TypeScript error: Cannot write file 'index.d.ts' because it would overwrite input file

Question

I have issue when run tsc

error TS5055: Cannot write file 'index.d.ts' because it would overwrite input file.

my tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "es6",
    "module": "commonjs",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "declaration": true,
    "newLine": "LF",
    "preserveConstEnums": true,
    "pretty": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true
  },

  "exclude": [
    "node_modules",
    "typings"
  ]
}

This issue solved when:

exclude index.ts in tsconfig
run tsc index.ts
Turn declaration off in tsconfig
rename index to another name!

I have same issue when change typescript main file in package.json
for example: rename index.ts to foo.ts

change package.json to

"typescript": {
  "main": "foo.ts"
}

tsc error:

error TS5055: Cannot write file 'index.d.ts' because it would overwrite input file.

content of file no mater, any code content has same issue!

What can i do for fix it ?

Source code: https://github.com/AliMD/Node.js-Telegram-Bot-API/tree/v0.0.2-0
Thank you in advance.

I excluded index.ts in tsconfig temporary to solve this issue and run tsc index.ts separately when index.ts changed! :( — S. Ali Mihandoost
– S. Ali Mihandoost, Commented May 3, 2016 at 20:26
maybe you have a reference to index.d.ts in your code somewhere, then when you compile, the compiler thinks that index.d.ts is part of the source and therefor throw that error. just a thought. — Nitzan Tomer
– Nitzan Tomer, Commented May 3, 2016 at 21:21
What happens if you compile with out the "declaration": true? — Nitzan Tomer
– Nitzan Tomer, Commented May 3, 2016 at 21:42
you don't get points on comments, but you're right, I don't know the answer, but I'm asking questions/making suggestions in order to try and help you solve or find workaround your problem until it's solved. You're welcome. And the outDir can be related to the issue as it separates the source from the output, and then it shouldn't complain about writing on a source file, maybe, just a thought, but maybe it won't work, damn, won't get my precious points. — Nitzan Tomer
– Nitzan Tomer, Commented May 4, 2016 at 23:07

Burt_Harris · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-02 01:01:59Z

16

Perahaps a better approach is to exclude the target directory from your build. The key is including the same directory in both the outDir and exclude keys:

{
    "compilerOptions": {
        "module": "commonjs",
        "target": "es6",
        "noImplicitAny": false,
        "sourceMap": true,
        "experimentalDecorators": true,
        "outDir": "target",
        "declaration": true
    },
    "exclude": [
        "node_modules",
        "target"
    ]
}

answered Oct 2, 2016 at 1:01

Burt_Harris

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Comments

vhs · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-17 18:16:59Z

8

In your example folder you wrote import * as test from '../'
see https://github.com/AliMD/Node.js-Telegram-Bot-API/blob/v0.0.2/examples/test-server.ts#L1

It should load your index.ts, index.d.ts, or package.json "typings" field.
And that's the issue. Your package.json does say that index.d.ts is the definition file for this package, see https://github.com/AliMD/Node.js-Telegram-Bot-API/blob/v0.0.2/package.json#L9
so import * as test from '../' will load package.json, load typings field and then load index.d.ts and it causes the problem.

Two solutions

Import index file instead of root folder (recommended approach)
e.g. import * as test from '../index'; or,
Move output to a different folder
e.g. \lib\index.d.ts.

In both solutions you should load the target file and not the folder. Since you're not loading the root folder anymore the problem will be solved.

edited Sep 17, 2019 at 18:16

vhs

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answered May 8, 2016 at 9:13

S. Ali Mihandoost

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3 Comments

Al-Mothafar Over a year ago

Links broken, you better to copy that code snippet that use URLs

S. Ali Mihandoost Over a year ago

@Al-Mothafar Thank you, i updated the links, as you see i wrote the codes and also link the source for more information

Jim Driscoll Over a year ago

Worth noting that the same applies if you import from “./“ and happen to be at the top level, which is helpful when searching for this pattern of use

kemicofa · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-13 17:16:24Z

7

In my case I was missing "include": ["./src/**/*.ts"] in tsconfig.json even though I had set the following:

    "compilerOptions": {
        "outDir": "./build",
        "rootDir": "./src"
    },

Typescript was probably confused as to which files it needed to include and probably thought my file that was built in ./build/index.d.ts was an input file.

answered Jul 13, 2021 at 17:16

kemicofa

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Comments

Paul Carroll · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-05 04:33:31Z

4

Many thanks to everyone else for their answers, for me however the problem was a lot simpler (and stupider). I had let WebStorm select the best import statement for me and overlooked that it included a file from the "dist" directory (this is what I have my output set to.

Once that cause was found the error made much more sense as it was indeed trying to write to the output file that was being used as it's input.

answered Jul 5, 2018 at 4:33

Paul Carroll

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1 Comment

Sudeep Rane Over a year ago

I had similar problem, VSCode was doing auto imports, and I overlooked one of them was from dist directory.

Maxime Lechevallier · Accepted Answer · 2024-03-14 09:23:28Z

1

Adding include to my configuration solved the problem for me.

  {
    "compilerOptions": {
        /* ... */
    },
    "include": ["src"],
    "exclude": ["**/*.test.*"]
  }

As said in the doc, exclude specifies an array of filenames or patterns that should be skipped when resolving include.

I deduce that exclude can't work if include hasn't been defined.

answered Mar 14, 2024 at 9:23

Maxime Lechevallier

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Comments

Pang · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-22 04:58:35Z

-1

I had this very same problem, and it was super simple to fix. I deleted node_modules, then deleting the typings folder.

in package.json I have these in

scripts: {
    ...
    "tsc": "tsc",
    "typings": "typings"
    ...
}

then ran the commands:

npm install
npm run tsc
npm run typings install

edited Sep 22, 2020 at 4:58

Pang

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answered Jul 31, 2016 at 3:58

sksallaj

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1 Comment

sksallaj Over a year ago

Not sure why this was downvoted. But in the last 6 years, this error has occurred for numerous reasons. This answer helped out with my issue, and it is used as a possible answer that could be tried without ruining your solution. Just because it didn't work for you doesn't mean it's not a possible solution.

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