mcpbeat

Bun Ffi

secondsky/bun-ffi

This skill should be used when the user asks about \"bun:ffi\", \"foreign function interface\", \"calling C from Bun\", \"native libraries\", \"dlopen\", \"shared libraries\", \"calling native code\", or integrating C/C++ libraries with Bun.

2k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
1
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
202
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/secondsky/claude-skills --skill bun-ffi

The instruction itself

16 sections, as written by the author

Bun FFI

Bun's FFI allows calling native C/C++ libraries from JavaScript.

Quick Start

import { dlopen, suffix, FFIType } from "bun:ffi";

// Load library
const lib = dlopen(`libc.${suffix}`, {
  printf: {
    args: [FFIType.cstring],
    returns: FFIType.int,
  },
});

// Call function
lib.symbols.printf("Hello from C!\n");

Loading Libraries

Platform-Specific Paths

import { dlopen, suffix } from "bun:ffi";

// suffix is: "dylib" (macOS), "so" (Linux), "dll" (Windows)

// System library
const libc = dlopen(`libc.${suffix}`, { ... });

// Custom library
const myLib = dlopen(`./libmylib.${suffix}`, { ... });

// Absolute path
const sqlite = dlopen("/usr/lib/libsqlite3.so", { ... });

Cross-Platform Loading

function getLibPath(name: string): string {
  const platform = process.platform;
  const paths = {
    darwin: `/usr/local/lib/lib${name}.dylib`,
    linux: `/usr/lib/lib${name}.so`,
    win32: `C:\\Windows\\System32\\${name}.dll`,
  };
  return paths[platform] || paths.linux;
}

const lib = dlopen(getLibPath("mylib"), { ... });

FFI Types

import { FFIType } from "bun:ffi";

const types = {
  // Integers
  i8: FFIType.i8,        // int8_t
  i16: FFIType.i16,      // int16_t
  i32: FFIType.i32,      // int32_t / int
  i64: FFIType.i64,      // int64_t / long long

  // Unsigned integers
  u8: FFIType.u8,        // uint8_t
  u16: FFIType.u16,      // uint16_t
  u32: FFIType.u32,      // uint32_t
  u64: FFIType.u64,      // uint64_t

  // Floats
  f32: FFIType.f32,      // float
  f64: FFIType.f64,      // double

  // Pointers
  ptr: FFIType.ptr,      // void*
  cstring: FFIType.cstring, // const char*

  // Other
  bool: FFIType.bool,    // bool
  void: FFIType.void,    // void
};

Function Definitions

import { dlopen, FFIType, ptr, CString } from "bun:ffi";

const lib = dlopen("./libmath.so", {
  // Simple function
  add: {
    args: [FFIType.i32, FFIType.i32],
    returns: FFIType.i32,
  },

  // String function
  greet: {
    args: [FFIType.cstring],
    returns: FFIType.cstring,
  },

  // Pointer function
  allocate: {
    args: [FFIType.u64],
    returns: FFIType.ptr,
  },

  // Void function
  log_message: {
    args: [FFIType.cstring],
    returns: FFIType.void,
  },

  // No args
  get_version: {
    args: [],
    returns: FFIType.cstring,
  },
});

// Call functions
const sum = lib.symbols.add(1, 2); // 3
const message = lib.symbols.greet(ptr(Buffer.from("World\0")));

Working with Strings

import { dlopen, FFIType, ptr, CString } from "bun:ffi";

// Passing strings to C
const str = Buffer.from("Hello\0"); // Must be null-terminated
lib.symbols.print_string(ptr(str));

// Receiving strings from C
const result = lib.symbols.get_string();
const jsString = new CString(result); // Convert to JS string
console.log(jsString.toString());

Working with Pointers

import { dlopen, FFIType, ptr, toArrayBuffer } from "bun:ffi";

const lib = dlopen("./libdata.so", {
  create_buffer: {
    args: [FFIType.u64],
    returns: FFIType.ptr,
  },
  fill_buffer: {
    args: [FFIType.ptr, FFIType.u8, FFIType.u64],
    returns: FFIType.void,
  },
  free_buffer: {
    args: [FFIType.ptr],
    returns: FFIType.void,
  },
});

// Allocate buffer
const size = 1024;
const bufPtr = lib.symbols.create_buffer(size);

// Fill buffer
lib.symbols.fill_buffer(bufPtr, 0xff, size);

// Read buffer as ArrayBuffer
const arrayBuffer = toArrayBuffer(bufPtr, 0, size);
const view = new Uint8Array(arrayBuffer);
console.log(view); // [255, 255, 255, ...]

