TypeScript execution and REPL for node.js, with source map and native ESM support.
The latest documentation can also be found on our website: https://typestrong.org/ts-node
- Overview
- Installation
- Usage
- Configuration
- Options
- CommonJS vs native ECMAScript modules
- Troubleshooting
- Make it fast
- Advanced
- Recipes
- License
ts-node is a TypeScript execution engine and REPL for Node.js.
It JIT transforms TypeScript into JavaScript, enabling you to directly execute TypeScript on Node.js without precompiling. This is accomplished by hooking node's module loading APIs, enabling it to be used seamlessly alongside other Node.js tools and libraries.
- Automatic sourcemaps in stack traces
- Automatic
tsconfig.json
parsing - Automatic defaults to match your node version
- Typechecking (optional)
- REPL
- Write standalone scripts
- Native ESM loader
- Use third-party transpilers
- Use custom transformers
- Integrate with test runners, debuggers, and CLI tools
- Compatible with pre-compilation for production
# Locally in your project.
npm install -D typescript
npm install -D ts-node
# Or globally with TypeScript.
npm install -g typescript
npm install -g ts-node
# Depending on configuration, you may also need these
npm install -D tslib @types/node
Tip: Installing modules locally allows you to control and share the versions through package.json
. ts-node will always resolve the compiler from cwd
before checking relative to its own installation.
# Execute a script as `node` + `tsc`.
ts-node script.ts
# Starts a TypeScript REPL.
ts-node
# Execute code with TypeScript.
ts-node -e 'console.log("Hello, world!")'
# Execute, and print, code with TypeScript.
ts-node -p -e '"Hello, world!"'
# Pipe scripts to execute with TypeScript.
echo 'console.log("Hello, world!")' | ts-node
# Equivalent to ts-node --transpile-only
ts-node-transpile-only script.ts
# Equivalent to ts-node --cwd-mode
ts-node-cwd script.ts
#!/usr/bin/env ts-node
console.log("Hello, world!")
Passing CLI arguments via shebang is allowed on Mac but not Linux. For example, the following will fail on Linux:
#!/usr/bin/env ts-node --files
// This shebang is not portable. It only works on Mac
Instead, specify all ts-node options in your tsconfig.json
.
You can require ts-node and register the loader for future requires by using require('ts-node').register({ /* options */ })
. You can also use file shortcuts - node -r ts-node/register
or node -r ts-node/register/transpile-only
- depending on your preferences.
Note: If you need to use advanced node.js CLI arguments (e.g. --inspect
), use them with node -r ts-node/register
instead of ts-node's CLI.
ts-node exports a create()
function that can be used to initialize a TypeScript compiler that isn't registered to require.extensions
, and it uses the same code as register
.
ts-node supports a variety of options which can be specified via tsconfig.json
, as CLI flags, as environment variables, or programmatically.
For a complete list, see Options.
ts-node CLI flags must come before the entrypoint script. For example:
$ ts-node --project tsconfig-dev.json say-hello.ts Ronald
Hello, Ronald!
ts-node automatically finds and loads tsconfig.json
. Most ts-node options can be specified in a "ts-node"
object using their programmatic, camelCase names. We recommend this because it works even when you cannot pass CLI flags, such as node --require ts-node/register
and when using shebangs.
Use --skip-project
to skip loading the tsconfig.json
. Use --project
to explicitly specify the path to a tsconfig.json
.
When searching, it is resolved using the same search behavior as tsc
. By default, this search is performed relative to the entrypoint script. In --cwd-mode
or if no entrypoint is specified -- for example when using the REPL -- the search is performed relative to --cwd
/ process.cwd()
.
You can use this sample configuration as a starting point:
{
// This is an alias to @tsconfig/node12: https://github.com/tsconfig/bases
"extends": "ts-node/node12/tsconfig.json",
// Most ts-node options can be specified here using their programmatic names.
"ts-node": {
// It is faster to skip typechecking.
// Remove if you want ts-node to do typechecking.
"transpileOnly": true,
"files": true,
"compilerOptions": {
// compilerOptions specified here will override those declared below,
// but *only* in ts-node. Useful if you want ts-node and tsc to use
// different options with a single tsconfig.json.
