WSL Bootstrap – Bun Developer Setup

Single-file, one-liner bootstrap script to turn a fresh WSL distro into a reproducible, high-performance Linux dev environment.

Designed for:

• WSL 2
• Ubuntu / Debian
• Bun-first JavaScript workflow
• Each toolchain installed via its own official, recommended installer
• Idempotent, safe re-execution
• Zero manual post-install steps

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Features

• ✅ One-liner install
• ✅ Single install.sh file (no sub-scripts)
• ✅ Official installer per toolchain (no version-manager layer)
• ✅ Bun instead of npm
• ✅ Node.js (Active LTS) via NodeSource
• ✅ .NET SDK (current LTS) via Microsoft’s dotnet-install script
• ✅ Rust via rustup
• ✅ Python via uv (Astral)
• ✅ Bash (default shell)
• ✅ systemd enabled in WSL
• ✅ Recommended /etc/wsl.conf tuning
• ✅ tmux / neovim / fzf / ripgrep
• ✅ Headless Chrome (opt-in via —with-chrome)
• ✅ Safe to re-run
• ✅ WSL-optimized defaults

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Supported Platforms

| Platform | Status | |———|———| | WSL 2 | ✅ Supported | | Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04 | ✅ Supported | | Debian 12 | ✅ Supported | | Arch / Fedora | ❌ Not yet |

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Quick Start (One-Liner)

Run this inside a fresh WSL distro:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y curl ca-certificates && \
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/moeller-projects/wsl-init/main/install.sh | bash

Add —with-chrome at the end if you need headless Chrome installed too.

After completion:

wsl —shutdown

Then reopen the distro.

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What Gets Installed

Base System

• build-essential
• curl / wget / git
• unzip / zip / jq
• ripgrep / fd / bat / fzf
• htop / tmux / tree
• neovim
• locales

Shell & UX

• bash (default shell)
• sane aliases (cat, find)
• ollama-host alias — resolves the Windows host IP from inside WSL, for reaching a host-side Ollama instance
• Bun global bin in PATH (~/.bun/bin)
• increased inotify limits

Toolchains (each via its own official installer)

| Tool | Installer | Version | | ——— | ———————————— | —————— | | Node.js | NodeSource setup script | 24.x (Active LTS) | | Bun | bun.sh/install | latest (pin via BUN_VERSION) | | .NET SDK | Microsoft dotnet-install.sh | 10.0 channel (LTS) | | Rust | rustup.rs | stable | | Python | uv (Astral) | 3.13 (pin via PYTHON_VERSION) |

No version-manager layer (no mise, no pyenv, no nvm) — each language’s own recommended installer is used directly, and re-runs skip anything already installed at the pinned version.

Optional: Headless Chrome

Only installed when the script is run with —with-chrome. Not installed by default.

Recommended /etc/wsl.conf settings

Applied idempotently on every run:

| Section | Key | Value | Why | | ———— | ——————— | -——— | -————————————————————— | | [boot] | systemd | true | Lets services (docker/podman, ssh-agent, etc.) run normally | | [interop] | appendWindowsPath | false | Keeps Linux PATH lookups fast, avoids .exe shadowing | | [interop] | enabled | true | Still allows running Windows binaries from WSL when needed | | [automount] | options | metadata | Correct Linux file permissions on mounted Windows drives |

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JavaScript Workflow (Bun-First)

bun init
bun install
bun run dev
bun test

No npm. No yarn. No path hacks.

Global JS tooling (typescript, eslint, prettier, etc.) is not installed by the bootstrap script — install what each project actually needs via bun add -g <pkg> or as a dev dependency.

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Python Workflow (uv-First)

uv venv
uv pip install <package>
uv run <script>.py
uv python list

Rust Workflow

cargo new my-project
cargo build
cargo run

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Reaching Ollama on the Windows Host

If Ollama runs on Windows (e.g. via Podman Desktop setup) rather than inside WSL:

1. On Windows, set OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0 so Ollama isn’t bound to localhost-only, then restart it.
2. From WSL, use the ollama-host alias (installed by this script) to resolve the Windows host IP:

   curl http://$(ollama-host):11434

3. Cleaner alternative (Windows 11 22H2+): enable mirrored networking in %USERPROFILE%\.wslconfig:

   [wsl2]
   networkingMode=mirrored

   Then localhost:11434 works directly from WSL after wsl —shutdown + reopen.

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Directory Layout

~
├─ dev/              # all projects live here (Linux FS)
├─ .cargo/           # Rust toolchain
├─ .dotnet/           # .NET SDK
├─ .bun/              # Bun runtime + global bin
├─ .local/bin/        # uv + uv-managed tools
├─ .bashrc
├─ .tmux.conf
└─ .wsl_bootstrap_done

Always keep repositories inside the Linux filesystem, not /mnt/c.

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Idempotency

The script creates:

~/.wsl_bootstrap_done

If present, the script still runs in update mode and keeps settings/toolchains in sync. Each toolchain step checks whether the pinned version is already installed and skips reinstalling if so. Config files like /etc/wsl.conf, .bashrc, and .tmux.conf are merged (not overwritten).

This makes it:

• safe to re-run
• safe for CI
• safe for one-liners

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Design Principles

• Rebuild > Repair
• Explicit over clever
• Pinned versions
• Official installer per tool, no extra abstraction layer
• Cattle, not pets

If something breaks:

1. Delete the distro
2. Re-import or reinstall
3. Run the script again

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Customization

Edit install.sh directly. Version pins live near the top of the file:

NODE_MAJOR=“24”
DOTNET_CHANNEL=“10.0”
BUN_VERSION=“latest”
PYTHON_VERSION=“3.13”

Bump them when you want to move a toolchain forward.

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Roadmap (Optional)

• Arch / Fedora support
• Dotfiles auto-bootstrap
• CI validation
• Team onboarding mode

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Philosophy

This repository treats WSL as infrastructure, not a snowflake dev box.

Reproducible. Deterministic. Disposable.