How to enable autocomplete for Google Apps Script in locally-installed IDE

Question

I'm trying to build GAS projects locally using clasp.

Any locally-installed IDE is a huge improvement over Google's Script Editor, so the tool looks very promising. Unfortunately, the autocomplete feature for GAS services doesn't seem to be included in the package.

The documentation says:

The Apps Script CLI uses TypeScript to provide autocompletion and linting when developing. Use an IDE like Visual Studio Code for TypeScript autocompletion.

After going through the steps and installing all required dependencies, I'm still unable to get the autocomplete feature to work. When I execute the clasp pull command for the existing project, it converts the ".gs" extension to ".js". The autocomplete suggestions are simply the result of parsing existing code.

For example, if I call sheet.getRange() somewhere in my code, then the getRange() method will pop up in suggestions, but I can't list available options for, say, PropertiesService, unless it's already used in my code.

Has anybody had any luck with enabling autocomplete feature for Google Apps Script?

Answer 1

I found the solution that partially works, but it may not be applicable to other software. The steps below are for Visual Studio Code:

1. Install the NPM package containing type definitions for GAS using

   https://www.npmjs.com/package/@types/google-apps-script 

2. In your locally-saved script, create a '.js' file and type

   import 'google-apps-script';