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feat(learn): add article for publishing a typescript package #7279

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b20dcbf
feat(learn): add article for publishing a typescript package
JakobJingleheimer Nov 23, 2024
2d5d359
WIP: initial content for article
JakobJingleheimer Dec 29, 2024
86394b6
WIP: polish sample code, & dir overviews
JakobJingleheimer Dec 29, 2024
d583e03
rename article to be more specific
JakobJingleheimer Dec 29, 2024
48e2ad9
fix unsuported lang
AugustinMauroy Dec 29, 2024
081b7f2
fix navigation.json
JakobJingleheimer Dec 29, 2024
2a20202
fix links
JakobJingleheimer Dec 30, 2024
52d3a13
extract note from codeblock into article
JakobJingleheimer Dec 30, 2024
2228ab3
tidy codeblocks
JakobJingleheimer Dec 30, 2024
5034918
wordsmith
JakobJingleheimer Dec 30, 2024
ddb1cf1
fixup!: remove controversial "optionalDependencies"
JakobJingleheimer Jan 6, 2025
9258389
fixup!: wordsmith & align code samples
JakobJingleheimer Jan 8, 2025
4906609
fixup!: tsconfig
JakobJingleheimer Jan 8, 2025
07095c6
fixup!: switch sequence of repo vs package
JakobJingleheimer Jan 8, 2025
33e744a
fixup!: note types and unit tests are complementary
JakobJingleheimer Jan 8, 2025
f1703ad
fixup!: `IDE` → `editor`
JakobJingleheimer Jan 8, 2025
3fd8076
fixup!: note file extensions in package.json fields (js vs ts)
JakobJingleheimer Jan 9, 2025
64fd531
fixup!: add alternative samples & configs
JakobJingleheimer Jan 13, 2025
7305f8e
fixup!: remove version from npm links
JakobJingleheimer Jan 14, 2025
13b8e1c
fixup!: shorter code sample display names
JakobJingleheimer Jan 14, 2025
0f7f993
fixup!: add note about `NPM_TOKEN`
JakobJingleheimer Jan 15, 2025
53793f1
fixup!: switch node version matrix to LTS matrix action
JakobJingleheimer Jan 15, 2025
4b06b6c
fixup!: shorten displayNames (they were breaking page layout)
JakobJingleheimer Jan 15, 2025
d250a86
fixup!: update references to samples
JakobJingleheimer Jan 15, 2025
6056802
fixup!: replace `npm publish` step from `publish.yml` with note
JakobJingleheimer Jan 30, 2025
d1f67dc
fixup!: replace ref to TS's own publishing guide with generic intro
JakobJingleheimer Jan 30, 2025
0b7a3df
fixup!: add note about `erasableSyntaxOnly`
JakobJingleheimer Jan 30, 2025
b146a69
fixup!: restore box vert lines
JakobJingleheimer Jan 30, 2025
c68edf0
fixup!: add "dist output" tsconfig sample
JakobJingleheimer Feb 2, 2025
40e8d7e
fixup!: handle flavours of `.ts` file extensions in `.gitignore` sample
JakobJingleheimer Feb 2, 2025
bd6909d
fixup!: correct code block lang for gitignore samples
JakobJingleheimer Feb 2, 2025
eaf9b21
fixup!: remove extra word
JakobJingleheimer Feb 2, 2025
4d36877
enable `ini` lang in codeblocks
JakobJingleheimer Feb 2, 2025
9bb1dde
fixup!: expand description of article's purpose
JakobJingleheimer Feb 3, 2025
111564c
fixup!: adjust `tsconfig`s to support oldest node LTS version
JakobJingleheimer Feb 3, 2025
cc78347
fixup!: ts project → ts package
JakobJingleheimer Feb 4, 2025
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4 changes: 4 additions & 0 deletions apps/site/navigation.json
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -209,6 +209,10 @@
"runNatively": {
"link": "/learn/typescript/run-natively",
"label": "components.navigation.learn.typescript.links.runNatively"
},
"publishingTSPackage": {
"link": "/learn/typescript/publishing-a-ts-package",
"label": "components.navigation.learn.typescript.links.publishingTSPackage"
}
}
},
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332 changes: 332 additions & 0 deletions apps/site/pages/en/learn/typescript/publishing-a-ts-package.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,332 @@
---
title: Publishing a TypeScript package
layout: learn
authors: JakobJingleheimer
---

# Publishing a TypeScript package

This article covers items regarding TypeScript publishing specifically. Publishing means distributed as a package via npm (or other package manager); this is not about compiling an app / server to be run in production (such as a PWA and/or endpoint server).

