Install

Bynk is pre-1.0 and is not yet in a package registry, but every GitHub Release ships prebuilt binaries. Download one (below), or build from source with a recent Rust toolchain, or, in a container, use the Dev Container feature.

Download a release binary

Each release has one archive per platform, holding the driver bynk, the compiler bynkc and the language server bynkc-lsp, all from the same build:

Platform	Archive
Linux x86_64	bynk-<tag>-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
Linux arm64	bynk-<tag>-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
macOS Intel	bynk-<tag>-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
macOS Apple silicon	bynk-<tag>-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
Windows x86_64	bynk-<tag>-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip

<tag> is the release tag, such as v0.330.4. The Linux binaries are built on Ubuntu 24.04 and need a glibc at least that new. Each release also has a SHA256SUMS file covering every archive. Check the archive against it before you unpack it. On Linux, for example:

tag=v0.330.4
target=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
base=https://github.com/bynk-lang/bynk/releases/download/$tag
curl -fLO "$base/bynk-$tag-$target.tar.gz"
curl -fLO "$base/SHA256SUMS"
sha256sum --check --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS   # must print "OK"
tar -xzf "bynk-$tag-$target.tar.gz"

On macOS use shasum -a 256 --check --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS. On Windows, compare (Get-FileHash bynk-<tag>-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip).Hash with the archive’s line in SHA256SUMS, then extract the .zip. Releases also carry signed build provenance, which gh attestation verify <archive> --repo bynk-lang/bynk checks.

Put the three binaries on your PATH. On Linux and macOS, for example:

install -m 0755 "bynk-$tag-$target"/bynk "bynk-$tag-$target"/bynkc \
  "bynk-$tag-$target"/bynkc-lsp ~/.local/bin/
bynk --version

Any directory on your PATH works; the example assumes ~/.local/bin is on it. On Windows, move bynk.exe, bynkc.exe and bynkc-lsp.exe into a folder and add that folder to Path.

Prerequisites for testing and deploying

bynkc compiles on its own. To type-check or run the emitted TypeScript you also need Node 22 or newer and TypeScript (tsc), plus wrangler to deploy to Cloudflare Workers. You don’t have to work out which you’re missing: bynk doctor, below, checks them and prints the command that fixes each gap.

Check your environment with bynk doctor

Rather than hunting down node, tsc, and wrangler one broken command at a time, let the bynk driver tell you exactly what your machine is ready for:

bynk doctor

bynk doctor groups its checks by capability — compile/check/fmt, bynk test, dev/deploy, editor support — and prints the exact remedy for anything missing. It is the recommended first step: the prerequisites above are checked, not just listed. See Check your environment with bynk doctor for the capability groups, exit codes, and --format outputs.

bynkc exposes four commands:

Command	Purpose
bynkc compile	Compile Bynk source to TypeScript.
bynkc check	Type-check without emitting.
bynkc fmt	Format Bynk source.
bynkc test	Compile and run suite blocks.

See the CLI reference for every flag and exit code.

Editor support

bynkc-lsp, the language server, is in the release archive. Most users run it through the VS Code extension rather than directly. Install it from the Visual Studio Marketplace (bynk-lang.bynk-vscode). It uses the bynkc-lsp on your PATH, or downloads the matching release if there isn’t one. It does the same for bynk and bynkc, so with the extension you need no separate install or cargo: the downloaded tools go on the PATH of its integrated terminals. See Set up editor support.

Build from source

To build instead, you need Rust (stable, 2024 edition, via rustup) and Git. Clone the repository and install the driver, the compiler and the language server with cargo:

git clone https://github.com/bynk-lang/bynk.git
cd bynk
cargo install --path bynk
cargo install --path bynkc
cargo install --path bynk-lsp

This puts the binaries on your PATH (under ~/.cargo/bin by default). Then run bynk doctor as above. A build from main includes unreleased changes; the changelog lists what each version adds.

Dev Containers / Codespaces

In a Dev Container or GitHub Codespace, a feature installs the toolchain for you. Add it, with the official Node feature, to your devcontainer.json:

{
  "image": "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu-24.04",
  "features": {
    "ghcr.io/devcontainers/features/node:1": { "version": "22" },
    "ghcr.io/bynk-lang/features/bynk:1": {}
  }
}

The feature installs bynk, bynkc and bynkc-lsp from one GitHub Release (checked against that release’s SHA256SUMS), then wrangler@4 and TypeScript 7 with npm. In the finished container bynk doctor --strict is all green. The feature also lists the VS Code extension (bynk-lang.bynk-vscode), so VS Code installs it from the Marketplace into the container. It uses the bynkc-lsp on PATH instead of downloading one.

The feature’s options:

Option	Default	Meaning
version	latest	The release to install, such as v0.330.4. Pin it for a reproducible image.
wrangler	true	Install wrangler@4 globally, for bynk dev and deploys. Needs Node.
typescript	true	Install TypeScript globally, the tsc that bynk test type-checks with. Needs Node.

The feature does not install Node itself. It installs after the Node feature, and fails with a pointer to it if npm is missing while wrangler or typescript is on. Releases cover Linux on x86_64 and arm64, built on Ubuntu 24.04, so use a base image at least that new.

This repository’s own .devcontainer/ uses the same install script, plus Rust, for working on Bynk itself.

Create your first project

With the driver installed, scaffold a complete, runnable project and serve it — no manifest to write, no layout to memorise:

bynk new hello
cd hello
bynk dev          # serving on http://localhost:8787

bynk new only writes files (it needs no toolchain), and the project it writes is served by bynk dev unmodified. See Start a new project.

Next steps

• Start a new project with bynk new.
• Compile your first program — what a single Bynk file compiles to, by hand.