options.md

title
Options

All command-line flags support both --camelCase and --hyphen-case.

Most options can be declared in your tsconfig.json: Configuration via tsconfig.json

ts-node supports --print (-p), --eval (-e), --require (-r) and --interactive (-i) similar to the node.js CLI.

ts-node supports --project and --showConfig similar to the tsc CLI.

Environment variables, where available, are in ALL_CAPS

CLI Options

help

ts-node --help

Prints the help text

version

ts-node -v
ts-node -vvv

Prints the version. -vv includes node and typescript compiler versions. -vvv includes absolute paths to ts-node and typescript installations.

eval

ts-node -e <typescript code>
# Example
ts-node -e 'console.log("Hello world!")'

Evaluate code

print

ts-node -p -e <typescript code>
# Example
ts-node -p -e '"Hello world!"'

Print result of --eval

interactive

ts-node -i

Opens the REPL even if stdin does not appear to be a terminal

esm

ts-node --esm
ts-node-esm

Bootstrap with the ESM loader, enabling full ESM support

TSConfig Options

project

ts-node -P <path/to/tsconfig>

Path to tsconfig file.

Environment: TS_NODE_PROJECT

skipProject

ts-node --skipProject

Skip project config resolution and loading

Default: false
Environment: TS_NODE_SKIP_PROJECT

cwdMode

ts-node -c
ts-node --cwdMode
ts-node-cwd

Resolve config relative to the current directory instead of the directory of the entrypoint script

compilerOptions

ts-node -O <json compilerOptions>
ts-node --compilerOptions <json compilerOptions>

JSON object to merge with compiler options

Environment: TS_NODE_COMPILER_OPTIONS

showConfig

ts-node --showConfig

Print resolved tsconfig.json, including ts-node options, and exit

Typechecking

transpileOnly

ts-node -T
ts-node --transpileOnly

Use TypeScript's faster transpileModule

Default: false
Environment: TS_NODE_TRANSPILE_ONLY

typeCheck

ts-node --typeCheck

Opposite of --transpileOnly

Default: true
Environment: TS_NODE_TYPE_CHECK

compilerHost

ts-node -H
ts-node --compilerHost

Use TypeScript's compiler host API

Default: false
Environment: TS_NODE_COMPILER_HOST

files

ts-node --files

Load files, include and exclude from tsconfig.json on startup. This may avoid certain typechecking failures. See Missing types for details.

Default: false
Environment: TS_NODE_FILES

ignoreDiagnostics

ts-node -D <code,code>
ts-node --ignoreDiagnostics <code,code>

Ignore TypeScript warnings by diagnostic code

Environment: TS_NODE_IGNORE_DIAGNOSTICS

Transpilation Options

ignore

ts-node -I <regexp matching ignored files>
ts-node --ignore <regexp matching ignored files>

Override the path patterns to skip compilation

Default: /node_modules/
Environment: TS_NODE_IGNORE

skipIgnore

ts-node --skipIgnore

Skip ignore checks

Default: false
Environment: TS_NODE_SKIP_IGNORE

compiler

ts-node -C <name>
ts-node --compiler <name>

Specify a custom TypeScript compiler

Default: typescript
Environment: TS_NODE_COMPILER

swc

ts-node --swc

Transpile with swc. Implies --transpileOnly

Default: false

transpiler

ts-node --transpiler <name>
# Example
ts-node --transpiler ts-node/transpilers/swc

Use a third-party, non-typechecking transpiler

preferTsExts

ts-node --preferTsExts

Re-order file extensions so that TypeScript imports are preferred

Default: false
Environment: TS_NODE_PREFER_TS_EXTS

Diagnostic Options

logError

ts-node --logError

Logs TypeScript errors to stderr instead of throwing exceptions

Default: false
Environment: TS_NODE_LOG_ERROR

pretty

ts-node --pretty

Use pretty diagnostic formatter

Default: false
Environment: TS_NODE_PRETTY

TS_NODE_DEBUG

TS_NODE_DEBUG=true ts-node

Enable debug logging

Advanced Options

require

ts-node -r <module name or path>
ts-node --require <module name or path>

Require a node module before execution

cwd

ts-node --cwd <path/to/directory>

Behave as if invoked in this working directory

Default: process.cwd()
Environment: TS_NODE_CWD

emit

ts-node --emit

Emit output files into .ts-node directory. Requires --compilerHost

Default: false
Environment: TS_NODE_EMIT

scope

ts-node --scope

Scope compiler to files within scopeDir. Anything outside this directory is ignored.

*Default: false
Environment: TS_NODE_SCOPE

scopeDir

ts-node --scopeDir <path/to/directory>

Directory within which compiler is limited when scope is enabled.

Default: First of: tsconfig.json "rootDir" if specified, directory containing tsconfig.json, or cwd if no tsconfig.json is loaded.
Environment: TS_NODE_SCOPE_DIR

moduleTypes

Override the module type of certain files, ignoring the package.json "type" field. See Module type overrides for details.

Default: obeys package.json "type" and tsconfig.json "module"
Can only be specified via tsconfig.json or API.

TS_NODE_HISTORY

TS_NODE_HISTORY=<path/to/history/file> ts-node

Path to history file for REPL

Default: ~/.ts_node_repl_history

noExperimentalReplAwait

ts-node --noExperimentalReplAwait

Disable top-level await in REPL. Equivalent to node's --no-experimental-repl-await

Default: Enabled if TypeScript version is 3.8 or higher and target is ES2018 or higher.
Environment: TS_NODE_EXPERIMENTAL_REPL_AWAIT set false to disable

experimentalResolver

Enable experimental hooks that re-map imports and require calls to support:

• resolves .js to .ts, so that import "./foo.js" will execute foo.ts
• resolves .cjs to .cts
• resolves .mjs to .mts
• allows including file extensions in CommonJS, for consistency with ESM where this is often mandatory

In the future, this hook will also support:

• baseUrl, paths
• rootDirs
• outDir to rootDir mappings for composite projects and monorepos

For details, see #1514.

Default: false, but will likely be enabled by default in a future version
Can only be specified via tsconfig.json or API.

experimentalSpecifierResolution

ts-node --experimentalSpecifierResolution node

Like node's --experimental-specifier-resolution, but can also be set in your tsconfig.json for convenience. Requires esm to be enabled.

Default: explicit

API Options

The API includes additional options not shown here.