typescript-native-bridge (TNB)
Published on npm as
typescript-native-bridge.
A drop-in typescript replacement that type-checks on Go. Swap the typescript
package for this fork and keep using tsc, vue-tsc, svelte-check, astro-check,
glint, ESLint, and your editor exactly as before — the checker runs on tsgo
(Microsoft's Go TypeScript compiler) in-process instead of JavaScript. No new CLI, no
new LSP, no per-tool config, no code changes.
Why not just use TypeScript 7 (tsgo)?
typescript@7 is Microsoft's Go-native rewrite — but it doesn't drop into the tools you
actually use:
vue-tsc/astro-check/svelte-check/glintare built on the classictypescriptprogrammatic API (createProgram, Volar hooks, custom hosts). v7's programmatic surface is the new tsgo API — not a drop-in replacement for the classic one, so those tools can't just move to it.- ESLint (typescript-eslint) imports the classic
typescriptAPI and callsgetTypeChecker()— same API mismatch. - Editors run
tsserver+ Language Service Plugins (@vue/typescript-pluginfor.vue) — tsgo's LSP doesn't support that plugin model.
TNB keeps the classic package surface and puts the v7 engine (tsgo 7.x) behind it
in-process — so one typescript override accelerates all of them at once.
Install
pnpm (monorepos)
# pnpm-workspace.yaml
overrides:
typescript: npm:typescript-native-bridge@<version>pnpm install
pnpm exec vue-tsc -b --noEmit # or your project's typecheck scriptIf packages depend on typescript via catalog:, update the catalog entry too,
or those packages still resolve stock TypeScript:
catalog:
typescript: npm:typescript-native-bridge@<version>
overrides:
typescript: npm:typescript-native-bridge@<version>npm
Use the alias and the $typescript override reference as shown — putting
npm:typescript-native-bridge@… directly inside overrides is rejected or mis-resolved
by some npm versions (issue #8). <version> is an exact version
(e.g. 6.0.3-bridge.6.tsgo.7.0.2 — pin exactly; caret ranges don't match
prerelease versions) or the latest dist-tag.
yarn
// package.json
{
"resolutions": {
"typescript": "npm:typescript-native-bridge@<version>"
}
}Local path (pinning a git checkout)
# pnpm-workspace.yaml
overrides:
typescript: link:../typescript-native-bridgeThe checkout must be built first (requires Go — npm run setup in the TNB repo).
After any override change: reinstall. The override applies repo-wide — vue-tsc,
@typescript-eslint/parser, and every other transitive typescript consumer picks up
the fork.
Confirm it's working
On the first type-check in a process, TNB prints to stderr:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ✅ TNB ACTIVE — `typescript` is the tsgo-backed fork │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
No banner = stock typescript is still loaded. See Troubleshooting.
node -e "console.log(require.resolve('typescript'))"
# should point at typescript-native-bridge, not node_modules/typescript@6.xVerified compatible tools
Verified means: the tool runs on the fork and its behavior matches tsgo's on the stated workload (no crash, no silent under-reporting, no false positives beyond the differences from tsgo).
| Tool | Status | Verified on |
|---|---|---|
tsc |
✅ | compiler test corpus |
vue-tsc |
✅ | elk.zone monorepo (~2,000 files): emitted-error parity with stock, ~3.1× faster |
astro-check |
✅ | fixture project: output identical to stock |
svelte-check |
✅ | fixture project: output identical to stock (incl. svelteHTML ambient shims) |
glint |
✅ | fixture project: same error set as stock (transformed .gts virtual files) |
| ESLint + typescript-eslint (type-aware rules) | ✅ | 1,000-file type-aware corpus: lint output byte-identical to stock |
tsserver + @vue/typescript-plugin |
✅ | volar language-tools test suite: 205/209 pass (4 skipped) |
tsslint |
✅ | runs as the volar repo's own linter |
Continuous verification: a nightly CI gate replays the language-service probe
corpus (quickinfo / definition / references / diagnostics, ~19k units) against the
same stock build — no new divergences allowed. If your tool isn't listed, try it and
file an issue; the fork covers any tool that drives the standard typescript
Compiler API.
