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I've been stuck in an error cycle for hours. I want to have a TypeScript project but each "solution" to each error just moves to another error and it cycles.

It starts with ERR_REQUIRE_ESM so in tsconfig.json I change module to es2020. Then I get the error Cannot use import statement outside a module, so in package.json I set type to module. Then I'm told [ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION] Unknown file extension ".ts" which I'm told to remove type from package.json and also being told to set module to commonjs. The cycle continues, and trying to "just use nodemon app.ts" doesn't work as it's same issues except now errors when trying to fiddle with things.

I have no idea what to do, I've followed guides to get set up and problems start when I try to import or require packages. I've only previously used TypeScript with create-react-app before and am used to things just working. I don't know if it is meant to be this much of a pain to just get set up but it's so much extra work and frustration than other languages. Is there just a command like create-react-app that just sets up a basic TS project?

dontfknow
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1 Answers1

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so I experienced the same issue but resolved it by using the following settings in the tsconfig:

{
  "ts-node": {
    // these options are overrides used only by ts-node
    // same as the --compilerOptions flag and the TS_NODE_COMPILER_OPTIONS environment variable
    "compilerOptions": {
      "module": "commonjs"
    }
  },
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "es5",
    "lib": ["esnext"],
    "sourceMap": true,
    "allowJs": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,
    "strict": true,
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
    "noFallthroughCasesInSwitch": true,
    "module": "esnext",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "noEmit": true,
    "outDir": "dist"
  },
  "include": ["src"]
}

Disclaimer: this tsconfig is for a backend project.
For a frontend project, you can add dom and dom.iterable to the lib options and remove the special ts-node compiler options from the tsconfig
princemuel
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