Some important things to note:

- Everything from [Publishing a package](../modules/publishing-a-package) applies here.

- Fields like `main` operate on _published_ content, so when TypeScript source-code is transpiled to JavaScript, JavaScript is the published content and `main` would point to a JavaScript file with a JavaScript file extension (ex `main.ts` → `"main": "main.js"`).

- Fields like `scripts.test` operate on source-code, so they would use the file extensions of the source code (ex `"test": "node --test './src/**/*.test.ts'`).

- Node runs TypeScript code via a process called "[type stripping](https://nodejs.org/api/typescript.html#type-stripping)", wherein node (via [Amaro](https://github.com/nodejs/amaro)) removes TypeScript-specific syntax, leaving behind vanilla JavaScript (which node already understands). This behaviour is enabled by default as of node version 23.6.0.

- Node does **not** strip types in `node_modules` because it can cause significant performance issues for the official TypeScript compiler (`tsc`) and parts of VS Code, so the TypeScript maintainers would like to discourage people publishing raw TypeScript, at least for now.

- Consuming TypeScript-specific features like `enum` in node still requires a flag ([`--experimental-transform-types`](https://nodejs.org/api/typescript.html#typescript-features)). There are often better alternatives for these anyway.

- To ensure TypeScript-specific features are _not_ present (so your code can just run in node), set the [`erasableSyntaxOnly`](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/typescript/announcing-typescript-5-8-beta/#the---erasablesyntaxonly-option) config option in TypeScript version 5.8+.

- Use [dependabot](https://docs.github.com/en/code-security/dependabot) to keep your dependencies current, including those in github actions. It's a very easy set-and-forget configuration.

- `.nvmrc` comes from [NVM](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm), a multi-version manager for node. It allows you to specify the version of node the project should generally use.

A directory overview of a repository would look something like:

```text displayName="Files co-located"
example-ts-pkg/
├ .github/
│ ├ workflows/
│ │ ├ ci.yml
│ │ └ publish.yml
│ └ dependabot.yml
├ src/
│ ├ foo.fixture.js
│ ├ main.ts
│ ├ main.test.ts
│ ├ some-util.ts
│ └ some-util.test.ts
├ LICENSE
├ package.json
├ README.md
└ tsconfig.json
```

```text displayName="Files co-located but segregated"
example-ts-pkg/
├ .github/
│ ├ workflows/
│ │ ├ ci.yml
│ │ └ publish.yml
│ └ dependabot.yml
├ src/
│ ├ __test__/
│ │ ├ foo.fixture.js
│ │ ├ main.test.ts
│ ├ main.ts
│ └ some-util.ts
│ │ ├ __test__
│ │ └ some-util.test.ts
│ │ └ some-util.ts
├ LICENSE
├ package.json
├ README.md
└ tsconfig.json
```

```text displayName="'src' and 'test' fully segregated"
example-ts-pkg/
├ .github/
│ ├ workflows/
│ │ ├ ci.yml
│ │ └ publish.yml
│ └ dependabot.yml
├ src/
│ ├ main.ts
│ ├ some-util.ts
├ test/
│ ├ foo.fixture.js
│ ├ main.ts
│ └ some-util.ts
├ LICENSE
├ package.json
├ README.md
└ tsconfig.json
```

And a directory overview of its published package would look something like:

```text displayName="Fully flat"
example-ts-pkg/
├ LICENSE
├ main.d.ts
├ main.d.ts.map
├ main.js
├ package.json
├ README.md
├ some-util.d.ts
├ some-util.d.ts.map
└ some-util.js
```

```text displayName="With 'dist'"
example-ts-pkg/
├ dist/
│ ├ main.d.ts
│ ├ main.d.ts.map
│ ├ main.js
│ ├ some-util.d.ts
│ ├ some-util.d.ts.map
│ └ some-util.js
├ LICENSE
├ package.json
└ README.md
```

A note about directory organisation: There are a few common practices for placing tests. Principle of least knowledge says to co-locate them (put them adjacent to implementation). Sometimes, that's in the same directory, or within a drawer like a `__test__` (also adjacent to the implementation, "Files co-located but segregated"). Alternatively, some opt to create a `test/` sibling to `src/` ("'src' and 'test' fully segregated"), either with a mirrored structure or a "junk drawer".