Framework specifics
.vue,.svelte,.astro,.mdx,.gtsetc. via the standardextraFileExtensionscontract — no hard-coded per-framework special case.- Host-injected virtual content (Volar virtual TS, glint's transformed modules, svelte's ambient shims) reaches the Go checker.
allowArbitraryExtensionsis inferredtruewhen host extra extensions are present and tsconfig leaves it unset; explicitfalseopts out.- Not supported: custom
resolveModuleNames/resolveModuleNameLiteralsthat remap an import to a different physical file (the bridge is synchronous JS→Go; tsgo cannot call back into JS resolvers).
Performance
Measured on this repo's benchmarks (Apple Silicon; your repo will differ — measure):
| Workload | Stock typescript |
TNB | |
|---|---|---|---|
vue-tsc -b full check (elk.zone, ~2000 files) |
9.7s | 3.1s | ~3.1× |
| type-aware ESLint, single-run (plain TS, one program) | 7.6s | 7.7s | parity |
| JS heap peak (1000-file type-aware ESLint run) | 1.57GB | 0.90GB | −43% |
The rule is simple: wherever the time is in the checker, TNB is faster. The Go engine does the whole-program semantic pass ~10× faster than the JS checker — the question for any workload is how much of its time that phase is.
Editor / LS path (Volar + tsserver): the V8-arena transport (fixed-layout records written straight into V8 memory) plus a binary blob codec for the auto-import export map keep per-keystroke work near the transport floor. Measured on a 5,537-request roam over the volar corpus: completionInfo 0.3ms mean with 290 bytes and 1.0 RPC per request; quickinfo 0.5ms; references 4.8ms; total JSON transport 7.7MB.
vue-tsc -b (checker-dominated — the big win):
| Stock | TNB | |
|---|---|---|
| Type-checking | ~5.6s (JS checker) | ~0.6s (Go checker) |
| Tool overhead (Volar codegen, JS, transport) | ~4.1s | ~2.5s |
| Total | 9.7s | 3.1s |
The single-run ESLint row is the control case: its type-checking share is small (the tool spends its time on parsing, AST conversion and rule execution — work both sides pay), so the total lands at parity. Workloads dominated by transport volume rather than checker work (e.g. watch-mode ESLint issuing ~469K tiny queries — one program rebuild per linted file) measure the JS↔Go boundary, not the engine; the V8-arena transport (fixed-layout records written straight into V8 memory, DataView reads, interned strings) keeps that boundary near its floor, and memory stays well below stock either way.
Editor / tsserver (VS Code, Cursor)
CLI typecheck picks up TNB automatically. The editor does not — VS Code ships its own TypeScript and only uses yours when you opt in.
1. Workspace settings (commit .vscode/settings.json for the team):
{
"js/ts.tsdk.path": "node_modules/typescript/lib",
"js/ts.tsdk.promptToUseWorkspaceVersion": true
}Use a path relative to the workspace folder that contains node_modules.
2. Switch to the workspace version (once per machine):
Command Palette → TypeScript: Select TypeScript Version → Use Workspace Version.
3. Verify: the version picker shows a path under node_modules/typescript/lib; the
Output → TypeScript channel may show TNB ACTIVE on first project load. Vue/Nuxt users:
keep @vue/typescript-plugin in tsconfig compilerOptions.plugins as today — it runs
as a tsserver LS Plugin on this fork.
| CLI | Editor | |
|---|---|---|
| Override needed | Yes | Yes (same node_modules/typescript) |
| Extra config | No | js/ts.tsdk.path + Use Workspace Version |
Behavior and differences from tsgo
The checker's behavior is tsgo 7.0.2's (Microsoft's Go TypeScript), not stock TypeScript 6.0.3's — migrating from stock means inheriting tsgo's diagnostics, bundled libs, and display output as-is.
TNB's own changes to tsgo behavior — the complete list, enforced by CI:
| Change | Why | Upstream | Removal |
|---|---|---|---|
getTypeFromTypeNodeWorker resolves type-position entity names (identifier / qualified name / property access) |
Silent wrong result on the headline path: hover on P in [P, (typeof OBJ)[P][number]] read any instead of the type parameter (issue #30) |
repro branch repro/type-position-entity-reads-any (issue pending) |
When the upstream fix lands |
Anything that looks like a difference from stock 6.0.3 but isn't listed here is tsgo's own behavior, not TNB's. Found an actual TNB-only divergence? File an issue with a minimal repro.
