tsconfig.json

tsconfig.json contains compiler option for your TypeScript project.

tsc will automatically look for tsconfig.json in the current and parent folders.

You can also specify a different file by tsc -p <config file path>.

Generate

tsconfig.json can be generated by running tsc --init.

Schema

http://json.schemastore.org/tsconfig

• If you found error or properties missing, give it some love at https://github.com/schemastore/schemastore/ by opening PRs

Json Completion for custom config files in VSCode

Add this to your .vscode/settings.json:

  // .vscode/settings.json
  {
    "json.schemas": [
      {
        "fileMatch": [
          "tsconfig.*.json"
        ],
        "url": "http://json.schemastore.org/tsconfig"
      }
    ]
  }

Guidelines

Build config

• Use tsconfig.build.json for build purpose, and tsconfig.json for IDE.
• In tsconfig.json, use exclude.

• In tsconfig.build.json, use files.

  Why? You typically would write test files but don't want to bundle them in your package. tsconfig.build.json uses the files property allows you to have fine grain control on what to include in your package, while tsconfig.json uses the exclude property so IDE can includes your test files in the project thus providing better completion support.

  For example:

  // tsconfig.json
  {
    "compilerOptions": {
      // ...
    },
    "exclude": [
      "coverage",
      "dist",
      "node_modules"
    ]
  }
  

  // tsconfig.build.json
  {
    "conpilerOptions": {
      // ...
    },
    "files": [
      "src/index.ts",
      "typings/index.d.ts"
    ]
  }
  

• use the same compilerOptions on both tsconfig.json and tsconfig.build.json

  Why? While some options does not apply for IDE, keeping them the same avoid confusion on whether something was missing or wrong when they are different.

tsconfig.json at project root

• Use this to configure your development environment

  Why? Some IDEs allow you to specific which configuration to use, but some does not. Thus, it is better to use this to configure development environment while using other configs for build and CI.

References

http://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/tsconfig-json.html http://json.schemastore.org/tsconfig