}
},
"compilerOptions": {
// typescript options here
}
}
Our bundled JSON schema lists all compatible options.
@tsconfig/bases maintains recommended configurations for several node versions. As a convenience, these are bundled with ts-node.
{
"extends": "ts-node/node16/tsconfig.json",
// Or install directly with `npm i -D @tsconfig/node16`
"extends": "@tsconfig/node16/tsconfig.json",
}
If no tsconfig.json
is loaded from disk, ts-node will use the newest recommended defaults from
@tsconfig/bases compatible with your node
and typescript
versions.
With the latest node
and typescript
, this is @tsconfig/node16
.
Older versions of typescript
are incompatible with @tsconfig/node16
. In those cases we will use an older default configuration.
When in doubt, ts-node --show-config
will log the configuration being used, and ts-node -vv
will log node
and typescript
versions.
node
flags must be passed directly to node
; they cannot be passed to the ts-node binary nor can they be specified in tsconfig.json
We recommend using the NODE_OPTIONS
environment variable to pass options to node
.
NODE_OPTIONS='--trace-deprecation --abort-on-uncaught-exception' ts-node ./index.ts
Alternatively, you can invoke node
directly and install ts-node via --require
/-r
node --trace-deprecation --abort-on-uncaught-exception -r ts-node/register ./index.ts
ts-node
supports --print
(-p
), --eval
(-e
), --require
(-r
) and --interactive
(-i
) similar to the node.js CLI options.
Environment variables, where available, are in ALL_CAPS
-h, --help
Prints the help text-v, --version
Prints the version.-vv
prints node and typescript compiler versions, too-e, --eval
Evaluate code-p, --print
Print result of--eval
-i, --interactive
Opens the REPL even if stdin does not appear to be a terminal
-P, --project [path]
Path to TypeScript JSON project file
Environment:TS_NODE_PROJECT
--skip-project
Skip project config resolution and loading
Default:false
Environment:TS_NODE_SKIP_PROJECT
-c, --cwd-mode
Resolve config relative to the current directory instead of the directory of the entrypoint script-O, --compiler-options [opts]
JSON object to merge with compiler options
Environment:TS_NODE_COMPILER_OPTIONS
--show-config
Print resolvedtsconfig.json
, includingts-node
options, and exit
-T, --transpile-only
Use TypeScript's fastertranspileModule
Default:false
Environment:TS_NODE_TRANSPILE_ONLY
--type-check
Opposite of--transpile-only
Default:true
Environment:TS_NODE_TYPE_CHECK
-H, --compiler-host
Use TypeScript's compiler host API
Default:false
Environment:TS_NODE_COMPILER_HOST
--files
Loadfiles
,include
andexclude
fromtsconfig.json
on startup
Default:false
Environment:TS_NODE_FILES
-D, --ignore-diagnostics [code]
Ignore TypeScript warnings by diagnostic code
Environment:TS_NODE_IGNORE_DIAGNOSTICS
-I, --ignore [pattern]
Override the path patterns to skip compilation
Default:/node_modules/
Environment:TS_NODE_IGNORE
--skip-ignore
Skip ignore checks
Default:false
Environment:TS_NODE_SKIP_IGNORE
-C, --compiler [name]
Specify a custom TypeScript compiler
Default:typescript
Environment:TS_NODE_COMPILER
--transpiler [name]
Specify a third-party, non-typechecking transpiler--prefer-ts-exts
Re-order file extensions so that TypeScript imports are preferred
Default:false
Environment:TS_NODE_PREFER_TS_EXTS
--log-error
Logs TypeScript errors to stderr instead of throwing exceptions
Default:false
Environment:TS_NODE_LOG_ERROR
--pretty
Use pretty diagnostic formatter
Default:false
Environment:TS_NODE_PRETTY
TS_NODE_DEBUG
Enable debug logging
-r, --require [path]
Require a node module before execution--cwd
Behave as if invoked in this working directory
Default:process.cwd()
Environment:TS_NODE_CWD
--emit
Emit output files into.ts-node
directory
Default:false
Environment:TS_NODE_EMIT
--scope
Scope compiler to files withinscopeDir
. Anything outside this directory is ignored.