Platform support
The bridge binary ships as per-platform optional dependencies; npm install pulls only
the one matching your machine (the main package is pure JS):
| Platform | Sub-package |
|---|---|
| macOS Apple Silicon | @typescript-native-bridge/darwin-arm64 |
| macOS Intel | @typescript-native-bridge/darwin-x64 |
| Linux x64 | @typescript-native-bridge/linux-x64 |
| Linux arm64 | @typescript-native-bridge/linux-arm64 |
| Linux arm (32-bit) | @typescript-native-bridge/linux-arm |
| Windows x64 | @typescript-native-bridge/win32-x64 |
| Windows arm64 | @typescript-native-bridge/win32-arm64 |
Linux packages target glibc 2.31 and are rejected by the release gate if they
acquire a newer symbol requirement. Alpine/musl is not supported: Go's
-buildmode=c-shared runtime crashes at load on musl libc — even a trivial
hello-world c-shared library segfaults, on Go 1.22 through 1.26 alike
(golang/go#13492, a 10-year-open
upstream issue with an active fix in
golang/go#75048; tsgo's own CLI
works on Alpine only because it ships CGO-free static binaries, and a NAPI
bridge cannot be CGO-free). Workaround: run the typecheck/lint step in a
glibc-based image (node:24 or node:24-bookworm-slim) and deploy into the
Alpine stage of your multi-stage build; apk add gcompat does not help.
On an unsupported platform the loader fails with a clear "unsupported platform or
missing optional dependency" error — build from source there (clone with submodules,
then npm run setup; requires Go + a C toolchain).
Troubleshooting
No banner appears
| Check | Action |
|---|---|
| Override at workspace root | Monorepo: pnpm-workspace.yaml, not a leaf package |
| pnpm 11 | Move package.json → pnpm.overrides to pnpm-workspace.yaml → overrides: (pnpm 11 no longer reads the pnpm field — silently ignored) |
catalog: pin |
Update catalog and overrides |
| Stale install | pnpm install again; clear CI cache if needed |
| Wrong resolution | node -e "console.log(require.resolve('typescript'))" |
CLI works, editor doesn't (or vice versa)
- CLI OK, editor not: add the tsdk settings and run TypeScript: Select TypeScript Version → Use Workspace Version. The override alone is not enough for the editor.
- Editor OK, CLI not: check
require.resolve('typescript')— should point at TNB. Reinstall after changing overrides.
Type errors differ from stock
Expected — the checker's behavior is tsgo 7.0.2's, not stock 6.0.3's, so output can differ from stock (see Behavior and differences from tsgo). What is a bug: output that differs from tsgo itself — file an issue with a minimal repro.
Missing native bridge
Error mentioning bridge.dylib / bridge.so / bridge.dll / "unsupported platform" →
see Platform support (build from source, or use a link: install
built with npm run setup).
Debug a slow run
TSGO_PROFILE=1 prints a [tsgo-profile] RPC/timing summary to stderr on process exit.
Uninstall / rollback
Remove the typescript override, reinstall, confirm:
pnpm install
node -e "console.log(require.resolve('typescript'))" # stock typescript@6.x againNo source changes required.
FAQ
Do I need to change my code? No.
Do I configure vue-tsc / ESLint / my editor plugin separately? No. They import
typescript; one override covers them.
Is this the same as TypeScript 7 / tsgo? Same engine, different package. TNB pins
tsgo 7.x as its checker (the version string ends in tsgo.7.0.2), but keeps the classic
typescript API and tsserver in front of it. typescript@7 gives you the new tsgo
API and its own LSP instead — see Why not just use TypeScript 7?
How much faster is it? See Performance — biggest on vue-tsc-style
full-program workloads. Measure on your own repo.
License
Apache-2.0. See LICENSE and NOTICE.
This package is a derivative work of Microsoft TypeScript and microsoft/typescript-go.