Example Typescript 5.x Library

Simple starter library updated in 2023.

Tutorial can be found at https://www.tsmean.com/articles/how-to-write-a-typescript-library/.

Usage

First you should get the repo

git clone https://github.com/bersling/typescript-library-starter.git

Then you can apply any changes you'd like to the library-starter.

Give it a name

Adjust the name in library-starter/package.json. Check with npm to see which names are still free.

You can also adjust the version back to 1.0.0 or 0.0.1.

Testing your module locally with npm link

Using npm link you can easily test whether your changes are working correctly.

cd example-consumer
npm run linklib
npm test

Here npm run linklib is just an alias for npm run --prefix ../library-starter build && npm link ../library-starter.

Publishing a beta aka. "next" version

In order not to break things for the users of your library it is a best practice to first publish it with a beta or next tag. That way early adopters or yourself can test some more by using npm install mylib@beta and once you're ready you can publish the actual version npm publish mylib.

Change the version property in library-starter/package.json for example to 2.1.1-beta.1.

cd library-starter
npm run publish-beta

Here npm run publish-beta is an alias for npm run build && npm publish --tag beta.

Then test it through

cd example-consumer
npm run install-beta
npm test

npm run install-beta is an alias for npm install hwrld@beta.

Dry run of publish

It is also a good idea to do a dry run before you publish. That way you can check once more whether the version is correctly specified and you include the correct files.

cd library-starter
npm run publish-dryrun

npm run publish-dryrun is an alias for npm run build && npm publish --dry-run.

Publish a new version

First adjust the version in library-starter/package.json.

Once you are ready to publish an actual version you can run

cd library-starter
npm run publish-lib

npm run publish-lib is an alias for npm run build && npm publish

You can consume it like this:

cd example-consumer
npm run install-lib
npm test

npm run install-lib is equal to npm install hwrld or npm install hwrld@latest.

Further reading

You can write a test like this: https://www.tsmean.com/articles/how-to-write-a-typescript-library/unit-testing