# TypeScript rules for Bazel The TypeScript rules integrate the TypeScript compiler with Bazel. ## Alternatives This package provides Bazel wrappers around the TypeScript compiler. At a high level, there are four alternatives provided. This section describes the trade-offs between these rules. ### Option 1: tsc `tsc` is the TypeScript compiler published by the team at Microsoft. You can call it without any custom Bazel rules. To use this option, you **do not need to install the `@bazel/typescript` package**. The only reason to use raw `tsc` is if you want to compile a directory of `.ts` files and cannot enumerate them ahead-of-time in your BUILD file so that Bazel can predict all the output files. (For example if the `.ts` files are generated by some tool). This will produce an opaque directory of `.js` file outputs, which you won't be able to individually reference. Any other use case for `tsc` is better served by using `ts_project`, see below. Like we do for any npm package that exposes a binary, rules_nodejs will see your dependency on `typescript` and will generate an `index.bzl` file allowing you to run `tsc`. To use it, add the load statement `load("@npm//typescript:index.bzl", "tsc")` to your BUILD file. (Possibly replacing `@npm` with the name of the repository where you installed dependencies) Then call it, using the [`npm_package_bin`](Built-ins#npm_package_bin) documentation. Here is an example: ### Option 2: tsc_test `tsc_test` is generated alongside `tsc`. It is identical, except that Bazel treats it as a test target, producing only an exit code rather than files to be consumed by other steps in the build. This can be used for a build with `--noEmit`, so that TypeScript is purely used for type-checking and not for producing any build outputs. To use it, add the load statement `load("@npm//typescript:index.bzl", "tsc_test")` to your BUILD file. (Possibly replacing `@npm` with the name of the repository where you installed dependencies) To get the typings available in the test (as "runfiles"), you may need to gather them from dependencies if they are not included as default outputs of those dependencies, like so: ```starlark filegroup(name = "types", srcs = ["//some:js_library"], output_group = "types") ``` And then include the `:types` target in the `data` of the `tsc_test`. See example in ### Option 3: ts_project `ts_project` simply runs `tsc --project`, with Bazel knowing which outputs to expect based on the TypeScript compiler options, and with interoperability with other TypeScript rules via the [DeclarationInfo] Provider that transmits the type information. It is intended as an easy on-boarding for existing TypeScript code and should be familiar if your background is in frontend ecosystem idioms. Any behavior of `ts_project` should be reproducible outside of Bazel, with a couple of caveats noted in the rule documentation below. `ts_project` is recommended for all new code. Exhaustive examples of calling `ts_project` are in the test suite: And there are also many uses of it in our [examples](https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/tree/stable/packages/typescript/test/ts_project). [DeclarationInfo]: Built-ins#declarationinfo ### Option 4: ts_library `ts_library` should not be used for new code, and may be deprecated in the future. `ts_library` is an open-sourced version of the rule used to compile TS code at Google. However there is no support from the team that maintains that internal version. It is very complex, involving code generation of the `tsconfig.json` file, a custom compiler binary, and a lot of extra features. It is also opinionated, and may not work with existing TypeScript code. For example: - Your TS code must compile under the `--declaration` flag so that downstream libraries depend only on types, not implementation. This makes Bazel faster by avoiding cascading rebuilds in cases where the types aren't changed. - We control the output format and module syntax so that downstream rules can rely on them. - Some other options are incompatible. For example you cannot use the `--noEmit` compiler option in `tsconfig.json`. The only reason to use `ts_library` for new code is if you are bought-in to using a [concatjs] bundler, which requires the named AMD module format. This may be faster than other tooling, and this format can be consumed by the Closure Compiler (via integration with [tsickle](https://github.com/angular/tsickle)). However it is very challenging to configure and there is little available support for problems you'll run into. [concatjs]: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@bazel/concatjs ## Installation Add a `devDependency` on `@bazel/typescript` ```sh $ yarn add -D @bazel/typescript # or $ npm install --save-dev @bazel/typescript ``` Watch for any `peerDependency` warnings - we assume you have already installed the `typescript` package from npm. ## Typical Usage The `ts_project` rule invokes the TypeScript compiler on one compilation unit, or "library" (generally one directory of source files). In TypeScript terms, this is one "Project" which can use "Project References" to break up a large application. Create a `BUILD` file next to your sources: ```starlark load("@npm//@bazel/typescript:index.bzl", "ts_project") ts_project( name = "my_code", # glob is a quick way to select all the code, # but has performance penalty in that Bazel must evaluate it. srcs = glob(["*.ts"]), deps = ["//path/to/other:library"], ) ``` Here, `//path/to/other:library` is another target in your repo that produces TypeScript typings (for example, another `ts_project` rule). Be sure to set the `rootDirs` in your tsconfig.json as noted below, so that TypeScript can find the `.d.ts` files produced by that other target. To use third-party libraries from npm, first install them (likely using `npm_install` or `yarn_install` rules) then add those to the `deps` as well: ```starlark ts_project( name = "my_code", srcs = glob(["*.ts"]), deps = [ "@npm//@types/node", "@npm//@types/foo", "@npm//somelib", "//path/to/other:library", ], ) ``` You can also use the `@npm//@types` grouping target which will include all packages in the `@types` scope as dependencies. To build a `ts_library` target run: `bazel build //path/to/package:target` Note that the `tsconfig.json` file used for compilation should be the same one your editor references, or `extends` from it, to keep consistent settings for the TypeScript compiler. Anything you do with TypeScript is possible with `ts_project`, including json imports, type-checking only, transpile only, outdir, rootdir, and so on. > To use `ts_project` for typecheck-only, you'll still need to use --declaration so that .d.ts files are produced. > Alternatively, see the `tsc_test` rule documented above. See many examples in our test cases: ## ts_config **USAGE**