*Default:false
Environment:TS_NODE_SCOPE
--scopeDir
Directory within which compiler is limited whenscope
is enabled.
Default: First of:tsconfig.json
"rootDir" if specified, directory containingtsconfig.json
, or cwd if notsconfig.json
is loaded.
Environment:TS_NODE_SCOPE_DIR
moduleType
Override the module type of certain files, ignoring thepackage.json
"type"
field. See Module type overrides for details.
Default: obeyspackage.json
"type"
andtsconfig.json
"module"
Can only be specified viatsconfig.json
or API.TS_NODE_HISTORY
Path to history file for REPL
Default:~/.ts_node_repl_history
--no-experimental-repl-await
Disable top-level await in REPL. Equivalent to node's--no-experimental-repl-await
Default: Enabled if TypeScript version is 3.8 or higher and target is ES2018 or higher.
Environment:TS_NODE_EXPERIMENTAL_REPL_AWAIT
setfalse
to disable
The API includes additional options not shown here.
TypeScript is almost always written using modern import
syntax, but it is also transformed before being executed by the underlying runtime. You can choose to either transform to CommonJS or to preserve the native import
syntax, using node's native ESM support. Configuration is different for each.
Here is a brief comparison of the two.
CommonJS | Native ECMAScript modules |
---|---|
Write native import syntax |
Write native import syntax |
Transforms import into require() |
Does not transform import |
Node executes scripts using the classic CommonJS loader | Node executes scripts using the new ESM loader |
Use any of: ts-node CLI node -r ts-node/register NODE_OPTIONS="ts-node/register" node require('ts-node').register({/* options */}) |
Must use the ESM loader via:node --loader ts-node/esm NODE_OPTIONS="--loader ts-node/esm" node |
Transforming to CommonJS is typically simpler and more widely supported because it is older. You must remove "type": "module"
from package.json
and set "module": "CommonJS"
in tsconfig.json
.
{
// This can be omitted; commonjs is the default
"type": "commonjs"
}
{
"compilerOptions": {
"module": "CommonJS"
}
}
If you must keep "module": "ESNext"
for tsc
, webpack, or another build tool, you can set an override for ts-node.
{
"compilerOptions": {
"module": "ESNext"
},
"ts-node": {
"compilerOptions": {
"module": "CommonJS"
}
}
}
Node's ESM loader hooks are experimental and subject to change. ts-node's ESM support is as stable as possible, but it relies on APIs which node can and will break in new versions of node. Thus it is not recommended for production.
For complete usage, limitations, and to provide feedback, see #1007.
You must set "type": "module"
in package.json
and "module": "ESNext"
in tsconfig.json
.
{
"type": "module"
}
{
"compilerOptions": {
"module": "ESNext" // or ES2015, ES2020
}
}
ts-node uses sensible default configurations to reduce boilerplate while still respecting tsconfig.json
if you
have one. If you are unsure which configuration is used, you can log it with ts-node --show-config
. This is similar to
tsc --showConfig
but includes "ts-node"
options as well.
ts-node also respects your locally-installed typescript
version, but global installations fallback to the globally-installed
typescript
. If you are unsure which versions are used, ts-node -vv
will log them.
$ ts-node -vv
ts-node v10.0.0
node v16.1.0
compiler v4.2.2
$ ts-node --show-config
{
"compilerOptions": {
"target": "es6",
"lib": [
"es6",
"dom"
],
"rootDir": "./src",
"outDir": "./.ts-node",
"module": "commonjs",
"moduleResolution": "node",
"strict": true,
"declaration": false,
"sourceMap": true,
"inlineSources": true,
"types": [
"node"
],
"stripInternal": true,
"incremental": true,
"skipLibCheck": true,
"importsNotUsedAsValues": "error",
"inlineSourceMap": false,
"noEmit": false
},
"ts-node": {
"cwd": "/d/project",
"projectSearchDir": "/d/project",
"require": [],
"project": "/d/project/tsconfig.json"
}
}
It is important to differentiate between errors from ts-node, errors from the TypeScript compiler, and errors from node
. It is also important to understand when errors are caused by a type error in your code, a bug in your code, or a flaw in your configuration.