## What to do with your types

### Treat types like a test

The purpose of types is to warn an implementation will not work:

```ts
const foo = 'a';
const bar: number = 1 + foo;
// ^^^ Type 'string' is not assignable to type 'number'.
```

TypeScript has warned that the above code will not behave as intended, just like a unit test warns that code does not behave as intended. They are complementary and verify different things—you should have both.

Your editor (ex VS Code) likely has built-in support for TypeScript, displaying errors as you work. If not, and/or you missed those, CI will have your back.

The following [GitHub Action](https://github.com/features/actions) sets up a CI task to automatically check (and require) types pass inspection for a PR into the `main` branch.

```yaml displayName=".github/workflows/ci.yml"
# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://json.schemastore.org/github-workflow.json

name: Tests

on:
pull_request:
branches: ['*']

jobs:
check-types:
# Separate these from tests because
# they are platform and node-version independent
# and need be run only once.

runs-on: ubuntu-latest

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version-file: '.nvmrc'
cache: 'npm'
- name: npm clean install
run: npm ci
# You may want to run a lint check here too
- run: node --run types:check

get-matrix:
# Automatically pick active LTS versions
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
outputs:
latest: ${{ steps.set-matrix.outputs.requireds }}
steps:
- uses: ljharb/actions/node/matrix@main
id: set-matrix
with:
versionsAsRoot: true
type: majors
preset: '>= 22' # glob is not backported below 22.x

test:
needs: [get-matrix]
runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}

strategy:
fail-fast: false
matrix:
node-version: ${{ fromJson(needs.get-matrix.outputs.latest) }}
os:
- macos-latest
- ubuntu-latest
- windows-latest

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Use node ${{ matrix.node-version }}
uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
cache: 'npm'
- name: npm clean install
run: npm ci
- run: node --run test
```

```json displayName="package.json"
{
"name": "example-ts-pkg",
"scripts": {
"test": "node --test './src/**/*.test.ts'",
"types:check": "tsc --noEmit"
},
"devDependencies": {
"typescript": "^5.7.2"
}
}
```

```json displayName="tsconfig.json (flat output)"
{
"compilerOptions": {
"allowArbitraryExtensions": true,
"declaration": true,
"declarationMap": true,
"lib": ["es2023"],
"module": "NodeNext",
"outDir": "./",
"resolveJsonModule": true,
"rewriteRelativeImportExtensions": true,
"target": "es2022"
},
// These may be different for your repo:
"include": ["./src"],
"exclude": ["**/*/*.test.*", "**/*.fixture.*"]
}
```

```json displayName="tsconfig.json ('dist' output)"
{
"compilerOptions": {
"allowArbitraryExtensions": true,
"declaration": true,
"declarationMap": true,
"lib": ["es2023"],
"module": "NodeNext",
"outDir": "./dist",
"resolveJsonModule": true,
"rewriteRelativeImportExtensions": true,
"target": "es2022"
},
// These may be different for your repo:
"include": ["./src"],
"exclude": ["**/*/*.test.*", "**/*.fixture.*"]
}
```

Note that test files may well have a different `tsconfig.json` applied (hence why they are excluded in the above sample).

### Generate type declarations

Type declarations (`.d.ts` and friends) provide type information as a sidecar file, allowing the execution code to be vanilla JavaScript whilst still having types.

Since these are generated based on source code, they can be built as part of your publication process and do not need to be checked into your repository.

