Is there an easy 'Sane TypeScript Starter' configuration for a NodeJS application?

[unique dove]

Feels like there's a lot of random ones, but doesn't look to be an official boilerplate. The only one appears to be deprecated on GitHub. I'm just looking for a super simple configuration that's good to start an Express server on. I feel like I've set up TypeScript way too many times to want to do it again.

[lime current]

every project is unique, there are so many use cases

front-end, back-end

so there is no single configuration that fits all

and thuse not "official" config either

[unique dove]

I vaguely assumed that the frontend / backend would be the only two options.

As the main things I'm configuring are stuff like export format, etc.

[lime current]

just run tsc --init and change the options according to your needs

there aren't that many options, it should be pretty straight forward

I can give you a minimal config tho if you want

[unique dove]

That'd be really useful if you have one lying around for NodeJS.

Greenfield project, targeting a modern (v16+) version.

[lime current]

the default options given by tsc --init should be good enough 🤔

[unique dove]

The 'commonjs' default for module output surprised me.

[lime current]

{
    "compilerOptions": {
        "target": "es2016",
        "module": "commonjs",
        "outDir": "dist"
        "strict": true
    },
    "include": [
        "src/**/*"
    ]
}

it's all you need really

[unique dove]

Will I not run into issues with ESM only modules?

E.g. most of Sindre's https://gist.github.com/sindresorhus/a39789f98801d908bbc7ff3ecc99d99c

[lime current]

that's a bit more advanced that just the bare minimum

[unique dove]

(Am not sure why I'm asking when I could just test it out, but do really appreciate your expertise.)

[lime current]

I don't think you can import an ESM-only module in commonjs mode

tho the opposite is possible

[unique dove]

Are esm imports not the default / assumed strategy now?

[lime current]

The package that linked you here is now pure ESM. It cannot be require()'d from CommonJS.
This means you have the following choices:

1. Use ESM yourself. (preferred)
   this basically

[lime current]

not really

lots of packages are still written for commonjs

since npm was intended for node

and not web stuff

[unique dove]

So sad. I worked on one of the initial proposals for ESM.

[lime current]

and since node only supported cjs at the time

[lime current]

I mean, you can still use ESM just fine

just that you might have to use external tools

[lime current]

note this guide is intended to author libraries
not consume them