Type errors from the compiler are thrown as a TSError
. These are the same as errors you get from tsc
.
Any error that is not a TSError
is from node.js (e.g. SyntaxError
), and cannot be fixed by TypeScript or ts-node. These are bugs in your code or configuration.
Your version of node
may not support all JavaScript syntax supported by TypeScript. The compiler must transform this syntax via "downleveling," which is controlled by
the tsconfig "target"
option. Otherwise your code will compile fine, but node will throw a SyntaxError
.
For example, node
12 does not understand the ?.
optional chaining operator. If you use "target": "esnext"
, then the following TypeScript syntax:
const bar: string | undefined = foo?.bar;
will compile into this JavaScript:
const a = foo?.bar;
When you try to run this code, node 12 will throw a SyntaxError
. To fix this, you must switch to "target": "es2019"
or lower so TypeScript transforms ?.
into something node
can understand.
These tricks will make ts-node faster.
It is often better to use tsc --noEmit
to typecheck once before your tests run or as a lint step. In these cases, ts-node can skip typechecking.
- Enable
transpileOnly
to skip typechecking - Use our
swc
integration- This is by far the fastest option
- Avoid dynamic
require()
which may trigger repeated typechecking; preferimport
- Try with and without
--files
; one may be faster depending on your project - Check
tsc --showConfig
; make sure all executed files are included - Enable
skipLibCheck
- Set a
types
array to avoid loading unnecessary@types
ts-node works by registering hooks for .ts
, .tsx
, .js
, and/or .jsx
extensions.
Vanilla node
loads .js
by reading code from disk and executing it. Our hook runs in the middle, transforming code from TypeScript to JavaScript and passing the result to node
for execution. This transformation will respect your tsconfig.json
as if you had compiled via tsc
.
.js
and .jsx
are only transformed when allowJs
is enabled.
.tsx
and .jsx
are only transformed when jsx
is enabled.
Warning: if a file is ignored or its file extension is not registered, node will either fail to resolve the file or will attempt to execute it as JavaScript without any transformation. This may cause syntax errors or other failures, because node does not understand TypeScript type syntax nor bleeding-edge ECMAScript features.
Warning: When ts-node is used with
allowJs
, all non-ignored JavaScript files are transformed using the TypeScript compiler.
By default, TypeScript Node avoids compiling files in /node_modules/
for three reasons:
- Modules should always be published in a format node.js can consume
- Transpiling the entire dependency tree will make your project slower
- Differing behaviours between TypeScript and node.js (e.g. ES2015 modules) can result in a project that works until you decide to support a feature natively from node.js
You can use ts-node together with tsconfig-paths to load modules according to the paths
section in tsconfig.json
.
{
"ts-node": {
// Do not forget to `npm i -D tsconfig-paths`
"require": ["tsconfig-paths/register"]
}
}
The official TypeScript Handbook explains the intended purpose for "paths"
in "Additional module resolution flags".
The TypeScript compiler has a set of additional flags to inform the compiler of transformations that are expected to happen to the sources to generate the final output.
It is important to note that the compiler will not perform any of these transformations; it just uses these pieces of information to guide the process of resolving a module import to its definition file.
This means "paths"
are intended to describe mappings that the build tool or runtime already performs, not to tell the build tool or
runtime how to resolve modules. In other words, they intend us to write our imports in a way node
already understands. For this reason, ts-node does not modify node
's module resolution behavior to implement "paths"
mappings.
ts-node does not use files
, include
or exclude
, by default. This is because a large majority projects do not use all of the files in a project directory (e.g. Gulpfile.ts
, runtime vs tests) and parsing every file for types slows startup time. Instead, ts-node starts with the script file (e.g. ts-node index.ts
) and TypeScript resolves dependencies based on imports and references.
For global definitions, you can use the typeRoots
compiler option. This requires that your type definitions be structured as type packages (not loose TypeScript definition files). More details on how this works can be found in the TypeScript Handbook.
