TypeScript Importing external libraries Importing a module from npm
Example
If you have a type definition file (d.ts) for the module, you can use an import statement.
import _ = require('lodash');
If you don't have a definition file for the module, TypeScript will throw an error on compilation because it cannot find the module you are trying to import.
In this case, you can import the module with the normal runtime require function. This returns it as the any type, however.
// The _ variable is of type any, so TypeScript will not perform any type checking.
const _: any = require('lodash');
As of TypeScript 2.0, you can also use a shorthand ambient module declaration in order to tell TypeScript that a module exists when you don't have a type definition file for the module. TypeScript won't be able to provide any meaningful typechecking in this case though.
declare module "lodash";
// you can now import from lodash in any way you wish:
import { flatten } from "lodash";
import * as _ from "lodash";
As of TypeScript 2.1, the rules have been relaxed even further. Now, as long as a module exists in your node_modules directory, TypeScript will allow you to import it, even with no module declaration anywhere. (Note that if using the --noImplicitAny compiler option, the below will still generate a warning.)
// Will work if `node_modules/someModule/index.js` exists, or if `node_modules/someModule/package.json` has a valid "main" entry point
import { foo } from "someModule";
