autodts generates .d.ts files for publishing TypeScript projects on npm.

It's best to run autodts from the package.json file of a Node.js module. Here's an example:

{
  "name": "example",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "description": "Example of a TypeScript-based package",
  "scripts": {
    "preinstall": "npm install autodts",
    "postinstall": "autodts link",
    "prepublish": "tsc && autodts generate"
  },
  "typescript": {
    "definition": "index.d.ts"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "autodts": "~0.0.4",
    "@lib/dependency-example": "0.0.3"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@lib/autodts-generator": "~0.0.1",
    "typescript": "~1.5.3"
  }
}

The preinstall command is needed to work around npm issue #5001.

autodts link checks all packages listed in dependencies. If their package.json file contains a typescript section with a definition setting, a reference is added to the output file typings/auto.d.ts, for example:

// Automatically generated file. Edits will be lost.
/// <reference path="../node_modules/@lib/dependency-example/index.d.ts" />

This allows pulling the type information of all required modules into a TypeScript source file with a single /// <reference path = "typings/auto.d.ts" /> statement.

An entire tree of npm packages written in TypeScript can be installed with correct references to typings if packages referencing types from others add the above preinstall and postinstall sections in their package.json.

It's possible to change the output file path using the --out parameter, for example: autodts link --out typings/tsd.d.ts.

autodts generate calls autodts-generator to produce a single .d.ts file with all type information in the package. It will be automatically written to the path defined in the definition setting in the typescript section of your package.json file. Using it requires a particular package structure, otherwise it's better to use dts-generator directly.

To use the generate command, you should add @lib/autodts-generator to your devDependencies. autodts doesn't automatically require it, because it pulls the entire TypeScript compiler and is not needed for the link command.

autodts link is meant for the common case of installing TypeScript-based npm packages, autodts generate for the rarer event of publishing them.

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