Can't import files from one library into another library (bypassing index.ts)

Current Behavior

I have a process on our back end that auto generates interfaces, enums and services that are necessary to call our back end. All of these get generated into three directories: interfaces, enums and services. I have put these directories into buildable library that is structured like this: /libs/api/src/{interfaces,enums,services} In each directory are the appropriate TS files.

In my tsconfig.base.json file, I have added the following path entries:

      "@skycourt/api/enums/*": ["libs/api/src/enums/*"],
      "@skycourt/api/interfaces/*": ["libs/api/src/interfaces/*"],
      "@skycourt/api/services/*": ["libs/api/src/services/*"],

In the second library, called helpers, I import a couple of the enums and interfaces like this: import { ActivityType } from '@skycourt/api/enums/ActivityType';

VSCode happily recognizes these paths. Lint happily recognizes these paths and I am able to run the jest tests in the second library that uses these paths.

However, when I try to build the helpers library, I get these errors:

Compiling TypeScript files for project "common-helpers"...
libs/common/helpers/src/lib/ActivityIcon.ts:1:30 - error TS2307: Cannot find module '@skycourt/api/enums/ActivityType' or its corresponding type declarations.

1 import { ActivityType } from '@skycourt/api/enums/ActivityType';
                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know that Nx understands the dependency betwen helpers and api because when I display the graph, there is an arrow from helpers to api.

Expected Behavior

I expected the import to be resolved properly while building.

Steps to Reproduce

I have created a minimal repo using Nx 13.9.7 that illustrates the issue. I am using 13.9.7 because my main project is a Vue app and Nx-plus/vue can’t seem to be used with anything newer than 13.9.7.

If you clone this repo: https://github.com/gregveres/nx-import-bug and then execute nx build helpers you willl see this error:

Compiling TypeScript files for project "helpers"...
libs/helpers/src/lib/helpers.ts:1:30 - error TS2307: Cannot find module '@myorg/api/enums/ActivityType' or its corresponding type declarations.

1 import { ActivityType } from '@myorg/api/enums/ActivityType'
                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

when it really should compile.

Environment

04-30 13:11:32 17> nx report

 >  NX   Report complete - copy this into the issue template

   Node : 16.13.2
   OS   : win32 x64
   yarn : 1.22.17
   
   nx : 13.9.7
   @nrwl/angular : Not Found
   @nrwl/cypress : 13.9.7
   @nrwl/detox : Not Found
   @nrwl/devkit : 13.9.7
   @nrwl/eslint-plugin-nx : 13.9.7
   @nrwl/express : Not Found
   @nrwl/jest : 13.9.7
   @nrwl/js : 13.9.7
   @nrwl/linter : 13.9.7
   @nrwl/nest : Not Found
   @nrwl/next : Not Found
   @nrwl/node : Not Found
   @nrwl/nx-cloud : Not Found
   @nrwl/nx-plugin : Not Found
   @nrwl/react : Not Found
   @nrwl/react-native : Not Found
   @nrwl/schematics : Not Found
   @nrwl/storybook : Not Found
   @nrwl/web : Not Found
   @nrwl/workspace : 13.9.7
   typescript : 4.5.5
   rxjs : 6.6.7
   ---------------------------------------
   Community plugins:

[mcarriere]

The PR that was merged is a step in the right direction but as far as I can tell doesn’t allow bypassing the index.ts. This should be reopened

[mbrimmer83]

For others running into this issue. I ran into this error in one of my applications and the issue ended up being an issue with my application tsconfig.app.json. I had an empty “paths”: {}` object in my config overriding the root ts config where the library paths are set up. Broken config, removing paths fix this issue for me

"compilerOptions": {
    "outDir": "../../dist/out-tsc",
    "module": "commonjs",
    "types": ["node", "express"],
    "paths": {} // Remove this line or be sure to merge the root level to resolve libs
    "composite": true
  }