A Node + TypeScript Starter

TL;DR: If you want a simple template/boilerplate to get you started with TypeScript + Node.js, clone this repo.

As I started spending more time writing JavaScript, the more I missed a stricter type-system to lean on. TypeScript seemed like a great fit, but coming from Go, JavaScript/TypeScript projects require a ton of configuration to get started. Knowing what dependencies you need (typescript, tslint, node-ts), linter configuration (tslint.json), and putting together the right tsconfig.json for a Node app (vs. a browser app) wasn’t well documented. I wanted to compile to ES6, use CommonJS modules (what Node.js consumes), and generate type definitions alongside the .js files so that editors like VS Code (or other TypeScript authors) can benefit.

After doing this for a couple of small projects, I figured I’d had enough, and put together node-typescript-starter, a minimal-but-opinionated configuration for TypeScript + Node.js. It’s easy enough to change things, but it should provide a basis for writing code rather than configuration.

To get started, just clone the repo and write some TypeScript:

git clone https://github.com/elithrar/node-typescript-starter.git
# Then: replace what you need to in package.json, update the LICENSE file
yarn install # or npm install
# Start writing TypeScript!
open src/App.ts

… and then build it:

yarn build
# Outputs:
# yarn build v0.22.0
# $ tsc
# ✨  Done in 2.89s.

And that’s it. PR’s are welcome, keeping in mind the intentionally minimal approach.