ts-node-pack

Pack a TypeScript package into a Node-compatible npm tarball — without modifying the source tree, without bundling, and without changing module resolution semantics.

Given a TypeScript package whose sources use .ts files and .ts in relative import specifiers, ts-node-pack produces a .tgz whose contents are plain .js + .d.ts with correct .js specifiers, ready to npm install into any Node ESM project.

Why

TypeScript 5.7 introduced rewriteRelativeImportExtensions, which lets you author import './foo.ts' and have tsc emit import './foo.js' in the compiled .js. But:

tsc does not rewrite .ts specifiers inside emitted .d.ts files.
Your package.json (main, module, exports, types) still points at .ts.
You probably don't want the .ts sources in the published tarball at all.

ts-node-pack wraps tsc + npm pack and fills in exactly those gaps.

Install

npm install --save-dev ts-node-pack

Requires Node ≥ 20 and TypeScript ≥ 5.7 available in the package being packed (resolved via npx tsc).

Usage

ts-node-pack <packageDir> [--tsconfig <path>] [--emit-only] [--keep-temp] [--verbose]

Flag	Description
`--tsconfig <path>`	tsconfig to extend. Defaults to `tsconfig.build.json` if present, otherwise `tsconfig.json`.
`--emit-only`	Run emit + rewrites + validation, but skip `npm pack`. Prints the staging directory.
`--keep-temp`	Do not delete the temporary staging directory on exit.
`-v`, `--verbose`	Log each pipeline phase to stderr.
`-h`, `--help`	Show help.

The resulting <name>-<version>.tgz is written to the current working directory.

Example

cd my-project
ts-node-pack ./packages/core --verbose
npm install ./my-core-1.2.3.tgz

Pipeline

Resolve package — read package.json, pick tsconfig.
Stage — create mkdtemp()/package/.
Derived tsconfig — write tsconfig.emit.json inside the temp dir that extends the chosen tsconfig (by absolute path) and forces outDir, declaration, rewriteRelativeImportExtensions: true, noEmit: false. If the base tsconfig enables sourceMap, inlineSourceMap, or declarationMap, inlineSources: true is also set so debuggers get full source-level fidelity without any .ts files in the tarball.
Emit — run tsc -p against the derived config.
Rewrite .d.ts — for each emitted .d.ts, rewrite ./foo.ts → ./foo.js in import / export from / dynamic import() specifiers. Non-relative specifiers are left alone.
Rewrite package.json — rewrite .ts → .js (and → .d.ts under types conditions) in main, module, types, typings, bin, exports, and the files array. Strip devDependencies and scripts.
Copy assets — README*, LICENSE*, CHANGELOG*, NOTICE*. Source .ts files are never copied.
Validate — fail if any .ts specifier remains in emitted .js / .d.ts / package.json, or if a referenced entry point does not exist.
Pack — npm pack in the staging directory; move the tarball to the original CWD.
Cleanup — remove .ts-node-pack/ and the temp directory (unless --keep-temp).

The source tree is never mutated. All intermediate artifacts (derived tsconfig, staging dir, tarball) live under a single mkdtemp() directory that is removed on exit.

Sourcemaps

If your tsconfig has sourceMap (or inlineSourceMap / declarationMap) enabled, ts-node-pack automatically forces inlineSources: true so each emitted .map embeds its source text via sourcesContent. This gives full source-level debugging and "Go to Definition" without shipping .ts files — sidestepping dual-resolution hazards where a downstream bundler or TS project might pick ./foo.ts over ./foo.js. Detection is a shallow read of the chosen tsconfig; if you inherit sourceMap from a base config via extends, set it explicitly at the leaf.

Non-goals

No bundling.
No AST transforms.
No custom module resolution.
No npm publish logic.

License

MIT