ctix - Next generation Create TypeScript barrel

entrypoint barrel file automatically generated cli tool

Why ctix?

Have you ever developed a library project in the TypeScript language? Unlike API servers or desktop applications, library projects do not have executable scripts or functions. Therefore, it is common to organize a number of functions and variables to be included in the library in an barrel file. However, it is inconvenient to rewrite the barrel file every time you add a function or variable, and it is easy to make a mistake and miss a function or variable you intended. ctix uses the TypeScript compiler API to automatically generate the barrel file by searching your TypeScript project for functions and variables with the export keyword added.

To summarize,

1. automatically extracts statement with the export keyword applied
2. generate a single barrel file or directory-specific barrel files
3. automatically generate configuration files via interactive prompts
4. automatically add type keyword to interface, type aliases to indicate they are pure types
   • eg. export { type IAmSuperHero } from './marvel';
5. can be set to exception files via comments in source code files (eslint style)
6. always generates a compilable barrel file because it uses the TypeScript compiler API

In addition, ctix will auto-generate barrel files so that a single index.d.ts file can be generated correctly when using the rollup-plugin-dts plugin. Now you can develop your TypeScript library projects more easily!

Table of Contents

• Why ctix?
• Getting Starts
• How it works?
  • Barrel file
• Installation
• Usage
  • Saving Configuration
  • include & exclude file
    • How can I include wanted files?
    • How can I exclude unwanted files?
  • eslint style inline comment
    • @ctix-exclude
    • @ctix-exclude-next
    • @ctix-generation-style
    • @ctix-declaration
  • Programming interface
• Requirement
• Important
• Generation Style
• More information
• Examples
• What is difference Re-Map paths?
• Option
• License
• References

Getting Starts

npm install ctix --save-dev
npx ctix init
npx ctix build

ctix provides interactive prompts to help you create the configuration file. Execute the ctix init command to create a configuration file.

How it works?

The graph below outlines the behavioral flow of ctix.

flowchart LR
    START(start) --> |execute cli|ctix
    ctix --> |TypeScript Compiler API| INP01[Source Code files]
    ctix --> |TypeScript Compiler API| INP02["tsconfig.json"]
    ctix --> |json, json5, yaml| INP03[".ctirc"]
    INP01 --> TF[/Summray target source files/]
    INP02 --> TF
    INP03 --> TF
    TF --> TS[/Summray target export statements/]
    TS --> IW["index.ts file generation"]
    IW --> END(end)

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Because ctix uses the TypeScript Compiler API to summary target files and extract export statements, developers don't need to write source code in a special format or make any changes to existing code to make it work.

Barrel file

A barrel is a way to rollup exports from several modules into a single convenient module. The barrel itself is a module file that re-exports selected exports of other modules.

• TypeScript Deep Dive - barrel
• How we optimized package imports in Next.js
• In-Depth guide for TypeScript Library

Installation

npm install ctix --save-dev

Usage

# bundle mode
ctix build --mode bundle -p ./tsconfig.json -o ./src

# create mode
ctix build --mode create -p ./tsconfig.json --start-from ./src

# module mode
ctix build --mode module -p ./tsconfig.json -o ./src/components

The mode in which the barrel file is to be generated. There is a create mode that generates an barrel file per directory, a bundle mode that generates a single barrel file, and a module mode that generates an barrel file by filename for vue, sevelte, etc.

bundle mode	create mode	module mode

Check out the .ctirc in examples/type10 to see how to utilize the module mode.

Saving Configuration

You can save frequently used configurations. ctix supports saving settings in package.json, tsconfig.json, or a .ctirc file. You can easily create a basic configuration using the ctix init command.

# generate base configuration
ctix init

include & exclude file

ctix needs a list of files to generate the index.ts file. You can provide this list using the --include option, which supports glob patterns. If you don't use the --include option, ctix will use the include setting from the .ctirc file. If neither the --include option nor the .ctirc file is provided, ctix will fall back to the include field in the tsconfig.json file.

This diagram shows the file include/exclude mechanism.

