WARNING: this is beta-quality software. Breaking changes are likely. Not recommended for production use without expert support.
The TypeScript rules integrate the TypeScript compiler with Bazel.
Generated documentation for using each rule is at: http://tsetse.info/api/
First, install a current Bazel distribution.
Add the @bazel/typescript
npm package to your package.json
devDependencies
. Optionally add the @bazel/karma
npm package if you would like to use the ts_web_test_suite
rule.
{ ... "devDependencies": { "@bazel/typescript": "0.20.3", "@bazel/karma": "0.20.3", ... }, ... }
Create a BUILD.bazel
file in your project root:
package(default_visibility = ["//visibility:public"]) exports_files(["tsconfig.json"])
Next create a WORKSPACE
file in your project root (or edit the existing one) containing:
http_archive( name = "build_bazel_rules_typescript", url = "https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_typescript/archive/0.20.3.zip", strip_prefix = "rules_typescript-0.20.3", ) # Fetch transitive Bazel dependencies of build_bazel_rules_typescript load("@build_bazel_rules_typescript//:package.bzl", "rules_typescript_dependencies") rules_typescript_dependencies() # Fetch transitive Bazel dependencies of build_bazel_rules_nodejs load("@build_bazel_rules_nodejs//:package.bzl", "rules_nodejs_dependencies") rules_nodejs_dependencies() # Setup TypeScript toolchain load("@build_bazel_rules_typescript//:defs.bzl", "ts_setup_workspace") ts_setup_workspace() # Setup the NodeJS toolchain load("@build_bazel_rules_nodejs//:defs.bzl", "node_repositories", "yarn_install") node_repositories() # Setup Bazel managed npm dependencies with the `yarn_install` rule. # The name of this rule should be set to `npm` so that `ts_library` and `ts_web_test_suite` # can find your npm dependencies by default in the `@npm` workspace. You may # also use the `npm_install` rule with a `package-lock.json` file if you prefer. # See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs#dependencies for more info. yarn_install( name = "npm", package_json = "//:package.json", yarn_lock = "//:yarn.lock", ) # Setup Go toolchain load("@io_bazel_rules_go//go:def.bzl", "go_rules_dependencies", "go_register_toolchains") go_rules_dependencies() go_register_toolchains() # Setup web testing, choose browsers we can test on load("@io_bazel_rules_webtesting//web:repositories.bzl", "browser_repositories", "web_test_repositories") web_test_repositories() browser_repositories( chromium = True, )
We recommend you use Bazel managed dependencies but if you would like Bazel to also install a node_modules
in your workspace you can also point the node_repositories
repository rule in your WORKSPACE file to your package.json
.
node_repositories(package_json = ["//:package.json"])
You can then run yarn
in your workspace with:
$ bazel run @nodejs//:yarn
To use your workspace node_modules
folder as a dependency in ts_library
and other rules, add the following to your root BUILD.bazel
file:
filegroup( name = "node_modules", srcs = glob( include = [ "node_modules/**/*.js", "node_modules/**/*.d.ts", "node_modules/**/*.json", "node_modules/.bin/*", ], exclude = [ # Files under test & docs may contain file names that # are not legal Bazel labels (e.g., # node_modules/ecstatic/test/public/中文/檔案.html) "node_modules/**/test/**", "node_modules/**/docs/**", # Files with spaces in the name are not legal Bazel labels "node_modules/**/* */**", "node_modules/**/* *", ], ), ) # Create a tsc_wrapped compiler rule to use in the ts_library # compiler attribute when using self-managed dependencies nodejs_binary( name = "@bazel/typescript/tsc_wrapped", entry_point = "@bazel/typescript/tsc_wrapped/tsc_wrapped.js", # The --expose-gc node option is required for tsc_wrapped templated_args = ["--node_options=--expose-gc"], # Point bazel to your node_modules to find the entry point node_modules = ["//:node_modules"], ) # Create a karma rule to use in ts_web_test_suite karma # attribute when using self-managed dependencies nodejs_binary( name = "karma/karma", entry_point = "karma/bin/karma", # Point bazel to your node_modules to find the entry point node_modules = ["//:node_modules"], )
See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs#dependencies for more information on managing npm dependencies with Bazel.
ts_library
The ts_library
rule invokes the TypeScript compiler on one compilation unit, or “library” (generally one directory of source files).
