How to use Typescript 'tsc' command as a devDependency?

Question

Seems like I'm having a problem with whats supposed to be very simple, I want to have typescript as a devDependency in my project and not global.

Ive installed it using npm i --save-dev typescript, but i cannot seem to be able to run tsc command to produce my javascript files.

My tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,
    "declaration": false,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "lib": [
      "dom",
      "es2015"
    ],
    "module": "es2015",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "sourceMap": true,
    "target": "es5"
  },
  "include": [
    "src/**/*.ts"
  ],
  "exclude": [
    "node_modules"
  ],
  "atom": {
    "rewriteTsconfig": false
  }
}

I've tried following this question but couldn't find any solution there..

I understand simply running tsc in my terminal cannot possibly work as it is not installed globally and is not a known command, but what IS the way?

Any help would be highly appreciated, thanks in advance!

The `npm run tsc` approach that is described in one of the answers in your linked question should work. — Matthias247, Apr 21 '17 at 13:20
@Matthias247 thanks for the quick reply, unfortunately adding this script does not work — Kesem David, Apr 21 '17 at 13:41

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 07 '23 at 11:51

standalone tsc command is available only for global installation. When you install it as a devDependency you have to use it with npx before the tsc command like so: npx tsc -v

The reason for this can be found here: https://www.typescriptlang.org/fr/download

It is also good to understand difference between npm and npx commands.

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 21 '17 at 12:59

1

One way to do it is to define a script inside your package.json like so:

"scripts": {
    "start": "./node_modules/typescript/bin/tsc"
}

To run it: npm run start

Because you added typescript to your devDependencies, this should always be available.

edited Apr 21 '17 at 12:59

Saravana

37,852
18
100
108

answered Apr 21 '17 at 12:53

Jeff Huijsmans

1,388
1
14
35

Thanks for the quick reply, unfortunately, doing as you suggest does not solve the problem. i even tried running it manually from within the typescript package.. any idea why? npm just throws the most generic error saying exit status 1 – Kesem David Apr 21 '17 at 13:43
Your error is most likely coming from somewhere else and not from running TSC. Can you provide the detailed error output/trace? – Ugo Apr 29 '17 at 00:55

How to use Typescript 'tsc' command as a devDependency?

2 Answers2