Native Node TypeScript support

[dschmidt]

Looking at the README it wasn't superclear to me, which tsconfig.json I should use when not using tsc or a bundler, but the native Node.js support which is enabled by default in Node 23 (https://nodejs.org/en/learn/typescript/run-natively)

After looking around a bit I'm assuming tsc/no-dom/app is what I want for this.
I'm aware that Node does not parse the tsconfig.json and does not respect any settings in there, but it's still important to have such a file to make the IDE handle imports correctly etc. (even when not running tsc)

My understdanding is that we don't need a new config, but it might be nice to mention it in the README.

[mattpocock]

So, we do actually need a new config. There are some unique things that Node+TS support presents that aren't in my TSConfig Cheat Sheet or this lib. Leaving this issue open to remind me.

[dschmidt]

Sounds good! Thanks!

[htunnicliff]

It looks like the Node.js docs provide a recommended tsconfig.json for its type stripping behavior:

Node.js ignores tsconfig.json files and therefore features that depend on settings within tsconfig.json, such as paths or converting newer JavaScript syntax to older standards, are intentionally unsupported. To get full TypeScript support, see Full TypeScript support.

The type stripping feature is designed to be lightweight. By intentionally not supporting syntaxes that require JavaScript code generation, and by replacing inline types with whitespace, Node.js can run TypeScript code without the need for source maps.

Type stripping is compatible with most versions of TypeScript but we recommend version 5.8 or newer with the following tsconfig.json settings:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
     "noEmit": true, // Optional - see note below
     "target": "esnext",
     "module": "nodenext",
     "rewriteRelativeImportExtensions": true,
     "erasableSyntaxOnly": true,
     "verbatimModuleSyntax": true
  }
} 

[!NOTE] Use the noEmit option if you intend to only execute *.ts files, for example a build script. You won't need this flag if you intend to distribute *.js files.

See https://nodejs.org/docs/latest-v23.x/api/typescript.html#type-stripping for details.

[mattpocock]

Yep, exactly. I am also thinking that maybe I should just recommend .ts extensions for everything, even bundlers. A single config recommendation would be pretty sweet.