Since I write a lot of Typescript projects, it's quite handy to have an explanation on how to set-up a typescript project quickly.

For this I start by creating a working directory for my project. E.g. my-project/ and navigate to it.

1. Installing NPM + Typescript

To set-up a Typescript project, execute the following and then following the specific steps for your Shell of choice:

# Init NPM
npm init -y
# Install Dependencies
npm install typescript ts-node nodemon rimraf --save-dev
npm install @types/node --save
./node_modules/.bin/tsc --init
# Create Base File
mkdir -p src
touch src/index.ts
# Send content to the file
cat <<EOF >> ./src/index.ts
async function main() {
  console.log("Hello World")
}
main()
.catch((e) => {
  console.error(e);
  process.exit();
})
EOF

2. Configuring Package.json

After the project is set-up, we have to adapt our package.json so that we are able to execute npm run start:dev to start developing. Therefore, add the following lines to the scripts section:

"build": "rimraf ./dist && tsc",
"start": "npm run build && node dist/index.js",
"start:dev": "npm run build && nodemon --ext \".ts,.js\" --watch \"./src\" --exec \"ts-node ./src/index.ts\""

3. Configuring tsconfig.json

Next to the package.json we will also see a tsconfig.json being created. In here, change the following:

"outDir": "./dist"
"rootDir": "./src"

Wich will compile our typescript project into the ./dist folder and read the source code from the ./src folder.

Validation

After executing the steps above, you should now be able to create code, save and have auto-reload working.