If you’ve ever set up a JavaScript or TypeScript project, chances are you've spent way too much time configuring ESLint, Prettier, and their dozens of plugins. We’ve all been there — fiddling with .eslintrc, fighting with formatting conflicts, and installing what feels like half the npm registry just to get decent code quality tooling.

But what if you could replace all of that with a single, fast, zero-dependency tool?

Meet Biome — the new kid on the block that’s here to clean up the JavaScript tooling mess.

🧠 What is Biome?

Biome is an all-in-one toolchain for JavaScript and TypeScript projects that combines:

  • A blazing-fast formatter : Supports JS, TS, JSX, TSX, JSON, CSS and GraphQL.
  • A powerful linter : Has 293 linting rules to perform detailed diagnostics.
  • And an extensible parser : 15x faster linting compared to the ESLint and 35x faster formatting compared to the Prettier.

The best part? It’s written in Rust, which means it’s not just fast — it’s ridiculously fast.

🔯 Quick Benchmark

To give you an idea of how fast Biome really is:

# ESLint + Prettier (cold start)
Time: ~4.2s

# Biome (cold start)
Time: ~0.6s

Note: Performance may vary depending on project size and system specs.

🧰 Why Biome is a Game-Changer

Let’s be real: the JS tooling ecosystem has gotten bloated. ESLint + Prettier + TypeScript support + plugin configuration = a mess.

Biome offers:

  • Unified Toolchain
  • Better Performance
  • Simplified Configuration
Feature Biome ESLint + Prettier
🔧 Formatting ✅ Built-in ✅ Prettier (separate)
🧺 Linting ✅ Built-in rules ✅ ESLint + plugins
⚡ Speed 🚀 Super fast (Rust) 🐢 Slower (Node.js)
🧰 Setup 🟢 Minimal config 🔴 Plugin jungle
🔀 Dependencies ❌ Zero ⛓️ Lots of dev deps
🧪 TypeScript ✅ First-class support ✅ With @typescript-eslint
🛠️ Extensible? 🔒 Not yet (planned) ✅ Fully extensible

🧩 What About Plugins?

While Biome isn’t extensible yet, plugin support is on the roadmap. The team is actively working toward allowing custom rules and framework-specific integrations. If you rely on advanced linting or want to build custom rules, now’s a great time to get involved and contribute.

⚙️ Getting Started with Biome

Getting up and running with Biome is incredibly simple:

1. Installation

Biome instructs the package manager to pin an exact version:

npm install --save-dev --save-exact @biomejs/biome

2. Initialization 

npx @biomejs/biome init

3. Usage

Formatting:

npx @biomejs/biome format --write

Linting:

npx @biomejs/biome lint --write

Combined Check:

npx @biomejs/biome check --write

4. Migration from ESLint and Prettier

Biome offers dedicated commands to ease the migration:

npx @biomejs/biome migrate eslint --write
npx @biomejs/biome migrate prettier --write

💬 My Experience Migrating to Biome

I migrated one of my TypeScript projects (~5k LOC) from ESLint + Prettier to Biome and saw:

  • 4x faster linting & formatting.
  • Removed 10+ npm packages.
  • No more config conflicts between ESLint and Prettier.
  • Built-in type-aware linting just worked.

Before:

"devDependencies": {
  "eslint": "...",
  "eslint-plugin-react": "...",
  "eslint-config-prettier": "...",
  "prettier": "...",
  ...
}

After:

"devDependencies": {
  "biome": "^1.0.0"
}

🧪 Is Biome Ready for Production?

Short answer: Yes, especially for new projects.

Longer answer: Biome is still evolving. While it's stable and production-ready for many common setups, it doesn’t yet have the plugin ecosystem ESLint offers. If you rely on complex linting rules, custom plugins, or framework-specific tools — you might want to wait or contribute.

But for 80% of use cases? Biome is already a better experience.

🌞 The Future of JavaScript Tooling?

Biome is more than just fast. It’s simpler, cleaner, and more developer-friendly than anything else out there. It’s taking the best parts of ESLint and Prettier, cutting the bloat, and delivering a smoother developer experience.

And it’s just getting started.