Nx JS TypeScript Plugin Not Inferring Tasks

[capttrousers]

Current Behavior

Environment

• Nx version: 22.3.3
• @nx/js version: 22.3.3
• TypeScript version: 5.8.3-5.9.3
• Workspace: npm workspaces with TypeScript project references
• Packages: 11 TypeScript packages (buildable libraries)

Problem

The @nx/js/typescript plugin is not inferring build or typecheck tasks. All tasks continue to use nx:run-script executor (inferred from package.json scripts) instead of nx:run-commands executor with proper caching configuration.

Non-Standard Configuration

Our workspace uses .config/ directory for Nx and TypeScript configs:

• .config/nx.json (not ./nx.json)
• .config/tsconfig.base.json (not ./tsconfig.base.json)
• Packages extend: "extends": "../../.config/tsconfig.base.json"

Question: Does the plugin require tsconfig.base.json at workspace root, or should it work with custom config directory structure?

Workaround (Confirms Expected Behavior)

Creating manual project.json with nx:run-commands executor DOES work:

• Caching functions correctly
• Cache-hit/cache-miss behaves as expected
• Proves the issue is plugin inference, not caching mechanism

Expected Behavior

Expected Behavior

Plugin should automatically:

1. Detect buildable libraries (exports → dist/)
2. Create build/typecheck targets with nx:run-commands executor
3. Configure inputs/outputs for caching
4. Register @nx/js:typescript-sync generator

GitHub Repo

No response

Steps to Reproduce

Evidence

1. Plugin is registered in .config/nx.json:

   {
     "plugins": [
       {
         "plugin": "@nx/js/typescript",
         "options": {
           "typecheck": { "targetName": "check", "configName": "tsconfig.check.json" },
           "build": { "targetName": "build", "configName": "tsconfig.json" }
         }
       }
     ]
   }

2. All packages have required setup:

   • ✅ tsconfig.json exists (runtime config)
   • ✅ package.json has exports pointing to ./dist/* (buildable)
   • ✅ composite: true and declaration: true in base config
   • ✅ TypeScript project references configured

3. But targets show wrong executor:

   npx nx show project domains --json | jq '.targets.build.executor'
   # Returns: "nx:run-script"  (should be "nx:run-commands")

4. No sync generator registered:

   npx nx sync
   # Output: "There are no sync generators to run"
   # Expected: @nx/js:typescript-sync should run

5. Test: Removing build script doesn't trigger plugin:

   • Removed "build": "tsc -b" from package.json
   • Result: NO build target created at all
   • Expected: Plugin should infer build target from tsconfig.json

Nx Report

NX   Report complete - copy this into the issue template

Node           : 22.18.0
OS             : linux-x64
Native Target  : x86_64-linux
npm            : 10.9.0

nx             : 22.3.3
@nx/js         : 22.3.3
@nx/workspace  : 22.3.3
@nx/devkit     : 22.3.3
typescript     : 5.9.3
---------------------------------------
Cache Usage: 0.00 B / 95.23 GB

Failure Logs

Package Manager Version

No response

Operating System

• macOS
• Linux
• Windows
• Other (Please specify)

Additional Information

Non-Standard Configuration

Our workspace uses .config/ directory for Nx and TypeScript configs:

• .config/nx.json (not ./nx.json)
• .config/tsconfig.base.json (not ./tsconfig.base.json)
• Packages extend: "extends": "../../.config/tsconfig.base.json"

Question: Does the plugin require tsconfig.base.json at workspace root, or should it work with custom config directory structure?

Workaround (Confirms Expected Behavior)

Creating manual project.json with nx:run-commands executor DOES work:

• Caching functions correctly
• Cache-hit/cache-miss behaves as expected
• Proves the issue is plugin inference, not caching mechanism

[leosvelperez]

Question: Does the plugin require tsconfig.base.json at workspace root, or should it work with custom config directory structure?

The plugin shouldn't require it, but there are multiple things in Nx that check for a root tsconfig file (tsconfig.json or tsconfig.base.json) to identify things like, for example, whether the workspace is using a specific TS setup (project references vs path mappings). Removing them or moving them to a separate directory would break a few things.

"typecheck": { "targetName": "check", "configName": "tsconfig.check.json" }

The plugin's typecheck option object doesn't support/use a configName. So, in the setup you posted, that's ignored, and it would still use tsconfig.json as the config file name. I'll add support for it since there's no reason to limit that.

All tasks continue to use nx:run-script executor (inferred from package.json scripts) instead of nx:run-commands executor with proper caching configuration.

If you have an npm script in the package.json, those scripts are used as Nx tasks by default and have higher precedence than plugin-inferred tasks, so that's why you would see the tasks with the nx:run-script executor (even if the plugin did infer its tasks). You can remove the npm scripts or set nx.includedScripts: [] in your package.json to exclude them:

// package.json
{
  ...
  "nx": {
    "includedScripts": []
  }
}

I understand you tried removing it, but the tasks were still not inferred. I'm just pointing it out since scripts will always override tasks with the same name.

---

All in all, I'd recommend keeping the root tsconfig files in the root of the workspace. That said, I tried reproducing the issue but I couldn't do it. I got the inferred tasks, so I'm most likely missing something. Could you please provide a repro so I can see what your exact setup is and the root cause of the issue?

[capttrousers]

Hi Leo
Thanks for the updates. I can work on stripping down to a minimal repro and share that.

Mainly my goal is to avoid needing explicit project.json files per workspace / ts proj with explicit nx cache declarations. But in the interim that strategy does seem to work.