Compiler

TSC

The TypeScript compiler (tsc) is a command-line tool that compiles TypeScript code into JavaScript. It is part of the TypeScript package and can be installed via npm.

NGC

Angular also uses a custom compiler called the Angular Compiler (also known as ngc). This compiler is responsible for compiling Angular templates and components into JavaScript code that can be executed in the browser. The Angular Compiler is built on top of the TypeScript compiler and extends its functionality to handle Angular-specific features such as decorators, metadata, and templates.

When you run the Angular CLI command ng build or ng serve, it invokes the Angular Compiler to compile your TypeScript code and Angular templates into JavaScript code that can be executed in the browser.

TypeScript Compiler Configuration

The TypeScript compiler is configured using a file called tsconfig.json. This file contains various options that control how the TypeScript compiler behaves.

The default configuration of the TypeScript compiler is very permissive. The reason for this is that one of the stated goals of TypeScript in the beginning was to be a “gradual” type system. This means that you can start with plain JavaScript code and gradually add type annotations as you go. As much as possible, they wanted to ensure that any valid JavaScript code is also valid TypeScript code.

This put us in a strange, discordant position as developers. We are somewhat behaviorally conditioned that when a compiler shows an error, that means you will get nothing delivered. This is not the case with TypeScript. TypeScript will still compile your code, even if there are errors. It will just produce a JavaScript file that may not behave as you expect.

The default configuration, which you can generate in a TypeScript project by running tsc --init, is very permissive. It allows implicit any types, does not enforce strict null checks, and has many other options that make it easy to get started with TypeScript.

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    /* Visit https://aka.ms/tsconfig to read more about this file */

    /* Projects */
    // "incremental": true,                              /* Save .tsbuildinfo files to allow for incremental compilation of projects. */
    // "composite": true,                                /* Enable constraints that allow a TypeScript project to be used with project references. */
    // "tsBuildInfoFile": "./.tsbuildinfo",              /* Specify the path to .tsbuildinfo incremental compilation file. */
    // "disableSourceOfProjectReferenceRedirect": true,  /* Disable preferring source files instead of declaration files when referencing composite projects. */
    // "disableSolutionSearching": true,                 /* Opt a project out of multi-project reference checking when editing. */
    // "disableReferencedProjectLoad": true,             /* Reduce the number of projects loaded automatically by TypeScript. */

    /* Language and Environment */
    "target": "es2016",                                  /* Set the JavaScript language version for emitted JavaScript and include compatible library declarations. */
    // "lib": [],                                        /* Specify a set of bundled library declaration files that describe the target runtime environment. */
    // "jsx": "preserve",                                /* Specify what JSX code is generated. */
    // "libReplacement": true,                           /* Enable lib replacement. */
    // "experimentalDecorators": true,                   /* Enable experimental support for legacy experimental decorators. */
    // "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,                    /* Emit design-type metadata for decorated declarations in source files. */
    // "jsxFactory": "",                                 /* Specify the JSX factory function used when targeting React JSX emit, e.g. 'React.createElement' or 'h'. */
    // "jsxFragmentFactory": "",                         /* Specify the JSX Fragment reference used for fragments when targeting React JSX emit e.g. 'React.Fragment' or 'Fragment'. */
    // "jsxImportSource": "",                            /* Specify module specifier used to import the JSX factory functions when using 'jsx: react-jsx*'. */
    // "reactNamespace": "",                             /* Specify the object invoked for 'createElement'. This only applies when targeting 'react' JSX emit. */
    // "noLib": true,                                    /* Disable including any library files, including the default lib.d.ts. */
    // "useDefineForClassFields": true,                  /* Emit ECMAScript-standard-compliant class fields. */
    // "moduleDetection": "auto",                        /* Control what method is used to detect module-format JS files. */

    /* Modules */
    "module": "commonjs",                                /* Specify what module code is generated. */
    // "rootDir": "./",                                  /* Specify the root folder within your source files. */
    // "moduleResolution": "node10",                     /* Specify how TypeScript looks up a file from a given module specifier. */
    // "baseUrl": "./",                                  /* Specify the base directory to resolve non-relative module names. */
    // "paths": {},                                      /* Specify a set of entries that re-map imports to additional lookup locations. */
    // "rootDirs": [],                                   /* Allow multiple folders to be treated as one when resolving modules. */
    // "typeRoots": [],                                  /* Specify multiple folders that act like './node_modules/@types'. */
    // "types": [],                                      /* Specify type package names to be included without being referenced in a source file. */
    // "allowUmdGlobalAccess": true,                     /* Allow accessing UMD globals from modules. */
    // "moduleSuffixes": [],                             /* List of file name suffixes to search when resolving a module. */
    // "allowImportingTsExtensions": true,               /* Allow imports to include TypeScript file extensions. Requires '--moduleResolution bundler' and either '--noEmit' or '--emitDeclarationOnly' to be set. */
    // "rewriteRelativeImportExtensions": true,          /* Rewrite '.ts', '.tsx', '.mts', and '.cts' file extensions in relative import paths to their JavaScript equivalent in output files. */
    // "resolvePackageJsonExports": true,                /* Use the package.json 'exports' field when resolving package imports. */
    // "resolvePackageJsonImports": true,                /* Use the package.json 'imports' field when resolving imports. */
    // "customConditions": [],                           /* Conditions to set in addition to the resolver-specific defaults when resolving imports. */
    // "noUncheckedSideEffectImports": true,             /* Check side effect imports. */
    // "resolveJsonModule": true,                        /* Enable importing .json files. */
    // "allowArbitraryExtensions": true,                 /* Enable importing files with any extension, provided a declaration file is present. */
    // "noResolve": true,                                /* Disallow 'import's, 'require's or '<reference>'s from expanding the number of files TypeScript should add to a project. */

