Role-Based TypeScript Builds

TypeScript files need different output policies depending on whether they are application code, published source, configuration, scripts, or tests.

Nova 0.30.0 moved those policies into role presets and unified checked emission behind one transpile utility.

Strictness and Output Are Different Questions

Every Nova TypeScript project begins with two baseline layers:

{
  "extends": [
    "@cbnventures/nova/presets/tsconfig/dx-essentials.json",
    "@cbnventures/nova/presets/tsconfig/dx-strict.json"
  ]
}

Those layers answer how TypeScript should understand and validate the language. They should not also guess whether a particular file set emits JavaScript, declarations, both, or neither.

Five File Roles

Version 0.30.0 added a role layer for each recurring job.

A project composes its baseline, role, runtime, framework, and tool layers. Consumer-owned overrides remain last, so a workspace can change a deliberate setting without forking the preset.

{
  "extends": [
    "@cbnventures/nova/presets/tsconfig/dx-essentials.json",
    "@cbnventures/nova/presets/tsconfig/dx-strict.json",
    "@cbnventures/nova/presets/tsconfig/role-source.json",
    "@cbnventures/nova/presets/tsconfig/runtime-node.json"
  ]
}

One Transpiler for Build and Watch

The public utility handles both a one-shot build and a long-running watcher.

nova utility transpile --project tsconfig.source.json
nova utility transpile --project tsconfig.source.json --watch

Both modes load the same project configuration, report project diagnostics, and use the same emission path. Fixing behavior in one mode no longer leaves the other behind.

Keep skipLibCheck False Without Owning Dependencies

Nova’s strict baseline keeps skipLibCheck: false, so TypeScript still understands the complete type graph. The transpiler then separates diagnostics caused by project-owned files from errors that originate entirely inside installed dependencies.

That boundary avoids two bad choices:

• skipLibCheck: true, which suppresses declaration checking globally and can hide conflicts that reach project code.
• Failing a project build because an unrelated dependency’s internal declaration file has a defect the project cannot repair.

Errors in the project, its configuration, or the way it consumes dependency types still fail the command. Only dependency-internal noise is filtered from the project-owned report.

Less Repetition, Clearer Intent

Before role layers, the same noEmit, declaration, and output settings appeared across many consumer TSConfig files. That repetition looked explicit, but it also allowed equivalent file roles to drift.

Role presets centralize only the policy shared by the role. Runtime and framework choices remain separate layers, and the consumer still owns its includes, excludes, paths, and intentional overrides.

See the current TSConfig preset guide and Transpile documentation for the complete composition model.