ts_config(name, deps, src)

Allows a tsconfig.json file to extend another file. Normally, you just give a single `tsconfig.json` file as the tsconfig attribute of a `ts_library` or `ts_project` rule. However, if your `tsconfig.json` uses the `extends` feature from TypeScript, then the Bazel implementation needs to know about that extended configuration file as well, to pass them both to the TypeScript compiler. **ATTRIBUTES**

name

(*Name, mandatory*): A unique name for this target.

deps

(*List of labels*): Additional tsconfig.json files referenced via extends Defaults to `[]`

src

(*Label, mandatory*): The tsconfig.json file passed to the TypeScript compiler ## ts_project **USAGE**

ts_project(name, tsconfig, srcs, args, data, deps, extends, allow_js, declaration, source_map,
           declaration_map, resolve_json_module, preserve_jsx, composite, incremental,
           emit_declaration_only, transpiler, ts_build_info_file, tsc, typescript_package,
           typescript_require_path, validate, supports_workers, declaration_dir, out_dir, root_dir,
           link_workspace_root, kwargs)

Compiles one TypeScript project using `tsc --project` This is a drop-in replacement for the `tsc` rule automatically generated for the "typescript" package, typically loaded from `@npm//typescript:index.bzl`. Unlike bare `tsc`, this rule understands the Bazel interop mechanism (Providers) so that this rule works with others that produce or consume TypeScript typings (`.d.ts` files). Unlike `ts_library`, this rule is the thinnest possible layer of Bazel interoperability on top of the TypeScript compiler. It shifts the burden of configuring TypeScript into the tsconfig.json file. See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/blob/master/docs/TypeScript.md#alternatives for more details about the trade-offs between the two rules. Some TypeScript options affect which files are emitted, and Bazel wants to know these ahead-of-time. So several options from the tsconfig file must be mirrored as attributes to ts_project. See https://www.typescriptlang.org/tsconfig for a listing of the TypeScript options. Any code that works with `tsc` should work with `ts_project` with a few caveats: - `ts_project` always produces some output files, or else Bazel would never run it. Therefore you shouldn't use it with TypeScript's `noEmit` option. See `tsc_test` under the Alternatives section above. - Bazel requires that the `outDir` (and `declarationDir`) be set to `bazel-out/[target architecture]/bin/path/to/package` so we override whatever settings appear in your tsconfig. - Bazel expects that each output is produced by a single rule. Thus if you have two `ts_project` rules with overlapping sources (the same `.ts` file appears in more than one) then you get an error about conflicting `.js` output files if you try to build both together. Worse, if you build them separately then the output directory will contain whichever one you happened to build most recently. This is highly discouraged. As a thin wrapper, this rule doesn't try to compensate for behavior of the TypeScript compiler. See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/wiki/Debugging-problems-with-ts_project for notes that may help you debug issues. > Note: in order for TypeScript to resolve relative references to the bazel-out folder, > we recommend that the base tsconfig contain a rootDirs section that includes all > possible locations they may appear. > > We hope this will not be needed in some future release of TypeScript. > Follow https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/37378 for more info. > > For example, if the base tsconfig file relative to the workspace root is > `path/to/tsconfig.json` then you should configure like: > > ``` > "compilerOptions": { > "rootDirs": [ > ".", > "../../bazel-out/host/bin/path/to", > "../../bazel-out/darwin-fastbuild/bin/path/to", > "../../bazel-out/darwin_arm64-fastbuild/bin/path/to", > "../../bazel-out/k8-fastbuild/bin/path/to", > "../../bazel-out/x64_windows-fastbuild/bin/path/to", > "../../bazel-out/darwin-dbg/bin/path/to", > "../../bazel-out/k8-dbg/bin/path/to", > "../../bazel-out/x64_windows-dbg/bin/path/to", > ] > } > ``` > > See some related discussion including both "rootDirs" and "paths" for a monorepo setup > using custom import paths: > https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/issues/2298 ### Issues when running non-sandboxed When using a non-sandboxed spawn strategy (which is the default on Windows), you may observe these problems which require workarounds: 1) Bazel deletes outputs from the previous execution before running `tsc`. This causes a problem with TypeScript's incremental mode: if the `.tsbuildinfo` file is not known to be an output of the rule, then Bazel will leave it in the output directory, and when `tsc` runs, it may see that the outputs written by the prior invocation are up-to-date and skip the emit of these files. This will cause Bazel to intermittently fail with an error that some outputs were not written. This is why we depend on `composite` and/or `incremental` attributes to be provided, so we can tell Bazel to expect a `.tsbuildinfo` output to ensure it is deleted before a subsequent compilation. At present, we don't do anything useful with the `.tsbuildinfo` output, and this rule does not actually have incremental behavior. Deleting the file is actually counter-productive in terms of TypeScript compile performance. Follow https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/issues/1726 2) When using Project References, TypeScript will expect to verify that the outputs of referenced projects are up-to-date with respect to their inputs. (This is true even without using the `--build` option). When using a non-sandboxed spawn strategy, `tsc` can read the sources from other `ts_project` rules in your project, and will expect that the `tsconfig.json` file for those references will indicate where the outputs were written. However the `outDir` is determined by this Bazel rule so it cannot be known from reading the `tsconfig.json` file. This problem is manifested as a TypeScript diagnostic like `error TS6305: Output file '/path/to/execroot/a.d.ts' has not been built from source file '/path/to/execroot/a.ts'.` As a workaround, you can give the Windows "fastbuild" output directory as the `outDir` in your tsconfig file. On other platforms, the value isn't read so it does no harm. See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/tree/stable/packages/typescript/test/ts_project as an example. We hope this will be fixed in a future release of TypeScript; follow https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/37378 3) When TypeScript encounters an import statement, it adds the source file resolved by that reference to the program. However you may have included that source file in a different project, so this causes the problem mentioned above where a source file is in multiple programs. (Note, if you use Project References this is not the case, TS will know the referenced file is part of the other program.) This will result in duplicate emit for the same file, which produces an error since the files written to the output tree are read-only. Workarounds include using using Project References, or simply grouping the whole compilation into one program (if this doesn't exceed your time budget). **PARAMETERS**

name

A name for the target. We recommend you use the basename (no `.json` extension) of the tsconfig file that should be compiled. Defaults to `"tsconfig"`

tsconfig

Label of the tsconfig.json file to use for the compilation To support "chaining" of more than one extended config, this label could be a target that provides `TsConfigInfo` such as `ts_config`. By default, we assume the tsconfig file is "tsconfig.json" in the same folder as the ts_project rule. EXPERIMENTAL: generated tsconfig Instead of a label, you can pass a dictionary of tsconfig keys. In this case, a tsconfig.json file will be generated for this compilation, in the following way: - all top-level keys will be copied by converting the dict to json. So `tsconfig = {"compilerOptions": {"declaration": True}}` will result in a generated `tsconfig.json` with `{"compilerOptions": {"declaration": true}}` - each file in srcs will be converted to a relative path in the `files` section. - the `extends` attribute will be converted to a relative path Note that you can mix and match attributes and compilerOptions properties, so these are equivalent: ``` ts_project( tsconfig = { "compilerOptions": { "declaration": True, }, }, ) ``` and ``` ts_project( declaration = True, ) ``` Defaults to `None`

