rollup-plugin-dts/README.md

A rollup plugin that will bundle up your .d.ts definition files.

# rollup-plugin-dts

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This is a plugin that lets you roll-up your `.d.ts` definition files.

## Usage

Install the package from `npm`:

    $ npm install --save-dev rollup-plugin-dts

Add it to your `rollup.config.js`:

```js
import { dts } from "rollup-plugin-dts";

const config = [
  // …
  {
    input: "./my-input/index.d.ts",
    output: [{ file: "dist/my-library.d.ts", format: "es" }],
    plugins: [dts()],
  },
];

export default config;
```

**NOTE** A [default import](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/import#default_import) of the plugin using `import dts from "rollup-plugin-dts";` is still supported for existing implementations of this package. However, a [named import](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/import#named_import) is suggested to avoid the error `[!] TypeError: dts is not a function`[^1][^2] in certain rollup config file implementations.

And then instruct typescript where to find your definitions inside your `package.json`:

```json
  "types": "dist/my-library.d.ts",
```

**NOTE** that the plugin will automatically mark any external library
(`@types` for example) as `external`, so those will be excluded from bundling.

## Maintenance Mode

This project is in _maintenance mode_. That means there will be no more active feature development.
There will still be occasional releases to maintain compatibility with future TypeScript releases.
Pull Requests are always welcome, however reaction time on both Issues and PRs can be slow.

## What to expect

While this plugin is fairly complete, it does not support all imaginable use-cases.
In particular, the plugin works best with already existing `.d.ts` files generated
by the typescript compiler from idiomatic code.

Working with `.ts(x)` or even `.js(x)` (when setting `allowJs: true`) does work,
but is not recommended.

The plugin does its own import resolution through the typescript compiler, and
usage together with other resolution plugins, such as `node-resolve` can lead
to errors and is not recommended.

All external dependencies from `node_modules` are automatically excluded from
bundling. This can be overridden using the `respectExternal` setting, but it is
generally not recommended. While rollup of external `@types` generally works,
it is not recommended.

## Why?

Well, ideally TypeScript should just do all this itself, and it even has a
[proposal](https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/4433) to do that.
But there hasn’t been any progress in ~3 years.

Some projects, like [rollup itself](https://github.com/rollup/rollup/blob/24fe07f39da8e4225f4bc4f797331930d8405ec2/src/rollup/types.d.ts)
go the route of completely separating their public interfaces in a separate file.

## Alternatives

- [API Extractor](https://api-extractor.com/)
- [dts-bundle-generator](https://github.com/timocov/dts-bundle-generator)
- [rollup-plugin-ts](https://github.com/wessberg/rollup-plugin-ts)
- [tsc-prog](https://github.com/jeremyben/tsc-prog)

[See](https://github.com/Swatinem/rollup-plugin-dts/issues/5)
[some](https://github.com/Swatinem/rollup-plugin-dts/issues/13)
[discussions](https://github.com/timocov/dts-bundle-generator/issues/68)
about some of these projects and their tradeoffs.

## [How does it work](./docs/how-it-works.md)

## License

The code is licensed under the copyleft **LGPL-3.0**. I have no intention to
license this under any non-copyleft license.

[^1]: [StackOverflow thread](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/74255565/rollup-typescript-error-dts-is-not-a-function/74304876#74304876) of issue
[^2]: [Github issue](https://github.com/Swatinem/rollup-plugin-dts/issues/247)