How to resolve path issues with tsoa-generated routes and compiled TypeScript files?

Question

I am relatively new to TypeScript and the compilation process, so please bear with me if I am missing something obvious.

I have an express API written in TypeScript using tsoa decorators to generate docs from the code.

In my app the source code is located in /src, and then transpiled to /dist at build time. tsoa automatically generates a routes file that is compiled to /dist/routes.js (tedious system btw).

The issue I am facing is that in the built routes.js file, all the controllers are referenced using the path ../src.

This causes the application to fail when running from the compiled version (which is what I'll do once in production) unless I manually change the paths to reference the compiled files instead.

For example, to make the following controller work, I have to change the import statement in routes.js from:

const LocationController_1 = require("./../src/controllers/LocationController");

to:

const LocationController_1 = require("./controllers/LocationController");

Since the routes file is generated automatically by tsoa, it should not be manually modified.

However, I have followed the instructions in the documentation for tsoa and TypeScript thoroughly and have not been able to resolve the issue. I have also researched this issue and came across, but since tsoa handles the whole process of controller discovery, I cannot force it to use an alias for the path, tsconfig-paths can be another solution but I wasn't able to configure it properly.

Is there something that I am missing?

Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Here is my tsconfig.json

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES6",
    "module": "CommonJS",
    "lib": [
      "DOM",
      "ES6",
      "ESNext.AsyncIterable"
    ],
    "sourceMap": true,
    "outDir": "./dist",
    "rootDir": "./src",
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "strictPropertyInitialization": false,
    "resolveJsonModule": true
  }
}

Here's what I've tried to with aliasing paths

 "paths": {
      "@controllers/": [
        "./src/controllers/*"
      ]
    }

In tsoa.json I've tried to use the alias to find the controllers

  "controllerPathGlobs": [
    "@controllers/*"
  ],

This does not find any controller.

I've also tried to use this in tsconfig

 "paths": {
      "../src/controllers": [
        "./controllers"
      ]
    }

I'm pretty sure something obvious is missing here...!

Thank you for your help, and I apologize for any confusion or mistakes in my explanation.

Answer 1

One possible solution would be to use the tsoa configuration to point to the transpiled controllers in the dist directory.

Try and modify your tsoa.json configuration like this:

{
  "entryFile": "src/index.ts",
  "noImplicitAdditionalProperties": "throw-on-extras",
  "controllerPathGlobs": ["dist/controllers/**/*.js"],
  "spec": {
    "outputDirectory": "dist/swagger",
    "specVersion": 3
  },
  "routes": {
    "basePath": "/api",
    "routesDir": "dist/routes",
    "authenticationModule": "./src/auth/authentication"
  },
  "compilerOptions": {
    "lib": [
      "ES2015"
    ]
  }
}

In this configuration, tsoa looks for controllers in the dist/controllers directory, not src/controllers.

That setup assumes that you will always compile your TypeScript files into JavaScript before running tsoa.
The full process would be something like:

• Compile TypeScript to JavaScript (tsc).
• Generate routes with tsoa (npx tsoa routes).
• Start your application (for instance, node dist/index.js).

If you need to keep your development workflow (running the app directly from TypeScript files), one option would be to have two different tsoa.json configurations - one for development (pointing to TypeScript files in src) and one for production (pointing to JavaScript files in dist). You can use NODE_ENV environment variable to choose the correct configuration.

While this is not the most convenient solution, it is a workaround that can unblock you until a better solution is found or tsoa improves its support for path aliases. Make sure to follow tsoa's issue tracker and community for updates and potential solutions.

---

Regarding path aliases, see "Typescript path aliases not resolved correctly at runtime"

Just spent literally hours trying to get this to work. In the end, I ended up ditching ts-node entirely and installing tsx which just worked straight out of the box.

Side note: decorators are not supported by tsx: issue 216. This is a big limitation if you're using libraries like routing-controllers and nestjs.

Answer 2

Here is an example of how to configure path aliases in your tsconfig.json file:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "paths": {
      "@controllers/*": ["src/controllers/*"]
    }
  },
  ...
}

This defines a path alias @controllers that maps to the src/controllers directory.

And you can try updating your tsoa.json file to the following:

{
  "controllerPathGlobs": ["@controllers/*"],
  ...
}

Hope this one helps you