// Free buffer
lib.symbols.free_buffer(bufPtr);

Structs

import { dlopen, FFIType, ptr } from "bun:ffi";

// C struct:
// struct Point { int32_t x; int32_t y; };

const lib = dlopen("./libgeom.so", {
  create_point: {
    args: [FFIType.i32, FFIType.i32],
    returns: FFIType.ptr, // Returns Point*
  },
  get_distance: {
    args: [FFIType.ptr, FFIType.ptr],
    returns: FFIType.f64,
  },
});

// Create struct manually
const point = new ArrayBuffer(8); // 2 x int32
const view = new DataView(point);
view.setInt32(0, 10, true); // x = 10
view.setInt32(4, 20, true); // y = 20

// Pass to C
lib.symbols.get_distance(ptr(point), ptr(point));

Callbacks

import { dlopen, FFIType, callback } from "bun:ffi";

const lib = dlopen("./libsort.so", {
  sort_array: {
    args: [FFIType.ptr, FFIType.u64, FFIType.ptr], // callback
    returns: FFIType.void,
  },
});

// Create callback
const compareCallback = callback(
  {
    args: [FFIType.ptr, FFIType.ptr],
    returns: FFIType.i32,
  },
  (a, b) => {
    const aVal = new DataView(toArrayBuffer(a, 0, 4)).getInt32(0, true);
    const bVal = new DataView(toArrayBuffer(b, 0, 4)).getInt32(0, true);
    return aVal - bVal;
  }
);

// Use callback
lib.symbols.sort_array(arrayPtr, length, compareCallback.ptr);

// Close callback when done
compareCallback.close();

Example: SQLite

import { dlopen, FFIType, ptr, CString } from "bun:ffi";

const sqlite = dlopen("libsqlite3.dylib", {
  sqlite3_open: {
    args: [FFIType.cstring, FFIType.ptr],
    returns: FFIType.i32,
  },
  sqlite3_exec: {
    args: [FFIType.ptr, FFIType.cstring, FFIType.ptr, FFIType.ptr, FFIType.ptr],
    returns: FFIType.i32,
  },
  sqlite3_close: {
    args: [FFIType.ptr],
    returns: FFIType.i32,
  },
});

// Open database
const dbPtrArray = new BigInt64Array(1);
const dbPath = Buffer.from("test.db\0");
sqlite.symbols.sqlite3_open(ptr(dbPath), ptr(dbPtrArray));
const db = dbPtrArray[0];

// Execute query
const sql = Buffer.from("CREATE TABLE test (id INTEGER);\0");
sqlite.symbols.sqlite3_exec(db, ptr(sql), null, null, null);

// Close
sqlite.symbols.sqlite3_close(db);

Memory Management

// Manual allocation
const buffer = new ArrayBuffer(1024);
const pointer = ptr(buffer);

// Buffer stays valid as long as ArrayBuffer exists
// JavaScript GC will clean up ArrayBuffer

// For C-allocated memory, call C's free function
lib.symbols.free(cPointer);

Thread Safety

// FFI calls are synchronous and block the main thread
// For long-running operations, use Web Workers:

// worker.ts
import { dlopen } from "bun:ffi";
const lib = dlopen(...);

self.onmessage = (e) => {
  const result = lib.symbols.expensive_operation(e.data);
  self.postMessage(result);
};

Common Errors

| Error | Cause | Fix |

|-------|-------|-----|

| Library not found | Wrong path | Check library path |

| Symbol not found | Wrong function name | Check function export |

| Type mismatch | Wrong FFI types | Match C types exactly |

| Segmentation fault | Memory error | Check pointer validity |

When to Load References

Load references/type-mappings.md when:

  • Complex type conversions
  • Struct layouts
  • Union types

Load references/performance.md when:

  • Optimizing FFI calls
  • Batching operations
  • Memory pooling

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take secondsky/bun-ffi from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

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