WARNING: this is an early release with limited features. Breaking changes are likely. Not recommended for general use.
The TypeScript rules integrate the TypeScript compiler with Bazel.
First, install a current Bazel distribution.
Create a BUILD.bazel
file in your project root:
package(default_visibility = ["//visibility:public"]) exports_files(["tsconfig.json"]) # NOTE: this will move to node_modules/BUILD in a later release filegroup(name = "node_modules", srcs = glob([ "node_modules/**/*.js", "node_modules/**/*.d.ts", "node_modules/**/*.json", ]))
Next create a WORKSPACE
file in your project root (or edit the existing one) containing:
workspace(name = "my_workspace") load("@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:git.bzl", "git_repository") git_repository( name = "build_bazel_rules_nodejs", remote = "https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs.git", tag = "0.0.2", # check for the latest tag when you install ) load("@build_bazel_rules_nodejs//:defs.bzl", "node_repositories") node_repositories(package_json = ["//:package.json"]) # Include @bazel/typescript in package.json#devDependencies local_repository( name = "build_bazel_rules_typescript", path = "node_modules/@bazel/typescript", ) load("@build_bazel_rules_typescript//:setup.bzl", "ts_setup_workspace") # This points all `ts_library` rules at your normal tsconfig.json file, which # should also be the one your editor uses so that settings match. # Update this value to match where your tsconfig.json file lives. ts_setup_workspace(default_tsconfig = "@my_workspace//:tsconfig.json") # ts_devserver needs the Go rules. # See https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_go#setup for the latest version. http_archive( name = "io_bazel_rules_go", url = "https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_go/releases/download/0.8.1/rules_go-0.8.1.tar.gz", sha256 = "90bb270d0a92ed5c83558b2797346917c46547f6f7103e648941ecdb6b9d0e72", ) load("@io_bazel_rules_go//go:def.bzl", "go_rules_dependencies", "go_register_toolchains") go_rules_dependencies() go_register_toolchains()
We recommend using the Yarn package manager, because it has a built-in command to verify the integrity of your node_modules
directory. You can run the version Bazel has already installed:
$ bazel run @yarn//:yarn
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"], tsconfig = "//:tsconfig.json", )
Then build it:
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.
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
.
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.