Create a BUILD
file next to your sources:
package(default_visibility=["//visibility:public"]) load("@build_bazel_rules_typescript//:defs.bzl", "ts_library") ts_library( name = "my_code", srcs = glob(["*.ts"]), deps = ["//path/to/other:library"], )
If your ts_library target has npm dependencies you can specify these with fine grained npm dependency targets created by the yarn_install
or npm_install
rules:
ts_library( name = "my_code", srcs = glob(["*.ts"]), deps = [ "@npm//@types/node", "@npm//@types/foo", "@npm//foo", "//path/to/other:library", ], )
You can also you the @npm//@types
target which will include all packages in the @types
scope as dependencies.
If you are using self-managed npm dependencies, you can use the node_modules
attribute in ts_library
and point it to the //:node_modules
filegroup defined in your root BUILD.bazel
file. You'll also need to override the compiler
attribute if you do this as the Bazel-managed deps and self-managed cannot be used together in the same rule.
ts_library( name = "my_code", srcs = glob(["*.ts"]), deps = ["//path/to/other:library"], node_modules = "//:node_modules", compiler = "//:@bazel/typescript/tsc_wrapped", )
To build a ts_library
target run:
bazel build //path/to/package:target
The resulting .d.ts
file paths will be printed. Additionally, the .js
outputs from TypeScript will be written to disk, next to the .d.ts
files 1.
Note that the tsconfig.json
file used for compilation should be the same one your editor references, to keep consistent settings for the TypeScript compiler. By default, ts_library
uses the tsconfig.json
file in the workspace root directory. See the notes about the tsconfig
attribute in the ts_library API docs.
1 The declarationDir compiler option will be silently overwritten if present.
There are two choices for development mode:
ts_devserver
rule to bring up our simple, fast development server. This is intentionally very simple, to help you get started quickly. However, since there are many development servers available, we do not want to mirror their features in yet another server we maintain.ts_devserver
supports. Be careful that your development round-trip stays fast (should be under two seconds).To use ts_devserver
, you simply load
the rule, and call it with deps
that point to your ts_library
target(s):
load("@build_bazel_rules_typescript//:defs.bzl", "ts_devserver", "ts_library") ts_library( name = "app", srcs = ["app.ts"], ) ts_devserver( name = "devserver", # We'll collect all the devmode JS sources from these TypeScript libraries deps = [":app"], # This is the path we'll request from the browser, see index.html serving_path = "/bundle.js", # The devserver can serve our static files too static_files = ["index.html"], )
The index.html
should be the same one you use for production, and it should load the JavaScript bundle from the path indicated in serving_path
.
If you don't have an index.html file, a simple one will be generated by the ts_devserver
.
See examples/app
in this repository for a working example. To run the devserver, we recommend you use ibazel:
$ ibazel run examples/app:devserver
ibazel
will keep the devserver program running, and provides a LiveReload server so the browser refreshes the application automatically when each build finishes.
Bazel's TypeScript compiler has your workspace path mapped, so you can import from an absolute path starting from your workspace.
/WORKSPACE
:
workspace(name = "myworkspace")
/some/long/path/to/deeply/nested/subdirectory.ts
:
import {thing} from 'myworkspace/place';
will import from /place.ts
.
Since this is an extension to the vanillia TypeScript compiler, editors which use the TypeScript language services to provide code completion and inline type checking will not be able to resolve the modules. In the above example, adding
"paths": { "myworkspace/*": ["*"] }
to tsconfig.json
will fix the imports for the common case of using absolute paths. See https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/module-resolution.html#path-mapping for more details on the paths syntax.
Similarly, you can use path mapping to teach the editor how to resolve imports from ts_library
rules which set the module_name
attribute.
If you‘d like a “watch mode”, try https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-watcher (note, it’s also quite new).
At some point, we plan to release a tool similar to gazelle to generate the BUILD files from your source code.
In the meantime, we suggest associating the .bazel
extension with Python in your editor, so that you get useful syntax highlighting.