    /* JavaScript Support */
    // "allowJs": true,                                  /* Allow JavaScript files to be a part of your program. Use the 'checkJS' option to get errors from these files. */
    // "checkJs": true,                                  /* Enable error reporting in type-checked JavaScript files. */
    // "maxNodeModuleJsDepth": 1,                        /* Specify the maximum folder depth used for checking JavaScript files from 'node_modules'. Only applicable with 'allowJs'. */

    /* Emit */
    // "declaration": true,                              /* Generate .d.ts files from TypeScript and JavaScript files in your project. */
    // "declarationMap": true,                           /* Create sourcemaps for d.ts files. */
    // "emitDeclarationOnly": true,                      /* Only output d.ts files and not JavaScript files. */
    // "sourceMap": true,                                /* Create source map files for emitted JavaScript files. */
    // "inlineSourceMap": true,                          /* Include sourcemap files inside the emitted JavaScript. */
    // "noEmit": true,                                   /* Disable emitting files from a compilation. */
    // "outFile": "./",                                  /* Specify a file that bundles all outputs into one JavaScript file. If 'declaration' is true, also designates a file that bundles all .d.ts output. */
    // "outDir": "./",                                   /* Specify an output folder for all emitted files. */
    // "removeComments": true,                           /* Disable emitting comments. */
    // "importHelpers": true,                            /* Allow importing helper functions from tslib once per project, instead of including them per-file. */
    // "downlevelIteration": true,                       /* Emit more compliant, but verbose and less performant JavaScript for iteration. */
    // "sourceRoot": "",                                 /* Specify the root path for debuggers to find the reference source code. */
    // "mapRoot": "",                                    /* Specify the location where debugger should locate map files instead of generated locations. */
    // "inlineSources": true,                            /* Include source code in the sourcemaps inside the emitted JavaScript. */
    // "emitBOM": true,                                  /* Emit a UTF-8 Byte Order Mark (BOM) in the beginning of output files. */
    // "newLine": "crlf",                                /* Set the newline character for emitting files. */
    // "stripInternal": true,                            /* Disable emitting declarations that have '@internal' in their JSDoc comments. */
    // "noEmitHelpers": true,                            /* Disable generating custom helper functions like '__extends' in compiled output. */
    // "noEmitOnError": true,                            /* Disable emitting files if any type checking errors are reported. */
    // "preserveConstEnums": true,                       /* Disable erasing 'const enum' declarations in generated code. */
    // "declarationDir": "./",                           /* Specify the output directory for generated declaration files. */

    /* Interop Constraints */
    // "isolatedModules": true,                          /* Ensure that each file can be safely transpiled without relying on other imports. */
    // "verbatimModuleSyntax": true,                     /* Do not transform or elide any imports or exports not marked as type-only, ensuring they are written in the output file's format based on the 'module' setting. */
    // "isolatedDeclarations": true,                     /* Require sufficient annotation on exports so other tools can trivially generate declaration files. */
    // "erasableSyntaxOnly": true,                       /* Do not allow runtime constructs that are not part of ECMAScript. */
    // "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,             /* Allow 'import x from y' when a module doesn't have a default export. */
    "esModuleInterop": true,                             /* Emit additional JavaScript to ease support for importing CommonJS modules. This enables 'allowSyntheticDefaultImports' for type compatibility. */
    // "preserveSymlinks": true,                         /* Disable resolving symlinks to their realpath. This correlates to the same flag in node. */
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,            /* Ensure that casing is correct in imports. */