Example tsconfig.json
:
{
"compilerOptions": {
"typeRoots" : ["./node_modules/@types", "./typings"]
}
}
Example project structure:
<project_root>/
-- tsconfig.json
-- typings/
-- <module_name>/
-- index.d.ts
Example module declaration file:
declare module '<module_name>' {
// module definitions go here
}
For module definitions, you can use paths
:
{
"compilerOptions": {
"baseUrl": ".",
"paths": {
"custom-module-type": ["types/custom-module-type"]
}
}
}
An alternative approach for definitions of third-party libraries are triple-slash directives. This may be helpful if you prefer not to change your TypeScript compilerOptions
or structure your custom type definitions when using typeRoots
. Below is an example of the triple-slash directive as a relative path within your project:
/// <reference types="./types/untyped_js_lib" />
import UntypedJsLib from "untyped_js_lib"
Tip: If you must use files
, include
, or exclude
, enable --files
flags or set TS_NODE_FILES=true
.
Some projects require a patched typescript compiler which adds additional features. For example, ttypescript
and ts-patch
add the ability to configure custom transformers. These are drop-in replacements for the vanilla typescript
module and
implement the same API.
For example, to use ttypescript
and ts-transformer-keys
, add this to your tsconfig.json
:
{
"ts-node": {
// This can be omitted when using ts-patch
"compiler": "ttypescript"
},
"compilerOptions": {
// plugin configuration is the same for both ts-patch and ttypescript
"plugins": [
{ "transform": "ts-transformer-keys/transformer" }
]
}
}
In transpile-only mode, we skip typechecking to speed up execution time. You can go a step further and use a
third-party transpiler to transform TypeScript into JavaScript even faster. You will still benefit from
ts-node's automatic tsconfig.json
discovery, sourcemap support, and global ts-node CLI. Integrations
can automatically derive an appropriate configuration from your existing tsconfig.json
which simplifies project
boilerplate.
What is the difference between a compiler and a transpiler?
For our purposes, a compiler implements TypeScript's API and can perform typechecking. A third-party transpiler does not. Both transform TypeScript into JavaScript.
We have bundled an experimental swc
integration.
swc
is a TypeScript-compatible transpiler implemented in Rust. This makes it an order of magnitude faster
than transpileModule
.
To use it, first install @swc/core
or @swc/wasm
. If using importHelpers
, also install @swc/helpers
. If target
is less than "es2015" and using either async
/await
or generator functions, also install regenerator-runtime
.
npm i -D @swc/core @swc/helpers regenerator-runtime
Then add the following to your tsconfig.json
.
{
"ts-node": {
"transpileOnly": true,
"transpiler": "ts-node/transpilers/swc-experimental"
}
}
swc
uses@swc/helpers
instead oftslib
. If you have enabledimportHelpers
, you must also install@swc/helpers
.
To write your own transpiler integration, check our API docs.
Integrations are require()
d, so they can be published to npm. The module must export a create
function matching the
TranspilerModule
interface.
When deciding between CommonJS and native ECMAScript modules, ts-node defaults to matching vanilla node
and tsc
behavior. This means TypeScript files are transformed according to your tsconfig.json
"module"
option and executed
according to node's rules for the package.json
"type"
field.
In some projects you may need to override this behavior for some files. For example, in a webpack
project, you may have package.json
configured with "type": "module"
and tsconfig.json
with
"module": "esnext"
. However, webpack uses our CommonJS hook to execute your webpack.config.ts
,
so you need to force your webpack config and any supporting scripts to execute as CommonJS.
In these situations, our moduleTypes
option lets you override certain files, forcing execution as
CommonJS or ESM. Node supports similar overriding via .cjs
and .mjs
file extensions, but .ts
files cannot use them.
moduleTypes
achieves the same effect, and also overrides your tsconfig.json
"module"
config appropriately.
The following example tells ts-node to execute a webpack config as CommonJS:
{
"ts-node": {
"transpileOnly": true,
"moduleTypes": {
"webpack.config.ts": "cjs",
// Globs are also supported with the same behavior as tsconfig "include"
"webpack-config-scripts/**/*": "cjs"
}
},
"compilerOptions": {
"module": "es2020",
"target": "es2020"
}
}
Each key is a glob pattern with the same syntax as tsconfig's "include"
array.
