TS for GIR
TypeScript type definition generator for GObject introspection GIR files
# CLI
CLI tool to generate TypeScript type definitions and HTML documentation for GObject Introspection Repository (GIR) files, primarily for GJS applications.
## Getting started
### Install (GJS — no Node.js required)
```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gjsify/ts-for-gir/main/install.js -o /tmp/ts-for-gir-install.js
gjs -m /tmp/ts-for-gir-install.js
rm /tmp/ts-for-gir-install.js
```
Installs `ts-for-gir` to `~/.local/bin/ts-for-gir`. Update later with:
```bash
ts-for-gir self-update
```
### Install (Node.js)
```bash
npx @ts-for-gir/cli --help
```
> Alternatively add `@ts-for-gir/cli` to your dependencies:
> ```bash
> npm install --save-dev @ts-for-gir/cli
> ```
>
> Or install globally:
> ```bash
> npm install -g @ts-for-gir/cli
> ts-for-gir --help
> ```
### GJS bundle
The GJS bundle (`ts-for-gir-gjs`) supports the full TypeScript /
TypeDoc pipeline thanks to gjsify's runtime-relative `import.meta.url`
rewrite. All non-interactive commands run natively on GJS:
- `ts-for-gir generate` — `.d.ts` generation
- `ts-for-gir json` — TypeDoc-backed JSON export
- `ts-for-gir doc` — HTML documentation. TypeDoc's shiki highlighter
loads the [oniguruma](https://github.com/kkos/oniguruma) regex
engine via `WebAssembly.compile(...)`. GJS 1.88 (SpiderMonkey 140)
exposes the synchronous `WebAssembly.{Module,Instance}` constructors
but ships the Promise APIs as stubs that throw on first call;
[`@gjsify/webassembly`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@gjsify/webassembly)
(gjsify v0.3.6+) wraps the synchronous constructors with
`Promise.{resolve,reject}` so `compile`/`instantiate` resolve
natively in the GJS bundle.
- `ts-for-gir list` / `copy` / `analyze` / `self-update`
The only command still gated on Node.js is `create` — its
[`inquirer`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/inquirer)-based interactive
prompt cannot run on GJS without a TTY-aware port. Use
`npx @ts-for-gir/cli create ...` from a Node install for now.
```
TypeScript type definition generator for GObject introspection GIR files
Commands:
ts-for-gir generate [modules..] Generates .d.ts files from GIR for GJS
ts-for-gir json [modules..] Generates JSON representation from GIR files for analysis and tooling
ts-for-gir doc [modules..] Generates HTML documentation from GIR files using TypeDoc
ts-for-gir list [modules..] Lists all available GIR modules
ts-for-gir copy [modules..] Scan for *.gir files and copy them to a new directory
ts-for-gir analyze Analyze report files generated by ts-for-gir reporter
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
--help Show help [boolean]
```
## Example
To generate the TypeScript type definitions of Gtk-4.0 for GJS run:
```
ts-for-gir generate Gtk-4.0
```
You can also look at the [examples](https://github.com/gjsify/ts-for-gir/tree/main/examples) to see how the types are generated and/or used there.
## Generate .d.ts files
```
ts-for-gir generate [modules..]
