# Setting up a TypeScript Project with Node.js

This guide walks you through setting up a production-ready TypeScript environment for Node.js from scratch.

## 1. Initialize the Project

Create a folder and initialize a standard Node.js project.

```bash
mkdir my-ts-app
cd my-ts-app
npm init -y
```

## 2. Install Dependencies

You need the TypeScript compiler and the type definitions for Node.js (so TypeScript understands globals like `process`, `console`, and modules like `fs`).

```bash
npm install typescript @types/node --save-dev
```

## 3. Initialize TypeScript Configuration

Generate a `tsconfig.json` file.

```bash
npx tsc --init
```

Open `tsconfig.json` and adjust these settings for a standard Node.js setup:

```json
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "es2020",          /* Modern Node versions support ES2020+ */
    "module": "commonjs",        /* Standard for Node.js */
    "rootDir": "./src",          /* Where your .ts files live */
    "outDir": "./dist",          /* Where compiled .js files go */
    "strict": true,              /* Enable strict type-checking */
    "esModuleInterop": true,     /* Allow default imports from CommonJS modules */
    "skipLibCheck": true         /* Skip type checking of declaration files */
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*"]
}
```

## 4. Create Source Code

Create a `src` directory and your entry file.

```bash
mkdir src
```

**src/index.ts**
```typescript
const greet = (name: string) => {
  console.log(`Hello, ${name}!`);
};

greet("World");
```

## 5. Build and Run

To compile your code to JavaScript:

```bash
npx tsc
```

This creates a `dist` folder containing `index.js`. Run it with Node:

```bash
node dist/index.js
```

## 6. Development Workflow (ts-node)

For development, it is tedious to compile manually every time. Use `ts-node` to run TypeScript files directly in memory.

```bash
npm install ts-node --save-dev
npx ts-node src/index.ts
```

[[programming/javascript/typescript/typescript]]
[[programming/javascript/typescript/tsconfig]]