How can I include wanted files?

ctix gets a glob pattern to generate the index.ts file. The glob pattern is obtained from various configuration files such as:

1. Glob pattern from cli argument --include
2. Glob patterns from the include field in the .ctirc configuration file
3. Glob patterns from the include field in the tsconfig.json configuration file

If your index.ts file is empty or a warning is displayed, please check the above configuration.

How can I exclude unwanted files?

There are two ways to do this. The first is to create a .ctirc file and set the include or exclude value, which works similarly to the include and exclude values in the tsconfig.json file. The second is to comment out @ctix-exclude at the top of the files you want to exclude, such as eslint.

.ctirc

{
  "options": {
    "mode": "bundle",
    "exclude": ["**/*.storybook.tsx"]
  }
}

If you want to use a .ctirc file, I recommend creating one with the npx ctix init command.

eslint style inline comment

You can add configurations using eslint-style inline comments.

@ctix-exclude

If you want to include an entire directory but exclude certain files, instead of writing a complex glob pattern, you can simply use inline comments to exclude the specific files.

/** @ctix-exclude */

const Button = () => {
  return <button>Sample</button>;
};

@ctix-exclude-next

When exporting multiple classes and functions, you can exclude one or two of them if needed.

const Button = () => {};

const GroupButton = () => {};

// @ctix-exclude-next
const UnwantedButton = () => {};

const Checkbox = () => {};

@ctix-generation-style

/** @ctix-generation-style default-alias-named-destructive */
const Button = () => {};

const GroupButton = () => {};

// @ctix-exclude-next
const UnwantedButton = () => {};

const Checkbox = () => {};

The export syntax in the index.ts file is determined by the chosen generation style. For more details, refer to the More about Generation Style documentation.

@ctix-declaration

When ctix generates the index.ts file, it uses prettier and prettier-plugin-organize-imports to check if the files to be exported are used. During this process, files that only contain declare module are excluded. This can cause issues if you intend to bundle type files. However, if you add @ctix-declaration to the file, it will be included in the index.ts file. Keep in mind that @ctix-declaration is applied after the exclude option, so make sure the file is not included in the exclude option.

@ctix-declaration does not work when used with export statements in the same file.

/** @ctix-declaration */

declare module '*.vue' {
  import Vue from 'vue';
  export default Vue;
}

Programming interface

When using task runners like Gulp and Just, as well as bundlers like webpack and rollup, you need a programming interface to add ctix.

function	option	descryption
building	TCommandBuildOptions	Execute the build command
initializing	TCommandInitOptions	Execute the init command
removing	TCommandRemoveOptions, TCommandBuildOptions	Execute the remove command

Check out the example code.

Requirement

• Node.js 18
• TypeScript

Important

ctix does not work in JavaScript code because it uses TypeScript API, please use it before Babel translation or TypeScript compilation.

Generation Style

The handling of the default export is an important issue, but many bundlers and type bundlers handle the default export differently, so ctix provides many ways to create a default export.

You can change the generation style of the entire project by setting the generation-style option, or you can change the generation style of only certain files by adding the @ctix-generation-style inline comment at the top of the file.

• More about Generation Style

More information

• Applying a font file to your source code
• Applying a Vue.js components to your source code
• Applying a include, exclude configuration to .ctirc

Examples

In the examples directory, you can find cases where ctix has been applied to various projects. For detailed explanations, please refer to the Examples README.md file.

Directory Name	Purpose
type03	When there are duplicate names in the entire project
type05	For React projects
type06	When using TypeScript enums
type07	When using destructive operations on variables for named exports
type09	When using TTF fonts by declaring them as modules and using them in TypeScript
type10	For Vue.js projects
type11	When using Component Props in React projects

What is difference Re-Map paths?

It is not recommended to use index.ts file to re-map paths or shorten the paths. If you want to shorten the paths use Re-Map paths feature in TypeScript compilerOptions. ctix is recommended for webpack and rollup.js, typedoc entrypoint and TypeScript declaration file bundling.

Option

• build command
  • bundle mode
  • create mode
  • module mode
• remove command

License

This software is licensed under the MIT.

References

• AST browser
• Tree generator