Best practice to setup tsconfig "files" vs "include"?

Question

I was wondering what is better and what are the pros and cons of using "files" vs "include" in tsconfig?

I don't really like the include pattern because is just including all ts files in the src folder, and I might now want that.

I like the "files" approach, because I can point to the entry file and just load everything that file needs.

I'm using typescript with webpack. I guess the entry point is defined in webpack so there is no need to define in typescript as well?

I tried to use "files" but looks like there is no way to set a folder to look for custom type definitions: typescript with tsconfig with "files" => import image module not found

Answer 1

There are two examples of tsconfig.json presented on the official website of TypeScript,—one with "files" property, another one with "include" and "exclude" properties specified:

Using the "files" property

{     "compilerOptions": {         // irrelevant     },     "files": [         "core.ts",         "sys.ts",         "types.ts",         "scanner.ts",         "parser.ts",         "utilities.ts",         "binder.ts",         "checker.ts",         "emitter.ts",         "program.ts",         "commandLineParser.ts",         "tsc.ts",         "diagnosticInformationMap.generated.ts"     ] } 

Using the "include" and "exclude" properties

{     "compilerOptions": {         // irrelevant     },     "include": [         "src/**/*"     ],     "exclude": [         "node_modules",         "**/*.spec.ts"     ] } 

So, basically, "files" is used to specify separate files directly by their path, while "include" and "exclude" is used to target collections or groups of files or folders etc.