Take the following example, where the type declarations are generated just before publishing to the NPM registry.

```yaml displayName=".github/workflows/publish.yml"
# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://json.schemastore.org/github-workflow.json

# This is mostly boilerplate.

name: Publish to NPM
on:
push:
tags:
- '**@*'

jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest

permissions:
contents: read
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version-file: '.nvmrc'
registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
- run: npm ci

# - name: Publish to NPM
# run: … npm publish …
```

```diff displayName="package.json"
{
"name": "example-ts-pkg",
"scripts": {
+ "prepack": "tsc",
"types:check": "tsc --noEmit"
}
}
```

```ini displayName=".npmignore"
*.*ts # foo.cts foo.mts foo.ts
!*.d.*ts
*.fixture.*
```

```ini displayName=".npmignore ('dist' output)"
src
test
```

You'll want to publish a package compiled to support all Node.js LTS versions since you don't know which version the consumer will be running; the `tsconfig`s in this article support node 18.x and later.

`npm publish` will automatically run [`prepack` beforehand](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/using-npm/scripts#npm-publish). `npm` will also run `prepack` automatically before `npm pack --dry-run` (so you can easily see what your published package will be without actually publishing it). **Beware**, [`node --run` does _not_ do that](../command-line/run-nodejs-scripts-from-the-command-line.md#using-the---run-flag). You can't use `node --run` for this step, so that caveat does not apply here, but it can for other steps.

The steps to actually publish to npm will be included in a separate article (there are several pros and cons beyond the scope of this article).

#### Breaking this down

Generating type declarations is deterministic: you'll get the same output from the same input, every time. So there is no need to commit these to git.

[`npm publish`](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/commands/npm-publish) grabs everything applicable and available at the moment the command is run; so generating type declarations immediately before means those are available and will get picked up.

By default, `npm publish` grabs (almost) everything (see [Files included in package](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/commands/npm-publish#files-included-in-package)). In order to keep your published package minimal (see the "Heaviest Objects in the Universe" meme about `node_modules`), you want to exclude certain files (like tests and test fixtures) from from packaging. Add these to the opt-out list specified in [`.npmignore`](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/using-npm/developers#keeping-files-out-of-your-package); ensure the `!*.d.ts` exception is listed, or the generated type declartions will not be published! Alternatively, you can use [package.json "files"](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/configuring-npm/package-json#files) to create an opt-in list.
4 changes: 4 additions & 0 deletions apps/site/shiki.config.mjs
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -2,12 +2,14 @@

import diffLanguage from 'shiki/langs/diff.mjs';
import dockerLanguage from 'shiki/langs/docker.mjs';
import iniLanguage from 'shiki/langs/ini.mjs';
import javaScriptLanguage from 'shiki/langs/javascript.mjs';
import jsonLanguage from 'shiki/langs/json.mjs';
import powershellLanguage from 'shiki/langs/powershell.mjs';
import shellScriptLanguage from 'shiki/langs/shellscript.mjs';
import shellSessionLanguage from 'shiki/langs/shellsession.mjs';
import typeScriptLanguage from 'shiki/langs/typescript.mjs';
import yamlLanguage from 'shiki/langs/yaml.mjs';
import shikiNordTheme from 'shiki/themes/nord.mjs';

/**
Expand All @@ -22,13 +24,15 @@ export const LANGUAGES = [
// that are commonly used (non-standard aliases) within our API docs and Blog posts
aliases: javaScriptLanguage[0].aliases.concat('cjs', 'mjs'),
},
...iniLanguage,
...jsonLanguage,
...typeScriptLanguage,
...shellScriptLanguage,
...powershellLanguage,
...shellSessionLanguage,
...dockerLanguage,
...diffLanguage,
...yamlLanguage,
];

// This is the default theme we use for our Shiki Syntax Highlighter
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3 changes: 2 additions & 1 deletion packages/i18n/locales/en.json
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -48,7 +48,8 @@
"introduction": "Introduction to TypeScript",
"transpile": "Running TypeScript code using transpilation",
"run": "Running TypeScript with a runner",
"runNatively": "Running TypeScript Natively"
"runNatively": "Running TypeScript Natively",
"publishingTSPackage": "Publishing a TypeScript package"
}
},
"asynchronousWork": {
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