Publish TypeScript declarations (.d.ts) from the 4.x packages

[ondrejmirtes]

The 4.x packages are authored in TypeScript: the published source maps point at .ts sources (e.g. @tko/bind's applyBindings.js.map has "sources": ["../src/applyBindings.ts"]), yet none of them ship type declarations.

There are no .d.ts files in any @tko/* package, the types/typings field is unset, and the exports map only lists JS:

"exports": { ".": { "require": "./dist/index.cjs", "import": "./dist/index.mjs" } }

So import ko from '@tko/build.knockout' fails type-checking with "Could not find a declaration file for module '@tko/build.knockout'". The same applies to @tko/build.reference and the individual packages, and there's no @types/tko on DefinitelyTyped.

The workaround on the consumer side is to keep the old knockout package as a dev dependency purely for its bundled .d.ts and re-point it:

declare module '@tko/build.knockout' {
  import ko from 'knockout';
  export default ko;
}

That works because the runtime API is KO3-compatible, but it's a hack and doesn't cover the modular @tko/* packages.

Since the source is already TypeScript (#92 landed the conversion, #6 is the original tracking issue), this looks like mostly enabling declaration emit in the build and adding a types entry to each package's exports.

Checked on @tko/build.knockout@4.1.0 and @tko/build.reference@4.1.0.

[brianmhunt]

Thanks for the clear write-up and the workaround pattern.

Current state: bun run dts exists and generates declarations, but it produces a single bundle at builds/dts/dist/tko.d.ts via tsconfig.dts.json. It is not wired into any individual package's exports map, so consumers of @tko/build.knockout, @tko/build.reference, or the modular @tko/* packages get no types entry.

Closing the gap requires two things:

1. Per-package declaration emit — the build script (tools/build.ts) would need to run tsc --emitDeclarationOnly for each package and write the output into that package's dist/.
2. types in each exports map — each package.json exports entry gets a "types": "./dist/index.d.ts" field alongside the existing require/import paths.

The TypeScript source is already there (the 4.x conversion is done), so this is mostly plumbing. A plan in plans/ would be the right entry point per the contributor guide — happy to discuss approach if you want to take a crack at it.

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