1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63# 🪶 tslite
`tslite` is a redistribution of `typescript` package with same public API but much smaller install size: <sub>[![][20]][21]</sub> vs <sub>[![][10]][11]</sub>
[10]: https://flat.badgen.net/packagephobia/install/typescript?label=typescript&scale=.8&color=orange
[11]: https://packagephobia.com/result?p=typescript
[20]: https://flat.badgen.net/packagephobia/install/tslite?label=tslite&scale=.8&color=blue
[21]: https://packagephobia.com/result?p=tslite
## Why?
The 'typescript' package's installation size has significantly increased over time and is now [unreasonably large](https://packagephobia.com/result?p=typescript) for use as a project dependency.
However, this issue has been on the TypeScript team's radar ([microsoft/TypeScript#27891](https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/27891)), and with the continuous efforts of [@jakebailey](https://github.com/jakebailey) and the rest of the TypeScript team to reduce the installation size, there are certain limitations preventing further size reduction.
Nevertheless, we can make further optimizations for end-users. The aim of this package is not to impede TypeScript's core improvements but to offer an alternative distribution tailored for end-users who require TypeScript as a peer dependency in their projects.
## How?
Check [`build.ts`](./build.ts) for build steps.
### Minified
Typescript cannot be officially distributed minified because of [preserving stack traces](https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/27891#issuecomment-1307654814) and [allowing the package to be patched](https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/27891#issuecomment-1307430212). However, for normal daily use of typescript, it does not matter unless there is a bug with typescript itself which in this case, we can temporarily switch off tslite. Minifying big JS files has a huge impact on the install size. tslite only minifies non `lib.` files over 250KB using [UglifyJS](https://github.com/mishoo/UglifyJS).
### Removed Locales
Typescript package ships with `~3.8M` of localized translation files for error messages which are usually not used. TSLite removed them.
### More Ideas?
I am thinking about more possible ideas to make typescript lib even smaller. For instance, we can lazily import compiler bits from the network on demand and cache them in a global user file being shared across projects. Ideas and PRs are more than welcome!!
## Usage
Keep `typescript` as a `devDependency` and use resolutions to alias `tslite`:
### npm
Using npm [overrides](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v8/configuring-npm/package-json#overrides):
```jsonc
// package.json
{
"overrides": {
"typescript": "npm:tslite@latest",
},
}
```
### yarn and pnpm
Using yarn [selective dependency resolutions](https://classic.yarnpkg.com/lang/en/docs/selective-version-resolutions/) or [pnpm overrides](https://pnpm.io/package_json#pnpmoverrides):
```jsonc
// package.json
{
"resolutions": {
"typescript": "npm:tslite@latest",
},
}
```