diff --git a/bun.lock b/bun.lock
index 06606b3e7..28c3d77a9 100644
--- a/bun.lock
+++ b/bun.lock
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
   "workspaces": {
     "": {
       "name": "@tscircuit/cli",
+      "dependencies": {
+        "tsx": "^4.7.1",
+      },
       "devDependencies": {
         "@babel/standalone": "^7.26.9",
         "@biomejs/biome": "^1.9.4",
diff --git a/cli/entrypoint.js b/cli/entrypoint.js
index 4e38f9343..93985ee09 100755
--- a/cli/entrypoint.js
+++ b/cli/entrypoint.js
@@ -5,17 +5,6 @@ import { createRequire } from "node:module"
 import { dirname, join } from "node:path"
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url"
 
-function commandExists(cmd) {
-  try {
-    const res = spawnSync(cmd, ["--version"], { stdio: "ignore" })
-    return res.status === 0
-  } catch {
-    return false
-  }
-}
-
-const runner = commandExists("bun") ? "bun" : "tsx"
-
 const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url))
 const packageRoot = join(__dirname, "..")
 const require = createRequire(import.meta.url)
@@ -26,6 +15,7 @@ const useGlobal = process.argv.includes("--use-global")
 const args = process.argv.slice(2).filter((arg) => arg !== "--use-global")
 
 let mainPath = join(packageRoot, "dist/cli/main.js")
+let tsxLoaderPath = join(packageRoot, "dist/cli/tsx-loader.js")
 
 if (!useGlobal) {
   try {
@@ -36,18 +26,28 @@ if (!useGlobal) {
     const localPackageJson = localRequire(localPackageJsonPath)
     const localPackageRoot = dirname(localPackageJsonPath)
     const localMainPath = join(localPackageRoot, "dist/cli/main.js")
+    const localTsxLoaderPath = join(localPackageRoot, "dist/cli/tsx-loader.js")
 
-    if (localPackageRoot !== packageRoot && existsSync(localMainPath)) {
+    if (
+      localPackageRoot !== packageRoot &&
+      existsSync(localMainPath) &&
+      existsSync(localTsxLoaderPath)
+    ) {
       console.warn(
         `Using local @tscircuit/cli v${localPackageJson.version} instead of global v${globalPackageJson.version}`,
       )
       mainPath = localMainPath
+      tsxLoaderPath = localTsxLoaderPath
     }
   } catch {}
 }
 
-const { status } = spawnSync(runner, [mainPath, ...args], {
-  stdio: "inherit",
-})
+const { status } = spawnSync(
+  process.execPath,
+  ["--import", tsxLoaderPath, mainPath, ...args],
+  {
+    stdio: "inherit",
+  },
+)
 
 process.exit(status ?? 0)
diff --git a/cli/tsx-loader.ts b/cli/tsx-loader.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..af0a95d65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/tsx-loader.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+import "tsx/esm"
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f8213b412..f9a9c68b1 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -79,6 +79,9 @@
     "typed-ky": "^0.0.4",
     "zod": "^3.23.8"
   },
+  "dependencies": {
+    "tsx": "^4.7.1"
+  },
   "peerDependencies": {
     "tscircuit": "*"
   },
diff --git a/scripts/bun-build.ts b/scripts/bun-build.ts
index a4aad997d..9e532ae14 100644
--- a/scripts/bun-build.ts
+++ b/scripts/bun-build.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { rmSync } from "node:fs"
 import { basename } from "node:path"
 // @ts-ignore
 import tscircuitPackageJson from "tscircuit/package.json"
@@ -6,9 +7,13 @@ const tscircuitPackageJsonDeps = Object.keys(tscircuitPackageJson.dependencies)
 
 const ALLOW_BUNDLING = ["@tscircuit/runframe"]
 