srcs

List of labels of TypeScript source files to be provided to the compiler. If absent, the default is set as follows: - Include `**/*.ts[x]` (all TypeScript files in the package). - If `allow_js` is set, include `**/*.js[x]` (all JavaScript files in the package). - If `resolve_json_module` is set, include `**/*.json` (all JSON files in the package), but exclude `**/package.json`, `**/package-lock.json`, and `**/tsconfig*.json`. Defaults to `None`

args

List of strings of additional command-line arguments to pass to tsc. Defaults to `[]`

data

files needed at runtime by binaries or tests that transitively depend on this target. See https://bazel.build/reference/be/common-definitions#typical-attributes Defaults to `[]`

deps

List of labels of other rules that produce TypeScript typings (.d.ts files) Defaults to `[]`

extends

Label of the tsconfig file referenced in the `extends` section of tsconfig To support "chaining" of more than one extended config, this label could be a target that provdes `TsConfigInfo` such as `ts_config`. Defaults to `None`

allow_js

boolean; Specifies whether TypeScript will read .js and .jsx files. When used with declaration, TypeScript will generate .d.ts files from .js files. Defaults to `False`

declaration

if the `declaration` bit is set in the tsconfig. Instructs Bazel to expect a `.d.ts` output for each `.ts` source. Defaults to `False`

source_map

if the `sourceMap` bit is set in the tsconfig. Instructs Bazel to expect a `.js.map` output for each `.ts` source. Defaults to `False`

declaration_map

if the `declarationMap` bit is set in the tsconfig. Instructs Bazel to expect a `.d.ts.map` output for each `.ts` source. Defaults to `False`

resolve_json_module

None | boolean; Specifies whether TypeScript will read .json files. Defaults to None. If set to True or False and tsconfig is a dict, resolveJsonModule is set in the generated config file. If set to None and tsconfig is a dict, resolveJsonModule is unset in the generated config and typescript default or extended tsconfig value will be load bearing. Defaults to `None`

preserve_jsx

if the `jsx` value is set to "preserve" in the tsconfig. Instructs Bazel to expect a `.jsx` or `.jsx.map` output for each `.tsx` source. Defaults to `False`

composite

if the `composite` bit is set in the tsconfig. Instructs Bazel to expect a `.tsbuildinfo` output and a `.d.ts` output for each `.ts` source. Defaults to `False`

incremental

if the `incremental` bit is set in the tsconfig. Instructs Bazel to expect a `.tsbuildinfo` output. Defaults to `False`

emit_declaration_only

if the `emitDeclarationOnly` bit is set in the tsconfig. Instructs Bazel *not* to expect `.js` or `.js.map` outputs for `.ts` sources. Defaults to `False`

transpiler

A custom transpiler tool to run that produces the JavaScript outputs instead of `tsc`. This attribute accepts a rule or macro with this signature: `name, srcs, js_outs, map_outs, **kwargs` where the `**kwargs` attribute propagates the tags, visibility, and testonly attributes from `ts_project`. If you need to pass additional attributes to the transpiler rule, you can use a [partial](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-skylib/blob/main/lib/partial.bzl) to bind those arguments at the "make site", then pass that partial to this attribute where it will be called with the remaining arguments. See the packages/typescript/test/ts_project/swc directory for an example. When a custom transpiler is used, then the `ts_project` macro expands to these targets: - `[name]` - the default target is a `js_library` which can be included in the `deps` of downstream rules. Note that it will successfully build *even if there are typecheck failures* because the `tsc` binary is not needed to produce the default outputs. This is considered a feature, as it allows you to have a faster development mode where type-checking is not on the critical path. - `[name]_typecheck` - provides typings (`.d.ts` files) as the default output, therefore building this target always causes the typechecker to run. - `[name]_typecheck_test` - a [`build_test`](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-skylib/blob/main/rules/build_test.bzl) target which simply depends on the `[name]_typecheck` target. This ensures that typechecking will be run under `bazel test` with [`--build_tests_only`](https://docs.bazel.build/versions/main/user-manual.html#flag--build_tests_only). - `[name]_typings` - internal target which runs the binary from the `tsc` attribute - Any additional target(s) the custom transpiler rule/macro produces. Some rules produce one target per TypeScript input file. By default, `ts_project` expects `.js` outputs to be written in the same action that does the type-checking to produce `.d.ts` outputs. This is the simplest configuration, however `tsc` is slower than alternatives. It also means developers must wait for the type-checking in the developer loop. In theory, Persistent Workers (via the `supports_workers` attribute) remedies the slow compilation time, however it adds additional complexity because the worker process can only see one set of dependencies, and so it cannot be shared between different `ts_project` rules. That attribute is documented as experimental, and may never graduate to a better support contract. Defaults to `None`

