TypeScript: What's the "right" `target` for node 11?

Question

TypeScript's has a target configuration with many values, like esnext, es2015, es6 etc. (very confusing)

NodeJs current version (11.11.0) supports many of the new features of JavaScript. Is it ok to target esnext on TypeScript? will it work?

If not, what's the right target to use when targeting nodeJs 11.11.0

Edit:

Thanks to @Seblor we know that esnext is very dynamic and TC39 can add features as they see fit. It represents the next version of JavaScript that is being worked on (Regarding agreeing on features)

The refined question should be: According to the current version of NodeJs (11.11.0) and the current version of TypeScript (3.3) can we use esnext as the target?

Answer 1

Looking at node.green, ES2018 support seems to be full in Node 11.11.0, so you should be able to set ES2018 as target with no trouble.

You can push your luck by using ES2019 or even ESNext since the support looks good enough. However, I do not know if typescript will use non-yet-implemented features if you use ESNext as target (like the private properties).

Personally I would stick with ES2018, as I see no need to push for ESNext.

Answer 2

Based on Node-Target Mapping on the TypeScript wiki "es2018" is the right mapping for Node 10, "es2019" is the right mapping for Node 12. It seems that non-LTS versions of Node aren't documented, but given this information I feel like "es2018" is the safest target.