+rmSync("./dist/cli", { recursive: true, force: true })
+rmSync("./dist/lib", { recursive: true, force: true })
+
 const result = await Bun.build({
   entrypoints: [
     "./cli/main.ts",
+    "./cli/tsx-loader.ts",
     "./cli/build/build.worker.ts",
     "./cli/snapshot/snapshot.worker.ts",
     "./lib/index.ts",
@@ -19,6 +24,7 @@ const result = await Bun.build({
     ...tscircuitPackageJsonDeps.filter((dep) => !ALLOW_BUNDLING.includes(dep)),
     "zod",
     "tscircuit",
+    "tsx",
     "typescript",
     "circuit-to-svg",
     "@types/*",
diff --git a/scripts/check-for-dependencies.ts b/scripts/check-for-dependencies.ts
index 8cba6a347..107a9467d 100644
--- a/scripts/check-for-dependencies.ts
+++ b/scripts/check-for-dependencies.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import { readFileSync } from "node:fs"
 import { exit } from "node:process"
 
-const ALLOWED_DEPENDENCIES: string[] = []
+const ALLOWED_DEPENDENCIES: string[] = ["tsx"]
 
 console.log("Checking for non-dev dependencies...")
 
diff --git a/tests/cli/entrypoint/use-global-flag.test.ts b/tests/cli/entrypoint/use-global-flag.test.ts
index 6c3107226..cbe9ad2d6 100644
--- a/tests/cli/entrypoint/use-global-flag.test.ts
+++ b/tests/cli/entrypoint/use-global-flag.test.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 import { expect, test } from "bun:test"
-import { mkdirSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs"
+import { mkdirSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs"
 import { join, resolve } from "node:path"
 import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process"
 import { temporaryDirectory } from "tempy"
 
+const nodeBin = process.env.npm_node_execpath ?? "node"
+
 test("entrypoint uses local version by default when available", async () => {
   const tmpDir = temporaryDirectory()
   const localCliPath = join(tmpDir, "node_modules", "@tscircuit", "cli")
@@ -25,10 +27,10 @@ test("entrypoint uses local version by default when available", async () => {
     join(localCliPath, "dist", "cli", "main.js"),
     'console.log("LOCAL_CLI_EXECUTED")',
   )
-
+  writeFileSync(join(localCliPath, "dist", "cli", "tsx-loader.js"), "")
   const entrypointPath = resolve(process.cwd(), "cli/entrypoint.js")
 
-  const result = spawnSync("bun", [entrypointPath, "--version"], {
+  const result = spawnSync(nodeBin, [entrypointPath, "--version"], {
     cwd: tmpDir,
     encoding: "utf-8",
   })
@@ -36,6 +38,7 @@ test("entrypoint uses local version by default when available", async () => {
   const output = result.stdout + result.stderr
 
   expect(output).toContain("Using local @tscircuit/cli v0.0.999-local")
+  expect(output).toContain("LOCAL_CLI_EXECUTED")
 
   rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true })
 })
@@ -61,11 +64,11 @@ test("entrypoint skips local version when --use-global flag is passed", async ()
     join(localCliPath, "dist", "cli", "main.js"),
     'console.log("LOCAL_CLI_EXECUTED")',
   )
-
+  writeFileSync(join(localCliPath, "dist", "cli", "tsx-loader.js"), "")
   const entrypointPath = resolve(process.cwd(), "cli/entrypoint.js")
 
   const result = spawnSync(
-    "bun",
+    nodeBin,
     [entrypointPath, "--use-global", "--version"],
     {
       cwd: tmpDir,
@@ -80,3 +83,13 @@ test("entrypoint skips local version when --use-global flag is passed", async ()
 
   rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true })
 })
+
+test("entrypoint does not require bun at runtime", () => {
+  const entrypointPath = resolve(process.cwd(), "cli/entrypoint.js")
+  const entrypointSource = readFileSync(entrypointPath, "utf-8")
+
+  expect(entrypointSource).toContain("#!/usr/bin/env node")
+  expect(entrypointSource).not.toContain('"bun"')
+  expect(entrypointSource).toContain('"--import"')
+  expect(entrypointSource).toContain("tsx-loader.js")
+})