Generates .d.ts files from GIR for GJS
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
--help Show help [boolean]
--modules GIR modules to load, e.g. 'Gio-2.0'. Accepts
multiple modules [array] [default: ["*"]]
-g, --girDirectories GIR directories [array]
--root Root directory of your project [string]
-o, --outdir Directory to output to
[string] [default: "./@types"]
-i, --ignore Modules that should be ignored
[array] [default: []]
-v, --verbose Switch on/off the verbose mode
[boolean] [default: false]
--ignoreVersionConflicts Skip prompts for library version selection when
multiple versions are detected
[boolean] [default: false]
-p, --print Print the output to console and create no files
[boolean] [default: false]
--configName Specify a custom name for the configuration file
[string] [default: ".ts-for-girrc.js"]
-d, --noNamespace Do not export all symbols for each module as a
namespace [boolean] [default: false]
-n, --noComments Do not generate documentation comments
[boolean] [default: false]
--promisify Generate promisified functions for async/finish
calls [boolean] [default: true]
--npmScope Scope of the generated NPM packages
[string] [default: "@girs"]
--workspace Uses the workspace protocol for the generated
packages [boolean] [default: false]
--onlyVersionPrefix Only use the version prefix for the ambient
module exports [boolean] [default: false]
--noPrettyPrint Do not prettify the generated types
[boolean] [default: false]
--noAdvancedVariants Disable GLib.Variant class with string parsing
[boolean] [default: false]
--package Generate the typescript types with package.json
support [boolean] [default: false]
--reporter Enable generation problem reporter and create a
detailed report file [boolean] [default: false]
--reporterOutput Output file path for the reporter
[string] [default: "ts-for-gir-report.json"]
Examples:
ts-for-gir generate Run 'ts-for-gir generate'
in your gjs project to
generate typings
ts-for-gir generate 'Gtk*' You can also use wild cards
ts-for-gir generate '*' Parse all locally installed
gir modules
ts-for-gir generate --configName='.rc.js' Use a special config file
ts-for-gir generate --ignore=Gtk-4.0 xrandr-1.3 Generate .d.ts files but
not for Gtk-4.0 and
xrandr-1.3
```
## Generate TypeDoc JSON
Generates TypeDoc JSON output enriched with GIR-specific metadata. This is useful as an intermediate step before generating HTML documentation (see `doc --merge`), or for custom tooling.
```
ts-for-gir json [modules..]
Generates JSON representation from GIR files for analysis and tooling
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
--help Show help [boolean]
--modules GIR modules to load, e.g. 'Gio-2.0'. Accepts
multiple modules [array] [default: ["*"]]
-g, --girDirectories GIR directories [array]
--root Root directory of your project [string]
-o, --outdir Directory to output to
[string] [default: "./@types"]
-i, --ignore Modules that should be ignored
[array] [default: []]
-v, --verbose Switch on/off the verbose mode
[boolean] [default: false]
--ignoreVersionConflicts Skip prompts for library version selection when
multiple versions are detected
[boolean] [default: false]
--configName Specify a custom name for the configuration file
[string] [default: ".ts-for-girrc.js"]
Examples:
ts-for-gir json Generate JSON for all modules
ts-for-gir json Gtk-4.0 --outdir ./json Generate JSON for Gtk-4.0 into ./json
ts-for-gir json '*' --outdir ./json Generate JSON for all modules
```
## Generate HTML documentation
Generates a browsable HTML API reference using TypeDoc. Supports two modes:
- **Direct mode**: Generates `.d.ts` files from GIR, then converts to HTML in one step.
- **Merge mode** (`--merge`): Reads pre-generated JSON files (from `ts-for-gir json`) and produces HTML. This uses less memory and is suitable for large module sets.
The generated documentation uses a custom theme inspired by [gi-docgen](https://gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/gi-docgen/) with a 3-column layout, GIR metadata badges, and categorized module listings.
See the live documentation at [gjsify.github.io/docs](https://gjsify.github.io/docs).
```
ts-for-gir doc [modules..]
Generates HTML documentation from GIR files using TypeDoc
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
--help Show help [boolean]
--modules GIR modules to load, e.g. 'Gio-2.0'. Accepts
multiple modules [array] [default: ["*"]]
-g, --girDirectories GIR directories [array]
--root Root directory of your project [string]
-o, --outdir Directory to output to
[string] [default: "./docs"]
-i, --ignore Modules that should be ignored
[array] [default: []]
-v, --verbose Switch on/off the verbose mode
[boolean] [default: false]
--ignoreVersionConflicts Skip prompts for library version selection when
multiple versions are detected
[boolean] [default: false]
--configName Specify a custom name for the configuration file
[string] [default: ".ts-for-girrc.js"]
--combined Generate a single unified documentation for all
modules (use --no-combined for separate
per-module docs) [boolean] [default: true]
--sourceLinkTemplate URL template for source links in generated
documentation. Supports {path}, {line},
{gitRevision} placeholders [string]
--theme Theme for HTML documentation generation.