    /* Type Checking */
    "strict": true,                                      /* Enable all strict type-checking options. */
    // "noImplicitAny": true,                            /* Enable error reporting for expressions and declarations with an implied 'any' type. */
    // "strictNullChecks": true,                         /* When type checking, take into account 'null' and 'undefined'. */
    // "strictFunctionTypes": true,                      /* When assigning functions, check to ensure parameters and the return values are subtype-compatible. */
    // "strictBindCallApply": true,                      /* Check that the arguments for 'bind', 'call', and 'apply' methods match the original function. */
    // "strictPropertyInitialization": true,             /* Check for class properties that are declared but not set in the constructor. */
    // "strictBuiltinIteratorReturn": true,              /* Built-in iterators are instantiated with a 'TReturn' type of 'undefined' instead of 'any'. */
    // "noImplicitThis": true,                           /* Enable error reporting when 'this' is given the type 'any'. */
    // "useUnknownInCatchVariables": true,               /* Default catch clause variables as 'unknown' instead of 'any'. */
    // "alwaysStrict": true,                             /* Ensure 'use strict' is always emitted. */
    // "noUnusedLocals": true,                           /* Enable error reporting when local variables aren't read. */
    // "noUnusedParameters": true,                       /* Raise an error when a function parameter isn't read. */
    // "exactOptionalPropertyTypes": true,               /* Interpret optional property types as written, rather than adding 'undefined'. */
    // "noImplicitReturns": true,                        /* Enable error reporting for codepaths that do not explicitly return in a function. */
    // "noFallthroughCasesInSwitch": true,               /* Enable error reporting for fallthrough cases in switch statements. */
    // "noUncheckedIndexedAccess": true,                 /* Add 'undefined' to a type when accessed using an index. */
    // "noImplicitOverride": true,                       /* Ensure overriding members in derived classes are marked with an override modifier. */
    // "noPropertyAccessFromIndexSignature": true,       /* Enforces using indexed accessors for keys declared using an indexed type. */
    // "allowUnusedLabels": true,                        /* Disable error reporting for unused labels. */
    // "allowUnreachableCode": true,                     /* Disable error reporting for unreachable code. */

    /* Completeness */
    // "skipDefaultLibCheck": true,                      /* Skip type checking .d.ts files that are included with TypeScript. */
    "skipLibCheck": true                                 /* Skip type checking all .d.ts files. */
  }
}

As you can see there are a ton of options here. Angular applications, when created with the Angular CLI, use a tsconfig.json file that is a bit more strict than the default. This is because the Angular team wants to ensure that developers are writing type-safe code and catching potential errors early in the development process. Most TypeScript errors will prevent the code from compiling, which is a good thing.

You will not usually have to modify this file, but there are a couple of things that are worth pointing out here:

• target: This option specifies the version of JavaScript that the TypeScript compiler will output. Angular applications typically target es2016 or higher, which means that the output code will use features from ECMAScript 2016 or later.
• module: This option specifies the module system that the TypeScript compiler will use when generating
• lib[]: This includes what libraries are included during the compilation process. In other words, if you are coding TypeScript for code that is going to run in a browser, you want to include the dom library here. If you are coding for Node.js, you want to include the node library here. Angular applications typically include the dom library here, and es2022 or higher.
• strict: This option enables all strict type-checking options.

You can have different tsconfig.json files for different purposes. For example, you might have a tsconfig.app.json file for your application code, and a tsconfig.spec.json file for your test code. The Angular CLI uses these files to configure the TypeScript compiler for different parts of your application. This is what Angular does.

Here is the default tsconfig.json for an Angular 20 application:

tsconfig.json

/* To learn more about Typescript configuration file: https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/tsconfig-json.html. */
/* To learn more about Angular compiler options: https://angular.dev/reference/configs/angular-compiler-options. */
{
  "compileOnSave": false,
  "compilerOptions": {
    "outDir": "./dist/out-tsc",
    "paths": {
      "@shared": ["./src/app/shared/"]
    },
    "strict": true,
    "noImplicitOverride": true,
    "noPropertyAccessFromIndexSignature": true,
    "noImplicitReturns": true,
    "noFallthroughCasesInSwitch": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "sourceMap": true,
    "declaration": false,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "importHelpers": true,
    "target": "ES2022",
    "module": "ES2022",
    "useDefineForClassFields": false,
    "lib": ["ES2022", "dom"]
  },
  "angularCompilerOptions": {
    "enableI18nLegacyMessageIdFormat": false,
    "strictInjectionParameters": true,
    "strictInputAccessModifiers": true,
    "strictTemplates": true
  }
}

And here is the configuration it uses for your app:

tsconfig.app.json

{
  "extends": "./tsconfig.json",
  "compilerOptions": {
    "outDir": "./out-tsc/app",
    "types": []
  },
  "files": [
    "src/main.ts"
  ],
  "include": [
    "src/**/*.d.ts"
  ]
}

It may also include a different tsconfig.spec.json for your tests, that will include types for your testing library.

tsconfig.spec.json

{
  "extends": "./tsconfig.json",
  "compilerOptions": {
    "outDir": "./out-tsc/spec",
    "types": [
      "jasmine"
    ]
  },
  "include": [
    "src/**/*.ts"
  ]
}

A Note About Types

While coding in an Angular application, our TypeScript code will often reference types that we have defined as part of our application source code, but also types that are defined in third-party libraries, such as Angular itself, or other libraries that we may be using, such as RxJS, Lodash, etc.

Most libraries that are written in TypeScript will include type definitions as part of the library itself. This means that when you install the library via npm, the type definitions are included automatically.

While it is much less common now, some JavaScript libraries do not include type definitions. In this case, you can often find type definitions for these libraries in the DefinitelyTyped repository. These type definitions are published as separate npm packages with names that start with @types/. For example, if you are using the lodash library, you can install the type definitions by running:

npm install --save-dev @types/lodash