port}`);

Full-Stack Server

Create server.ts:

import { Hono } from 'hono';
import { serveStatic } from 'hono/bun';

const app = new Hono();

// API routes
const api = new Hono();

api.get('/health', (c) => c.json({ status: 'ok' }));
api.get('/users', (c) => c.json({ users: [] }));

app.route('/api', api);

// Serve static files
app.use('/*', serveStatic({ root: './public' }));

// SPA fallback
app.get('*', (c) => c.html(Bun.file('public/index.html')));

const server = Bun.serve({
  port: 3000,
  fetch: app.fetch,
});

console.log(`🚀 Full-stack server at http://localhost:${server.port}`);

5. Configure React Fast Refresh (Advanced)

For true React Fast Refresh, create hmr-runtime.ts:

// React Fast Refresh runtime
let timeout: Timer | null = null;

export function refresh() {
  if (timeout) clearTimeout(timeout);

  timeout = setTimeout(() => {
    // Re-import the App component
    import('./App.tsx?t=' + Date.now()).then((module) => {
      const { render } = require('react-dom');
      const root = document.getElementById('root');
      render(module.default(), root);
    });
  }, 100);
}

// Listen for HMR events
if (import.meta.hot) {
  import.meta.hot.accept(() => {
    refresh();
  });
}

6. Environment Configuration

Create .env.development:

# Server
PORT=3000
NODE_ENV=development

# API
API_URL=http://localhost:3000/api

# Features
ENABLE_HMR=true

Create .env.production:

# Server
PORT=8080
NODE_ENV=production

# API
API_URL=https://api.example.com

# Features
ENABLE_HMR=false

Load environment in server.ts:

// Environment is loaded automatically by Bun
const isDev = process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development';
const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;

7. Update package.json Scripts

Add development scripts:

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "bun run --hot server.ts",
    "dev:watch": "bun run --watch server.ts",
    "start": "NODE_ENV=production bun run server.ts",
    "build": "bun build src/index.tsx --outdir=dist --minify",
    "clean": "rm -rf dist"
  }
}

Script explanations:

  • dev: Run with hot reload (restarts on file changes)
  • dev:watch: Watch mode (faster, but doesn't reload on crash)
  • start: Production mode
  • build: Build frontend for production

8. Configure TypeScript

Update tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2022",
    "lib": ["ES2022", "DOM", "DOM.Iterable"],
    "module": "ESNext",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "types": ["bun-types"],
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "allowImportingTsExtensions": true,
    "noEmit": true,
    "paths": {
      "@/*": ["./src/*"]
    }
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*", "server.ts"]
}

9. Create Project Structure

Generate complete project structure:

project/
├── server.ts              # Development server
├── src/
│   ├── index.tsx         # App entry point
│   ├── App.tsx           # Main component
│   ├── components/       # React components
│   └── styles/           # CSS files
├── public/
│   ├── index.html        # HTML template
│   └── assets/           # Static assets
├── .env.development
├── .env.production
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
└── README.md

10. Advanced: HTTPS for Local Development

For HTTPS support (needed for some browser APIs):

import { readFileSync } from 'fs';

const server = Bun.serve({
  port: 3000,
  tls: {
    cert: readFileSync('./localhost.pem'),
    key: readFileSync('./localhost-key.pem'),
  },
  fetch: app.fetch,
});

console.log(`🔒 HTTPS server at https://localhost:${server.port}`);

Generate certificates with:

# Install mkcert first: brew install mkcert
mkcert -install
mkcert localhost 127.0.0.1 ::1

11. Proxy Configuration (for existing backends)

If user needs to proxy API requests to another server:

const app = new Hono();

// Proxy /api requests to backend
app.all('/api/*', async (c) => {
  const url = new URL(c.req.url);
  const backendUrl = `http://localhost:8080${url.pathname}${url.search}`;

  const response = await fetch(backendUrl, {
    method: c.req.method,
    headers: c.req.raw.headers,
    body: c.req.method !== 'GET' ? await c.req.raw.text() : undefined,
  });

  return new Response(response.body, {
    status: response.status,
    headers: response.headers,
  });
});

Testing the Setup

After creation, guide user to test:

# 1. Start dev server
bun run dev

# 2. Open browser
open http://localhost:3000

# 3. Make a change to src/App.tsx
# 4. Verify HMR reloads the page

# 5. Test API endpoints
curl http://localhost:3000/api/health

Troubleshooting

HMR not working

// Check if WebSocket connection is established
// Open browser console and look for:
// "HMR client connected"

// If not, verify:
// 1. Port is correct
// 2. No firewall blocking WebSocket
// 3. Server is running with --hot flag

Port already in use

# Find process using port 3000
lsof -ti:3000

# Kill the process
kill -9 $(lsof -ti:3000)

# Or use a different port
PORT=3001 bun run dev

CORS issues

Add CORS headers to server:

app.use('*', cors({
  origin: 'http://localhost:3000',
  credentials: true,
}));

Performance Tips

  1. Use --hot for development: Faster than --watch for most cases
  2. Minimize file watcher scope: Watch only src/ directory
  3. Use HTTP/2: Enable for faster parallel loading
  4. Cache static assets: Add Cache-Control headers
app.use('/assets/*', async (c, next) => {
  await next();
  c.header('Cache-Control', 'public, max-age=31536000');
});

Completion Checklist

  • ✅ Development server created
  • ✅ HMR configured and tested
  • ✅ Environment variables set up
  • ✅ Package.json scripts added
  • ✅ Project structure organized
  • ✅ TypeScript configured
  • ✅ Browser successfully connects
  • ✅ File changes trigger reload

Next Steps

Suggest to the user:

  1. Add error boundaries for better error handling
  2. Set up ESLint and Prettier
  3. Configure path aliases in tsconfig.json
  4. Add development vs production builds
  5. Consider adding bun-test for testing

FAQ

What does the bun-dev-server skill do?

Set up high-performance development servers with Hot Module Replacement. Use when creating dev servers for web apps, setting up React Fast Refresh, or configuring API servers with live reload.

How do I install bun-dev-server?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/daleseo/bun-skills --skill bun-dev-server in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/bun-dev-server/ (personal) or .claude/skills/bun-dev-server/ (project).

Which AI agents can use bun-dev-server?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is bun-dev-server safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains bun-dev-server?

It is published by daleseo in daleseo/bun-skills. It has 42 recorded installs.

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