Use "default" for TypeDoc's built-in theme.
[string] [default: "gi-docgen"]
--readme Path to a README file for the documentation
index page. Use "none" to disable. [string]
--merge Use TypeDoc merge mode to generate HTML from
pre-generated JSON files (requires --jsonDir)
[boolean] [default: false]
--jsonDir Directory containing pre-generated TypeDoc JSON
files for merge mode (from 'ts-for-gir json')
[string]
Examples:
ts-for-gir doc Gtk-4.0 --outdir ./docs Generate HTML documentation
for Gtk-4.0
ts-for-gir doc '*' --outdir ./docs Generate documentation for all
locally installed GIR modules
ts-for-gir doc --merge --jsonDir ./json Generate HTML from pre-generated
--outdir ./docs JSON files (low memory)
```
### Two-phase workflow
For large module sets, you can split documentation generation into two phases to reduce peak memory usage:
```bash
# Phase 1: Generate JSON files (one per module)
ts-for-gir json '*' --outdir ./json
# Phase 2: Merge JSON files into HTML documentation
ts-for-gir doc --merge --jsonDir ./json --outdir ./docs
```
## List available GIR modules
```
ts-for-gir list [modules..]
Lists all available GIR modules
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
--help Show help [boolean]
--modules GIR modules to load, e.g. 'Gio-2.0'. Accepts
multiple modules [array] [default: ["*"]]
-g, --girDirectories GIR directories [array]
--root Root directory of your project [string]
-i, --ignore Modules that should be ignored [array] [default: []]
--configName Specify a custom name for the configuration file
[string] [default: ".ts-for-girrc.js"]
-v, --verbose Switch on/off the verbose mode [boolean] [default: false]
Examples:
ts-for-gir list -g ./vala-girs/gir-1.0 Lists all available GIR
modules in
./vala-girs/gir-1.0
ts-for-gir list --ignore=Gtk-3.0 xrandr-1.3 Lists all available GIR
modules but not Gtk-3.0
and xrandr-1.3
```
## Copy GIR files
```
ts-for-gir copy [modules..]
Scan for *.gir files and copy them to a new directory
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
--help Show help [boolean]
--modules GIR modules to load, e.g. 'Gio-2.0'. Accepts
multiple modules [array] [default: ["*"]]
-g, --girDirectories GIR directories [array]
--root Root directory of your project [string]
-o, --outdir Directory to output to [string] [default: "./@types"]
-i, --ignore Modules that should be ignored [array] [default: []]
--configName Specify a custom name for the configuration file
[string] [default: ".ts-for-girrc.js"]
-v, --verbose Switch on/off the verbose mode [boolean] [default: false]
Examples:
ts-for-gir copy -o ./gir Copy found *.gir files to
./gir
ts-for-gir copy -g /usr/share/gir-1.0 Copy all found *.gir files
--ignore=Gtk-3.0 xrandr-1.3 -o ./gir excluding Gtk-3.0 and
xrandr-1.3 to ./gir
```
## Analyze report files
```
ts-for-gir analyze [options]
Analyze report files generated by ts-for-gir reporter
Options:
--version Show version number [boolean]
--help Show help [boolean]
-f, --reportFile Path to the report file to analyze [string] [required]
-s, --severity Filter by problem severity
(debug, info, warning, error, critical) [array]
-c, --category Filter by problem category [array]
-n, --namespace Filter by namespace/module [array]
-t, --type Filter by specific type name [array]
--search Search for text in messages, details, or type names
[string]
--since Filter problems since date/time (ISO format) [string]
--until Filter problems until date/time (ISO format) [string]
--top Show top N most problematic items [number] [default: 10]
--format Output format (table, json, csv)
[string] [default: "table"]
-e, --export Export filtered results to file [string]
-d, --detailed Show detailed problem information [boolean] [default: false]
--summary Show summary statistics only [boolean] [default: false]
-v, --verbose Enable verbose output [boolean] [default: false]
Examples:
ts-for-gir analyze -f ./ts-for-gir-report.json
Show summary statistics of the report
ts-for-gir analyze -f ./report.json --severity error critical
Show only critical and error problems
ts-for-gir analyze -f ./report.json --category type_resolution --format table
Show type resolution problems
ts-for-gir analyze -f ./report.json --namespace Gtk --top 10
Show top 10 problems in Gtk namespace
ts-for-gir analyze -f ./report.json --search "Unable to resolve" --export errors.json
Export unresolved type errors to file
```
The `analyze` command helps debug type generation issues by providing powerful filtering and analysis capabilities for ts-for-gir report files.
