For the last few months, I configured a Node.js development environment multiple times. And to save my and hopefully your time, I want to provide a set of clear instructions that you can use to configure a simple Node.js and Typescript development environment. Let's begin right away:

1. Create a project folder and enter it

   # Run:
   mkdir app && cd app
   

2. Initialize project:

   # Run:
   npm init -y
   # or
   yarn init -y
   

3. Install required dependencies:

   # Run:
   npm install -D typescript ts-node-dev @types/node
   # or
   yarn add typescript ts-node-dev @types/node --dev
   

4. Create Typescript config:

   # Run:
   touch tsconfig.json
   

   # Add this config to the file:
   {
   "compilerOptions": {
    "strict": true,                           
    "target": "es5",                        
    "outDir": "./dist", 
    "declaration": true,                   
    "skipLibCheck": true,                     
    "module": "commonjs",                     
    "esModuleInterop": true,            
    "resolveJsonModule": true,     
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
   }
   }
   

5. (Optional) Initialize Git

   # Run:
   git init && touch .gitignore
   

   # Add this to the .gitignore:
   node_modules
   dist
   

6. Create the initial project structure:

   # Run:
   mkdir src && touch src/index.ts && echo "console.log('Hello Typescript!')" > src/index.ts
   

   It will create the src folder with the index.ts file and console.log('Hello Typescript!') as the content.

7. Replace scripts to the package.json:

   # ...
   
   "scripts": {
   "build": "tsc",
   "dev": "tsnd --respawn src",
   "start": "node dist/index.js"
   },
   # ...
   

8. Run the project:

# To start the development environment run
npm run dev
# or
yarn dev

# To create the production build run
npm run build
# or
yarn build

# To start the production server run
npm run start
# or
yarn start

Now you are all set and have a good starting point to develop your environment as you go.

I hope it saved a little bit of time that you can spend working on your awesome project!

By the way, I have a short article about configuring the frontend: How to quickly wire up Next.js with Tailwind CSS and Typescript