“The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please.”
― Philip K. Dick, Ubik

The first thing Ubik can do for you is publish well-formed dual CJS/ESM packages from TypeScript sources. For this, use the ubik release command.

npm run ubik release

Recommended package.json:

{
  "main": "index.ts",
  "devDependencies": {
    "typescript": "latest",
    "@hackbg/ubik": "^4"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "release": "ubik release --access public"
  }
}

Recommended tsconfig.json:

{
  "exclude": [
    "dist/**/*"
  ],
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "esnext",
    "module": "esnext",
    "moduleResolution": "node10"
  }
}

Recommended .gitignore:

package.json.bak
dist/
.ubik
.ubik.cjs
.ubik.esm
*.dist.mjs
*.dist.mjs.map
*.dist.cjs
*.dist.cjs.map
*.dist.d.cts
*.dist.d.cts.map
*.dist.d.mts
*.dist.d.mts.map

The resulting package will contain the .ts source alongside all of the following:

That's 8 extra files generated for source file! But if that's what it takes...

Compiling will generate a patched package.json, and leave the original at package.json.bak. Don't commit the generated package.json and package.json.bak, they are for releases only.

Good to know:

• If you use NPM 2FA, append --otp 000000 to the release command to avoid a login loop.
• tsc outputs invalid JavaScript when building ESM libraries. Read more
  • Node 16+ requires extensions in ESM import
  • TypeScript does something weird and hamstrung
  • Then people told them and they made it worse

You can also apply the fix in place using the ubik compile command, then do the rest of the release in your own way:

npm run ubik compile

When targeting ESM on Node, CommonJS imports are wrapped in an extra default key, of which TypeScript is unaware. Read more

Let's rewrite the imports so that both work:

npm exec ubik split-stars ./src -- protobufjs

todo: document

todo: document

todo: document

Ganesha, a TypeScript-enabling module loader for Node 16+. When using Ubik alongside Ganesha, TypeScript usage can become quite transparent: no build step during development + monolithic publish step to NPM 🐘