**Key Features:**
- **Comprehensive Filtering**: Filter by severity, category, namespace, type name, or search text
- **Multiple Output Formats**: Table, JSON, or CSV format for different use cases
- **Statistical Analysis**: Show most problematic types, namespaces, and categories
- **Export Capabilities**: Save filtered results for further analysis
- **Time-based Filtering**: Analyze problems within specific time ranges
## Config
In addition to the option of passing options as a CLI flag, you can also write them in a config file.
To do that, create a new config file called `.ts-for-girrc.js` in your project root directory, like this:
```js
// or on CommonJs: exports.default = {
export default {
verbose: true,
outdir: '@types',
girDirectories: ['/usr/share/gir-1.0'],
modules: ['*'],
ignore: [],
}
```
The javascript config files must also be in ESM format if you are inside a ESM Package, this is the case if `"type": "module"` is defined in your package.json. Alternatively, the file can be saved in json format, then it works in both cases.
You can pass the config file name to the CLI using [configName](#configname).
### Doc-specific config
For documentation generation, you can configure doc-specific options in the config file:
```js
export default {
modules: ['Gtk-4.0', 'Gdk-4.0', 'Gio-2.0', 'GLib-2.0', 'GObject-2.0'],
outdir: './docs',
merge: true,
jsonDir: './json',
readme: './DOC.md',
verbose: true,
sourceLinkTemplate: 'https://github.com/user/repo/blob/main/{path}#L{line}',
}
```
## Options
### girDirectories
Directories in which `*.gir` files are to be searched for. Default is `["/usr/share/gir-1.0"]`. More than one can be specified. If you want to generate the types for the GNOME Shell you have to search in several folders for the corresponding types:
```js
girDirectories: [
// General gir files
'/usr/share/gir-1.0',
// GNOME Shell gir file (package: gnome-shell-common / gnome-shell)
'/usr/share/gnome-shell',
'/usr/share/gnome-shell/gir-1.0',
// GNOME Shell gir file dependencies on Fedora Workstation 37 (package: mutter)
'/usr/lib64/mutter-11',
// GNOME Shell gir file dependencies on Ubuntu 22.10 (package: libmutter-11-dev)
'/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/mutter-11',
]
```
### outdir
The `outdir` option is used to specify the name of the directory where the generated TypeScript types should be saved. The default value of the `outdir` option is `"./@types"` for `generate` and `"./docs"` for `doc`.
Here is an example of how you can use the outdir option in the CLI of `ts-for-gir`:
```bash
ts-for-gir generate * --outdir ./types
```
In this example, the generated TypeScript types will be saved in the `./types` directory.
It is important to note that the outdir option should be a valid directory path, and `ts-for-gir` will create the directory if it does not exist. If the specified directory already contains files, `ts-for-gir` will overwrite the existing files with the newly generated types.
### ignore
The `ignore` CLI option allows you to specify modules that should be ignored when generating TypeScript types. This can be useful if you have multiple versions of a library installed but only want to generate types for one of them.
To use the ignore option, pass one or more module names as arguments. For example, to ignore the `Gtk-3.0` module, you would use the following command:
```bash
ts-for-gir generate Gtk-* --ignore */Gtk-3.0
```
You can also ignore multiple modules:
```bash
ts-for-gir generate * --ignore */Gtk-2.0 */Gtk-3.0 */Gtk-4.0
```
Note that ignoring a module will prevent ts-for-gir from generating types for that module and any submodules that it might contain.
