Getting Started

  1. Starting a Node.js Project with TypeScript

Starting a Node.js Project with TypeScript

We assume that you’re using a Node.js project. To set up a Node.js project with TypeScript:

  • nodemon: For re-running your index.js script
  • typescript: TypeScript
  • @types/node: Types for node
# Initialise project
npm init

# Install dev dependencies
npm install --save-dev nodemon tsc @types/node

Initialise TypeScript using the command below. It creates a tsconfig.json file.

npx tsc --init

Then, create a dist folder, enable the outDir property in tsconfig.json, and modify it:

"outDir": "./dist"

This will let TypeScript know to compile your files and put them in ./dist.

Then, add a run script to package.json to watch your TypeScript files, re-compile when changes are made to them, and re-run the compiled index.js:

"start": "tsc -w & nodemon ./dist/index.js"