## Summary
This PR implements a native Zig REPL for Bun with full TUI (Text User
Interface) support, providing a modern and feature-rich interactive
experience.
### Features
- **Syntax highlighting** using `QuickAndDirtySyntaxHighlighter` for
colorized JavaScript code
- **Full line editing** with Emacs-style keybindings:
- `Ctrl+A/E` - Move to start/end of line
- `Ctrl+B/F` - Move backward/forward one character
- `Ctrl+K/U` - Kill to end/start of line
- `Ctrl+W` - Delete word backward
- `Ctrl+L` - Clear screen
- Arrow keys for cursor movement
- **Persistent history** with file storage (`~/.bun_repl_history`)
- Up/Down arrow for history navigation
- `Ctrl+P/N` also works for history
- **Tab completion** for properties and commands
- **Multi-line input support** with automatic continuation detection
- **REPL commands**: `.help`, `.exit`, `.clear`, `.load`, `.save`,
`.editor`
- **Special variables**:
- `_` - Contains the result of the last expression
- `_error` - Contains the last error that occurred
- **Result formatting** with `util.inspect` integration
- **replMode transforms** for proper REPL semantics:
- Expression result capture via `{ value: expr }` wrapper
- Variable hoisting for persistence across REPL lines (`const`/`let` →
`var`)
- Function and class declaration hoisting
- Top-level await support with async IIFE wrapper
- Object literal detection (no parentheses needed for `{ a: 1 }`)
### Implementation
The REPL is implemented in pure Zig (`src/repl.zig`) with C++ bindings
for JSC integration:
- Uses raw terminal mode for character-by-character input
- Integrates with Bun's existing `VirtualMachine` for JavaScript
evaluation
- Uses the parser with `repl_mode=true` to apply REPL-specific AST
transforms
- Provides access to all Bun globals (`Bun`, `Buffer`, `console`,
`process`, etc.)
### Files Changed
- `src/repl.zig` - Main REPL implementation (~1500 lines)
- `src/cli/repl_command.zig` - CLI entry point
- `src/bun.js/bindings/bindings.cpp` - C++ REPL functions
- `src/bun.js/bindings/headers.h` - C++ declarations
- `src/ast/repl_transforms.zig` - REPL-specific AST transforms
(cherry-picked from jarred/repl-mode)
- `test/js/bun/repl/repl.test.ts` - Comprehensive tests
## Test Plan
- [x] Run `bun bd test test/js/bun/repl/repl.test.ts` - 27 tests pass
- [x] Manual testing of interactive features:
- Basic expression evaluation
- Special variables `_` and `_error`
- History navigation
- Tab completion
- Multi-line input
- REPL commands
- Top-level await
- Variable persistence
- [x] Verified REPL starts without downloading packages (fixes #26058)
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Bot <claude-bot@bun.sh>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: autofix-ci[bot] <114827586+autofix-ci[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Jarred Sumner <jarred@jarredsumner.com>
Tests
Finding tests
Tests are located in the test/ directory and are organized using the following structure:
test/js/- tests for JavaScript APIs.cli/- tests for commands, configs, and stdout.bundler/- tests for the transpiler/bundler.regression/- tests that reproduce a specific issue.harness.ts- utility functions that can be imported from any test.
The tests in test/js/ directory are further categorized by the type of API.
test/js/bun/- tests forBun-specific APIs.node/- tests for Node.js APIs.web/- tests for Web APIs, likefetch().first_party/- tests for npm packages that are built-in, likeundici.third_party/- tests for npm packages that are not built-in, but are popular, likeesbuild.
Running tests
To run a test, use Bun's built-in test command: bun test.
bun test # Run all tests
bun test js/bun # Only run tests in a directory
bun test sqlite.test.ts # Only run a specific test
If you encounter lots of errors, try running bun install, then trying again.
Writing tests
Tests are written in TypeScript (preferred) or JavaScript using Jest's describe(), test(), and expect() APIs.
import { describe, test, expect } from "bun:test";
import { gcTick } from "harness";
describe("TextEncoder", () => {
test("can encode a string", async () => {
const encoder = new TextEncoder();
const actual = encoder.encode("bun");
await gcTick();
expect(actual).toBe(new Uint8Array([0x62, 0x75, 0x6E]));
});
});
If you are fixing a bug that was reported from a GitHub issue, remember to add a test in the test/regression/ directory.
// test/regression/issue/02005.test.ts
import { it, expect } from "bun:test";
it("regex literal should work with non-latin1", () => {
const text = "这是一段要替换的文字";
expect(text.replace(new RegExp("要替换"), "")).toBe("这是一段的文字");
expect(text.replace(/要替换/, "")).toBe("这是一段的文字");
});
In the future, a bot will automatically close or re-open issues when a regression is detected or resolved.
Zig tests
These tests live in various .zig files throughout Bun's codebase, leveraging Zig's builtin test keyword.
Currently, they're not run automatically nor is there a simple way to run all of them. We will make this better soon.
TypeScript
Test files should be written in TypeScript. The types in packages/bun-types should be updated to support all new APIs. Changes to the .d.ts files in packages/bun-types will be immediately reflected in test files; no build step is necessary.
Writing a test will often require using invalid syntax, e.g. when checking for errors when an invalid input is passed to a function. TypeScript provides a number of escape hatches here.
// @ts-expect-error- This should be your first choice. It tells TypeScript that the next line should fail typechecking.// @ts-ignore- Ignore the next line entirely.// @ts-nocheck- Put this at the top of the file to disable typechecking on the entire file. Useful for autogenerated test files, or when ignoring/disabling type checks an a per-line basis is too onerous.