### verbose
The `--verbose` or `-v` option is a flag that can be used to enable verbose output in the console when running the CLI. When this option is enabled, additional warnings and information about the processing of GIR files and the generation of TypeScript definitions will be printed to the console. This information can be useful for debugging purposes or for understanding what is happening behind the scenes when generating the TypeScript definitions.
### ignoreVersionConflicts
The `ignoreVersionConflicts` CLI option allows you to disable the prompt to choose between multiple versions of a `.gir` file. When multiple versions of a `.gir` file are found, such as `Gtk-3.0.gir` and `Gtk-4.0.gir`, the user is normally asked to select which version to use. However, if the `ignoreVersionConflicts` option is set, all versions of the file will be loaded without prompt.
This option can be useful in certain scenarios where you want to generate types for all versions of a library, even if there are conflicts between the versions. Note that this may result in type conflicts and other issues, so it should be used with caution.
Another way to disable the prompt and ignore conflicting versions of `.gir` files is to use the [ignore CLI option](#ignore).
### print
The `print` CLI option allows you to output the generated TypeScript definitions to the console, instead of saving them to files on disk. This is useful if you want to quickly inspect the generated types without having to save them to disk and open them in an editor.
By default, the print option is disabled and the generated types will be saved to disk. To enable the `print` option, you can pass the `--print` flag to the command line interface.
### configName
The `configName` CLI option allows you to specify the name of the configuration file to be used when generating the TypeScript definitions. This option is useful if you want to use a custom configuration file instead of the default one.
By default, `ts-for-gir` looks for a configuration file named `.ts-for-girrc.js` in the current directory. If a different configuration file name is required, the `configName` option can be used to specify the name of the configuration file.
For example, if you have a configuration file named `custom-config.js`, you can use the following command to generate TypeScript definitions using this configuration file:
```bash
ts-for-gir generate * --configName custom-config.js
```
### noNamespace
This option disables the namespaces for each module type.
* By default the types are exported as a namespace. Namespaces should be used when the types are generated and used in **ESM** format.
* If imports in `imports.gi` or **CJS** format are used, then namespaces should be disabled.
### noComments
The `noComments` option for `ts-for-gir` is a CLI option used to control the generation of **TSDoc** comments in the generated TypeScript bindings.
When `noComments` is set to `false`, `ts-for-gir` will include TSDoc comments in the generated TypeScript bindings that are based on the comments found in the GObject Introspection (GIR) files. These comments provide helpful information to developers about the usage and behavior of the bindings, making it easier to work with them.
When `noComments` is set to `true`, `ts-for-gir` will not include TSDoc comments in the generated TypeScript bindings. This can be useful if you want to reduce the size of the generated code.
To use the noComments option, pass it as a command line argument to `ts-for-gir`:
```bash
ts-for-gir generate * --noComments
```
### noPrettyPrint
The `noPrettyPrint` option controls whether the generated TypeScript definitions are formatted using Prettier. When set to `true`, the output will not be formatted, which can be useful for debugging or in cases where you want to handle formatting separately.
```bash
ts-for-gir generate * --noPrettyPrint
```
### noAdvancedVariants
The `noAdvancedVariants` option disables the advanced GLib.Variant class with string parsing capabilities. This option is enabled by default (`false`) as these advanced features can impact performance, especially with older TypeScript versions.
```bash
ts-for-gir generate * --noAdvancedVariants=false
```
### package
The `--package` option of ts-for-gir is used to package the generated TypeScript type definitions into an NPM package. The generated package can be easily installed and used in other TypeScript projects via `npm install`.
> Another advantage is NPM packages is, that you can use them in a monorepo using a package manager with support for workspaces such as Yarn, PNPM and Lerna. To use the generated packages in a monorepo, you can add them as dependencies to your project's package.json file, and use relative file paths or the file: protocol to point to the local package directories. This way, you can import the generated types from within your project like any other TypeScript module.
When this option is used, each GObject introspection module will be packaged into its own NPM package. The package name will be in the format of `@girs/-`.
For example, if the `--package` option is used to generate the TypeScript type definitions for the `Gtk-4.0` module, then the generated NPM package will have the name `@girs/gtk-4.0`.
