Tooling

Tooling#

TypeScript piggybacks on the JavaScript ecosystem and adds a compiler plus a few type-aware tools.

Compiler#

$ npm install -D typescript
$ npx tsc --init
$ npx tsc
$ npx tsc --noEmit
$ npx tsc -w

Direct Runners#

For dev loops without a build step.

  • tsx, run TS files directly with esbuild under the hood.

  • ts-node, the long-time default.

  • Bun, runs .ts natively.

  • Deno, TS-native runtime.

$ npx tsx src/main.ts
$ bun run src/main.ts

Bundlers#

Most TS code runs through a bundler in production.

  • esbuild, fast, minimal config.

  • Vite, dev server + Rollup-based builds.

  • tsup, esbuild wrapper for libraries.

  • Rollup, library bundler.

  • webpack, still common in legacy apps.

Note that most bundlers transpile TS by stripping types; they don’t type-check. Run tsc --noEmit separately in CI.

Linters#

  • typescript-eslint, ESLint plugin with TS-aware rules.

  • Biome, Rust-based linter + formatter, faster alternative.

$ npm install -D eslint @typescript-eslint/parser @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin
$ npx eslint .

Formatter#

  • Prettier, the default formatter.

  • Biome, combined lint + format.

$ npx prettier --write .

Testing#

  • Vitest, TS-native, fast.

  • Jest, with ts-jest or @swc/jest.

  • Playwright, end-to-end with first-class TS support.

$ npx vitest

Debugging#

  • VS Code, launch ts-node / tsx with source-map support.

  • node --inspect-brk -r tsx/esm src/main.ts, attach Chrome DevTools.

  • Source maps ("sourceMap": true in tsconfig) make stack traces point at original .ts lines.

Documentation#

  • TypeDoc, generates HTML docs from TS source.

$ npx typedoc src/index.ts

Editor Support#

  • The TypeScript Language Server is bundled with typescript and used by every major editor out of the box.

  • tsserver, the underlying server; speaks the LSP via VS Code’s typescript-language-features.

Useful tsconfig Flags#

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2022",
    "module": "NodeNext",
    "strict": true,
    "noUncheckedIndexedAccess": true,
    "exactOptionalPropertyTypes": true,
    "moduleResolution": "NodeNext",
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "sourceMap": true,
    "outDir": "dist"
  }
}
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