Unknown compiler options include & exclude

Question

I was making my first typescript-node-express application.

To start with, I created my own tsconfig file which looks like

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "es6",
    "module": "commonjs", 
    "strict": true,
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "outDir": "./build",
    "sourceMap": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "importHelpers": true,
    "types": [
      "node"
    ],
    "typeRoots": [
        "node_modules/@types"
    ],
    "include": [
      "src/**/*.ts"
    ],
    "exclude": [
      "node_modues"
    ]
  }
}

And inside my src/app.ts I am initialising my express app

import * as express from "express";

class App {

  constructor() {
    this.app = express();
  }

  //TODO: What is public app: express.Application
  public app: express.Application;

}

const app = new App().app;
const port = 4040;

app.listen(port, function() {
  console.log('Express server listening on port ' + port);
});

Now, When I do ts-node ./src/app.ts I am getting the following error

error TS5023: unknown compiler option 'include'.

error TS5023: unknown compiler option 'exclude'.

at createTSError (/Users/an/.nvm/versions/node/v10.15.3/lib/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:245:12)
at reportTSError (/Users/an/.nvm/versions/node/v10.15.3/lib/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:249:19)
at Object.register (/Users/an/.nvm/versions/node/v10.15.3/lib/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:260:36)
at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/an/.nvm/versions/node/v10.15.3/lib/node_modules/ts-node/src/bin.ts:120:17)
at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:701:30)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:712:10)
at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:600:32)
at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:539:12)
at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:531:3)
at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:754:12)Unknown compiler

Can someone help me figure out why I am getting this error?

Answer 1

According to the handbook, include and exclude are supposed to be siblings of compilerOptions, not children:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "es6",
    "module": "commonjs", 
    "strict": true,
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "outDir": "./build",
    "sourceMap": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "importHelpers": true,
    "types": [
      "node"
    ],
    "typeRoots": [
        "node_modules/@types"
    ]
  },
  "include": [
    "src/**/*.ts"
  ],
  "exclude": [
    "node_modues"
  ]
}

Answer 2

The issue is because they do not belong in compiler options at all.

They should exist along-side compiler options like so:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "es6",
    "module": "commonjs", 
    "strict": true,
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "outDir": "./build",
    "sourceMap": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "importHelpers": true,
    "types": [
      "node"
    ],
    "typeRoots": [
        "node_modules/@types"
    ]
  },
  "include": [
    "src/**/*.ts"
  ],
  "exclude": [
    "node_modues"
  ]
}

See the examples here: https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/tsconfig-json.html#examples