> You can change the NPM package scope name with the [`--npmScope`](#npmscope) option.
To use the generated NPM package in your TypeScript project, you can also install our pregenerated packages:
```bash
npm install @girs/gtk-4.0
```
Then, import the desired module in your TypeScript code:
```ts
import Gtk from '@girs/gtk-4.0';
const button = new Gtk.Button();
```
It is recommended to use the `--package` option when generating TypeScript type definitions for a GObject introspection module, as it allows for easy distribution and consumption of the generated types. However, please note that the generated NPM packages will only work with a package manager like NPM or Yarn, and cannot be used directly in a GJS or Node.js project.
> Here are some examples are making use of the `--package` option:
> * [examples/gjs/gio-2-cat-packages](https://github.com/gjsify/ts-for-gir/tree/main/examples/gjs/gio-2-cat-packages) - GJS example with `--package` option
> * [examples/node-gtk/gio-2-cat-packages](https://github.com/gjsify/ts-for-gir/tree/main/examples/node-gtk/gio-2-cat-packages) - node-gtk example with `--package` option
## npmScope
The `--npmScope` CLI option can be used to specify a custom NPM package scope name for the generated packages. By default, the scope name is `@girs`.
Here's an example command to generate NPM packages with a custom scope name:
```bash
ts-for-gir generate * --package --npmScope my-scope
```
This command will generate NPM packages with the scope `@my-scope` instead of the default `@girs` scope. For `Gtk-4.0` this would generate a package with the name of `@my-scope/gtk-4.0`.
## Ambient modules
In TypeScript, ambient modules are a way to define external modules that are not part of the TypeScript codebase. This can be useful for importing external libraries or modules, including those generated by ts-for-gir using the `gi://` syntax.
If you want to have support for ambient modules, then you have to enable the [`--package`](#package) option, this will generate a NPM package for each module.
Alternatively, you can also use the pre-generated NPM packages for this, so you don't even need to use ts-for-gir for it. For example, look at the NPM packages [gtk-4.0](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@girs/gtk-4.0), [gio-2.0](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@girs/gio-2.0) and [adw-1](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@girs/adw-1). All pre-generated NPM packages can be found on [gjsify/types](https://github.com/gjsify/types).
> The advantage of self-generated types is that you generate the types exactly for your locally installed library version. However, we try to keep the pre-generated NPM packages as up to date as possible.
To use ambient modules, the `ambient.d.ts` file must be imported either in the code like `import '@girs/gjs/ambient'` or by adding an entry to the `includes` property in the `tsconfig` file. The `ambient.d.ts` file is automatically generated.
```json
// tsconfig.json
{
"compilerOptions": {
"lib": ["ESNext"],
"types": [],
"target": "ESNext",
"module": "ESNext"
},
"include": ["@girs/gjs", "@girs/gjs/ambient"],
"files": [
"main.ts",
]
}
```
> Here are some examples demonstrating the usage of ambient modules:
> * [examples/gjs/gio-2-cat-packages](https://github.com/gjsify/ts-for-gir/tree/main/examples/gjs/gio-2-cat-packages) - GJS example with `--package` option
> * [examples/node-gtk/gio-2-cat-packages](https://github.com/gjsify/ts-for-gir/tree/main/examples/node-gtk/gio-2-cat-packages) - node-gtk example with `--package` option
### Without version specifier
Some ambient modules declarations are only defined with the version specifier to prevent version conflicts e.g. between Gtk-3.0 and Gtk-4.0.
If you want to import the modules without the version specifier you can define the module declarations by yourself, similarly to this:
```ts
// gtk4-ambient.d.ts
declare module "gi://Gtk" {
import Gtk from "gi://Gtk?version=4.0";
export default Gtk;
}
```
## reporter
The `--reporter` option enables the generation of a problem reporter and creates a detailed report file.
```bash
ts-for-gir generate * --reporter
```
## reporterOutput
The `--reporterOutput` option specifies the output file path for the reporter. The default value is `ts-for-gir-report.json`.
```bash
ts-for-gir generate * --reporterOutput custom-report.json
```