ts_build_info_file

the user-specified value of `tsBuildInfoFile` from the tsconfig. Helps Bazel to predict the path where the .tsbuildinfo output is written. Defaults to `None`

tsc

Label of the TypeScript compiler binary to run. For example, `tsc = "@my_deps//typescript/bin:tsc"` Or you can pass a custom compiler binary instead. One possible compiler is the Angular compiler, provided by the `@angular/compiler-cli` package as the `ngc` binary, which can be set typically with `tsc = "@npm//@angular/compiler-cli/bin:ngc"` Note that you'll also need to pass `.html` and `.css` files to the `srcs` of the `ts_project` so that they're declared as inputs for the Angular compiler to read them. An example can be found in the rules_nodejs repo under `packages/typescript/test/ts_project/ngc`. > To use the `ngc` program from Angular versions prior to 11, you'll need a fix for > https://github.com/angular/angular/issues/36290 > To apply the fix, you can use the patch-package package to apply this patch: > https://gist.github.com/alexeagle/ba44b2601bd7c953d29c6e8ec44d1ef9 Defaults to `Label("@npm//typescript/bin:tsc")`

typescript_package

Label of the package containing all data deps of tsc. For example, `typescript_package = "@my_deps//typescript"` Defaults to `"@npm//typescript"`

typescript_require_path

Module name which resolves to typescript_package when required For example, `typescript_require_path = "typescript"` Defaults to `"typescript"`

validate

boolean; whether to check that the tsconfig JSON settings match the attributes on this target. Set this to `False` to skip running our validator, in case you have a legitimate reason for these to differ, e.g. you have a setting enabled just for the editor but you want different behavior when Bazel runs `tsc`. Defaults to `True`

supports_workers

Experimental! Use only with caution. Allows you to enable the Bazel Persistent Workers strategy for this project. See https://docs.bazel.build/versions/main/persistent-workers.html This requires that the tsc binary support a `--watch` option. NOTE: this does not work on Windows yet. We will silently fallback to non-worker mode on Windows regardless of the value of this attribute. Follow https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/issues/2277 for progress on this feature. Defaults to `False`

declaration_dir

a string specifying a subdirectory under the bazel-out folder where generated declaration outputs are written. Equivalent to the TypeScript --declarationDir option. By default declarations are written to the out_dir. Defaults to `None`

out_dir

a string specifying a subdirectory under the bazel-out folder where outputs are written. Equivalent to the TypeScript --outDir option. Note that Bazel always requires outputs be written under a subdirectory matching the input package, so if your rule appears in path/to/my/package/BUILD.bazel and out_dir = "foo" then the .js files will appear in bazel-out/[arch]/bin/path/to/my/package/foo/*.js. By default the out_dir is '.', meaning the packages folder in bazel-out. Defaults to `None`

root_dir

a string specifying a subdirectory under the input package which should be consider the root directory of all the input files. Equivalent to the TypeScript --rootDir option. By default it is '.', meaning the source directory where the BUILD file lives. Defaults to `None`

link_workspace_root

Link the workspace root to the bin_dir to support absolute requires like 'my_wksp/path/to/file'. If source files need to be required then they can be copied to the bin_dir with copy_to_bin. Defaults to `False`

kwargs

passed through to underlying rule, allows eg. visibility, tags

	Stars	Issues	Version	Updated	Created
@bazel/typescript			5.8.1	a year ago	7 years ago
@microsoft/rush	5,607	829	5.122.1	3 days ago	7 years ago
@nrwl/tao	22,134	976	18.3.4	8 days ago	5 years ago
lerna			8.1.2	3 months ago	8 years ago
turbo	24,993	192	1.13.3	8 days ago	11 years ago

@bazel/typescript vs @microsoft/rush vs @nrwl/tao vs lerna vs turbo

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