diff --git a/flatn/bun-install.js b/flatn/bun-install.js
index 0bcf8131b6..5d4dd881f8 100644
--- a/flatn/bun-install.js
+++ b/flatn/bun-install.js
@@ -4,6 +4,16 @@ import path from 'path';
 import { gitSpecFromVersion } from './flatn-cjs.js';
 
 const lvInfoFileName = '.lv-npm-helper-info.json';
+const bunInstallMaxAttempts = 2;
+const defaultBunInstallStallTimeoutMs = 120_000;
+const bunInstallTerminationGraceMs = 5_000;
+
+class BunInstallStallError extends Error {
+  constructor (stallTimeoutMs) {
+    super(`bun install produced no output for ${Math.round(stallTimeoutMs / 1000)}s`);
+    this.name = 'BunInstallStallError';
+  }
+}
 
 export function detectBun () {
   if (process.env.BUN_PATH) {
@@ -131,9 +141,27 @@ export async function bunInstall (bunPath, livelyDirs, destDir, projectRoot, ver
 async function runBunInstall (bunPath, bunWorkDir, verbose) {
   console.log('       Running bun install...');
 
+  const configuredStallTimeoutMs = Number(process.env.LIVELY_BUN_INSTALL_STALL_TIMEOUT_MS);
+  const stallTimeoutMs = Number.isFinite(configuredStallTimeoutMs) && configuredStallTimeoutMs > 0
+    ? configuredStallTimeoutMs
+    : defaultBunInstallStallTimeoutMs;
+
+  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= bunInstallMaxAttempts; attempt++) {
+    try {
+      await runBunInstallAttempt(bunPath, bunWorkDir, verbose, stallTimeoutMs);
+      return;
+    } catch (err) {
+      const canRetry = err instanceof BunInstallStallError && attempt < bunInstallMaxAttempts;
+      if (!canRetry) throw err;
+      console.warn(`   [!] ${err.message}; retrying bun install (attempt ${attempt + 1}/${bunInstallMaxAttempts})...`);
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+async function runBunInstallAttempt (bunPath, bunWorkDir, verbose, stallTimeoutMs) {
   const child = spawn(bunPath, ['install', '--no-progress'], {
     cwd: bunWorkDir,
-    stdio: verbose ? 'inherit' : ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
+    stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
     env: { ...process.env }
   });
 
@@ -141,17 +169,33 @@ async function runBunInstall (bunPath, bunWorkDir, verbose) {
   let stderr = '';
   let lastOutputAt = Date.now();
   const startedAt = Date.now();
+  let stalled = false;
+  let stallTimer;
+  let forceKillTimer;
+
+  const armStallTimer = () => {
+    clearTimeout(stallTimer);
+    stallTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+      stalled = true;
+      child.kill('SIGTERM');
+      forceKillTimer = setTimeout(() => child.kill('SIGKILL'), bunInstallTerminationGraceMs);
+    }, stallTimeoutMs);
+  };
 
-  if (!verbose) {
-    child.stdout?.on('data', chunk => {
-      stdout += chunk.toString();
-      lastOutputAt = Date.now();
-    });
-    child.stderr?.on('data', chunk => {
-      stderr += chunk.toString();
-      lastOutputAt = Date.now();
-    });
-  }
+  child.stdout?.on('data', chunk => {
+    if (verbose) process.stdout.write(chunk);
+    else stdout += chunk.toString();
+    lastOutputAt = Date.now();
+    armStallTimer();
+  });
+  child.stderr?.on('data', chunk => {
+    if (verbose) process.stderr.write(chunk);
+    else stderr += chunk.toString();
+    lastOutputAt = Date.now();
+    armStallTimer();
+  });
+
+  armStallTimer();
 
   const heartbeat = !verbose && setInterval(() => {
     const elapsedSec = Math.round((Date.now() - startedAt) / 1000);
@@ -159,12 +203,19 @@ async function runBunInstall (bunPath, bunWorkDir, verbose) {
     console.log(`       bun install still running... ${elapsedSec}s elapsed, ${quietSec}s since last output`);
   }, 10000);
 
-  const result = await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-    child.on('error', reject);
-    child.on('close', (code, signal) => resolve({ code, signal }));
-  });
+  let result;
+  try {
+    result = await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+      child.on('error', reject);
+      child.on('close', (code, signal) => resolve({ code, signal }));
+    });
+  } finally {
+    if (heartbeat) clearInterval(heartbeat);
+    clearTimeout(stallTimer);
+    clearTimeout(forceKillTimer);
+  }
 
-  if (heartbeat) clearInterval(heartbeat);
+  if (stalled) throw new BunInstallStallError(stallTimeoutMs);
 
   if (result.code !== 0) {
     const output = [stderr.trim(), stdout.trim()].filter(Boolean).join('\n');
diff --git a/flatn/tests/test.js b/flatn/tests/test.js
index 33bcfe4049..e6688fff81 100644
--- a/flatn/tests/test.js
+++ b/flatn/tests/test.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { expect } from "mocha-es6";
 import { tmpdir } from "./util.js";
 import { join as j } from "path";
 import { execSync, exec } from "child_process";
+import fs from "fs";
 const { resource, createFiles } = lively.resources;
 
 import {
@@ -14,6 +15,7 @@ import {
 } from "flatn/index.js"
 
 import { PackageSpec } from "flatn/package-map.js"
+import { bunInstall } from "flatn/bun-install.js"
 
 
 /*
@@ -115,6 +117,45 @@ describe("flat packages", function() {
 
   describe("installation", () => {
 
+    it("retries a stalled bun install once", async () => {
+      let projectRoot = baseDir.join("bun-retry-project/").path(),
+        packageDir = j(projectRoot, "local-package"),
+        dependenciesDir = j(projectRoot, "dependencies"),
+        fakeBun = j(projectRoot, "fake-bun"),
+        previousStallTimeout = process.env.LIVELY_BUN_INSTALL_STALL_TIMEOUT_MS;
+
+      fs.mkdirSync(j(projectRoot, "lively.installer"), { recursive: true });
+      fs.mkdirSync(packageDir, { recursive: true });
+      fs.writeFileSync(j(projectRoot, "lively.installer", "packages-config.json"), "[]");
+      fs.writeFileSync(j(packageDir, "package.json"), JSON.stringify({
+        name: "local-package",
+        version: "1.0.0",
+        dependencies: {}
+      }));
+      fs.writeFileSync(fakeBun, `#!/bin/sh
+attempt_file="$PWD/.bun-install-attempted"
+if [ ! -f "$attempt_file" ]; then
+  touch "$attempt_file"
+  exec sleep 10
+fi
+exit 0
+`);
+      fs.chmodSync(fakeBun, 0o755);
+
+      process.env.LIVELY_BUN_INSTALL_STALL_TIMEOUT_MS = "500";
+      try {
+        let result = await bunInstall(fakeBun, [packageDir], dependenciesDir, projectRoot);
+        expect(result.newPackages).equals([]);
+        expect(fs.existsSync(j(projectRoot, "tmp", "bun-install-workdir", ".bun-install-attempted"))).equals(true);
+      } finally {
+        if (previousStallTimeout === undefined) {
+          delete process.env.LIVELY_BUN_INSTALL_STALL_TIMEOUT_MS;
+        } else {
+          process.env.LIVELY_BUN_INSTALL_STALL_TIMEOUT_MS = previousStallTimeout;
+        }
+      }
+    });
+
     it("installs a package via npm", async () => {
       let basePath = baseDir.join("package-install-dir").path(),
         { packageMap, newPackages } = await installPackage("strip-ansi@^3", basePath);