Passing --project to ts-node when it's registered with nodemon

Question

This command is used to run my server:¹

nodemon
  -r ts-node/register
  -r tsconfig-paths/register
  --watch server/
  --watch shared/
  --ext ts,tsx,json
  --inspect-brk=24170
  ./server/index.ts

The problem is, I need ts-node to receive --project ./tsconfig-server.json rather than using the default tsconfig.json. Simply including it after the -r ts-node/register (or anywhere else) results in a bad option: --project error.

Using --exec 'node ./node_modules/ts-node/dist/bin.js --project ./tsconfig-amd.json' instead of -r ts-node/register works, but then the debugger fails to attach to the process. I assume that’s because it’s trying to attach to the nodemon process rather than the node process that nodemon starts?

But I cannot use the default tsconfig.json filename here, because VS Code does not support specifying an alternative tsconfig.json and the server config is not the one I want to use for viewing and editing the code

---

1. _{The command is actually produced by VS Code per my .vscode/launch.json which looks like this:}

   {
       // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
       // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
       // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
       "version": "0.2.0",
       "configurations": [
           {
               "type": "node",
               "request": "launch",
               "name": "nodemon",
               "runtimeExecutable": "node",
               "args": [
                   "${workspaceFolder}/server/index.ts"
               ],
               "runtimeArgs": [
                   "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/nodemon/bin/nodemon.js",
                   "-r",
                   "ts-node/register",
                   "-r",
                   "tsconfig-paths/register",
                   "--watch",
                   "server/",
                   "--watch",
                   "shared/",
                   "--ext",
                   "ts,tsx,json"
               ],
               "restart": true,
               "console": "integratedTerminal",
               "internalConsoleOptions": "neverOpen",
               "protocol": "inspector"
           }
       ]
   }
   

Answer 1

You need to pass the --project value trough the "TS_NODE_PROJECT" environment variable. I do it in my nodemon.json file

{
    "restartable": "rs",
    "ignore": [".git", "node_modules/**/node_modules", "src/client"],
    "verbose": true,
    "execMap": {
      "ts": "node --require ts-node/register/transpile-only --require tsconfig-paths/register"
    },
    "watch": ["src/server", "typing"],
    "env": {
      "NODE_ENV": "development",
      "TS_NODE_PROJECT": "src/server/tsconfig.json"
    },
    "ext": "js,json,ts"
}