When multiple patterns match the same file, the last pattern takes precedence.
cjs
overrides matches files to compile and execute as CommonJS.esm
overrides matches files to compile and execute as native ECMAScript modules.package
resets either of the above to default behavior, which obeyspackage.json
"type"
andtsconfig.json
"module"
options.
Files with an overridden module type are transformed with the same limitations as isolatedModules
. This will only affect rare cases such as using const enum
s with preserveConstEnums
disabled.
This feature is meant to facilitate scenarios where normal compilerOptions
and package.json
configuration is not possible. For example, a webpack.config.ts
cannot be given its own package.json
to override "type"
. Wherever possible you should favor using traditional package.json
and tsconfig.json
configurations.
TypeScript Node compiles source code via require()
, watching files and code reloads are out of scope for the project. If you want to restart the ts-node
process on file change, existing node.js tools such as nodemon, onchange and node-dev work.
There's also ts-node-dev
, a modified version of node-dev
using ts-node
for compilation that will restart the process on file change.
Assuming you are configuring AVA via your package.json
, add one of the following configurations.
Use this configuration if your package.json
does not have "type": "module"
.
{
"ava": {
"extensions": [
"ts"
],
"require": [
"ts-node/register"
]
}
}
This configuration is necessary if your package.json
has "type": "module"
.
{
"ava": {
"extensions": {
"ts": "module"
},
"nonSemVerExperiments": {
"configurableModuleFormat": true
},
"nodeArguments": [
"--loader=ts-node/esm"
]
}
}
ts-node support is built-in to gulp.
# Create a `gulpfile.ts` and run `gulp`.
gulp
See also: https://gulpjs.com/docs/en/getting-started/javascript-and-gulpfiles#transpilation
Create a new Node.js configuration and add -r ts-node/register
to "Node parameters."
Note: If you are using the --project <tsconfig.json>
command line argument as per the Configuration Options, and want to apply this same behavior when launching in IntelliJ, specify under "Environment Variables": TS_NODE_PROJECT=<tsconfig.json>
.
mocha --require ts-node/register --extensions ts,tsx --watch --watch-files src 'tests/**/*.{ts,tsx}' [...args]
Or specify options via your mocha config file.
{
// Specify "require" for CommonJS
"require": "ts-node/register",
// Specify "loader" for native ESM
"loader": "ts-node/esm",
"extensions": ["ts", "tsx"],
"spec": [
"tests/**/*.spec.*"
],
"watch-files": [
"src"
]
}
See also: https://mochajs.org/#configuring-mocha-nodejs
mocha --require ts-node/register --watch-extensions ts,tsx "test/**/*.{ts,tsx}" [...args]
Note: --watch-extensions
is only used in --watch
mode.
ts-node node_modules/tape/bin/tape [...args]
Create a new Node.js debug configuration, add -r ts-node/register
to node args and move the program
to the args
list (so VS Code doesn't look for outFiles
).
{
"configurations": [{
"type": "node",
"request": "launch",
"name": "Launch Program",
"runtimeArgs": [
"-r",
"ts-node/register"
],
"args": [
"${workspaceFolder}/src/index.ts"
]
}],
}
Note: If you are using the --project <tsconfig.json>
command line argument as per the Configuration Options, and want to apply this same behavior when launching in VS Code, add an "env" key into the launch configuration: "env": { "TS_NODE_PROJECT": "<tsconfig.json>" }
.
In many cases, setting NODE_OPTIONS
will enable ts-node
within other node tools, child processes, and worker threads.
NODE_OPTIONS="-r ts-node/register"
Or, if you require native ESM support:
NODE_OPTIONS="--loader ts-node/esm"
This tells any node processes which receive this environment variable to install ts-node
's hooks before executing other code.
ts-node is licensed under the MIT license. MIT
ts-node includes source code from Node.js which is licensed under the MIT license. Node.js license information
ts-node includes source code from the TypeScript compiler which is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. TypeScript license information