On: TypeScript NPM Packages Done Right

[edwinjm]

If you're using TypeScript, you have a build step anyway, so you can easily use ESM.

[ushakov → edwinjm]

Remember we’re using Node. I don’t think TypeScript compiler supports importing ESM into CommonJS files.

Basically we will have to move the library to ESM and then use a bundler like esbuild to compile it to CJS as well for compatibility. It’s a mess

[herpdyderp → ushakov]

Try using the tsx package for running Node in situations like this. It magically “just works”

https://www.npmjs.com/package/tsx

[josteink → ushakov]

> It’s a mess

I think everyone agrees about this.

What people can’t agree about is how to fix it.

[vinnymac → josteink]

I haven’t really struggled too much here.

Maybe an aversion to bundlers exists, but I think tsup and vite are great and simple. We have turbopack on the horizon too.

For small projects I don’t even need a configuration file for tsup to target both formats. For larger more complex projects vite configs tend to be under 50 LoC.