What is a tsconfig.json #

Overview #

The presence of a tsconfig.json file in a directory indicates that the directory is the root of a TypeScript project. The tsconfig.json file specifies the root files and the compiler options required to compile the project.

JavaScript projects can use a jsconfig.json file instead, which acts almost the same but has some JavaScript-related compiler flags enabled by default.

A project is compiled in one of the following ways:

Using tsconfig.json or jsconfig.json #

• By invoking tsc with no input files, in which case the compiler searches for the tsconfig.json file starting in the current directory and continuing up the parent directory chain.
• By invoking tsc with no input files and a --project (or just -p) command line option that specifies the path of a directory containing a tsconfig.json file, or a path to a valid .json file containing the configurations.

When input files are specified on the command line, tsconfig.json files are ignored.

Examples #

Example tsconfig.json files:

• Using the files property

  {
    "compilerOptions": {
      "module": "commonjs",
      "noImplicitAny": true,
      "removeComments": true,
      "preserveConstEnums": true,
      "sourceMap": true
    },
    "files": [
      "core.ts",
      "sys.ts",
      "types.ts",
      "scanner.ts",
      "parser.ts",
      "utilities.ts",
      "binder.ts",
      "checker.ts",
      "emitter.ts",
      "program.ts",
      "commandLineParser.ts",
      "tsc.ts",
      "diagnosticInformationMap.generated.ts"
    ]
  }
  

• Using the include and exclude properties

  {
    "compilerOptions": {
      "module": "system",
      "noImplicitAny": true,
      "removeComments": true,
      "preserveConstEnums": true,
      "outFile": "../../built/local/tsc.js",
      "sourceMap": true
    },
    "include": ["src/**/*"],
    "exclude": ["**/*.spec.ts"]
  }
  

TSConfig Bases #

Depending on the JavaScript runtime environment which you intend to run your code in, there may be a base configuration which you can use at github.com/tsconfig/bases. These are tsconfig.json files which your project extends from which simplifies your tsconfig.json by handling the runtime support.

For example, if you were writing a project which uses Node.js version 12 and above, then you could use the npm module @tsconfig/node12:

{
  "extends": "@tsconfig/node12/tsconfig.json",

  "compilerOptions": {
    "preserveConstEnums": true
  },

  "include": ["src/**/*"],
  "exclude": ["**/*.spec.ts"]
}

This lets your tsconfig.json focus on the unique choices for your project, and not all of the runtime mechanics. There are a few tsconfig bases already, and we’re hoping the community can add more for different environments.

Details #

The "compilerOptions" property can be omitted, in which case the compiler’s defaults are used. See our full list of supported Compiler Options.

TSConfig Reference #

To learn more about the hundreds of configuration options in the TSConfig Reference.

Schema #

The tsconfig.json Schema can be found at the JSON Schema Store.

::: _attribution © 2012-2023 Microsoft
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/tsconfig-json.html{._attribution-link} :::