Overview

This article explains how to easily set up a TypeScript development environment using Volta, with MacOS as the target platform.

What is Volta?

Volta is a version management tool for Node.js, featuring the following characteristics as presented on Volta’s official site:

• Fast: Built in Rust, enabling swift Node.js version switching.
• Reliable: Ensures everyone on a project uses the same tools.
• Universal: Can be used across package managers, node runtimes, and OSes.

While nodebrew has been commonly used, the use of Volta seems to be increasing lately.

Installing Volta and Node.js

Installing Volta is as simple as running the following command:

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curl https://get.volta.sh | bash

If you’re using zsh and the path hasn’t been automatically set, use the following commands:

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echo 'VOLTA_HOME=$HOME/.volta' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'export PATH=$VOLTA_HOME/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

Verify the installation. If a version is displayed, Volta has been successfully installed:

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volta -v

Next, use Volta to install Node.js. If no version is specified, the latest LTS version will be installed:

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volta install node

Installing yarn and Creating a TypeScript Project

Differences between npm and yarn

Both npm and yarn are package managers for Node.js. Their features include:

npm:

• Released a year after Node.js (2010).
• Stands for Node Package Manager.
• Automatically generates a package-lock.json file.
• Installed automatically with Node.js.

yarn:

• Released in 2016.
• Developed by Facebook, Google, Exponent, and Tilde.
• Compatible with npm (can use the same package.json).
• More strict in locking module versions than npm.
• Faster installation than npm.

While yarn appears superior, recent updates to npm have minimized the differences. Here, we will use yarn to create a TypeScript project.

Installing yarn

Install yarn using Volta:

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volta install yarn

Confirm the installation by checking if yarn is listed:

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volta list

Creating a TypeScript Project

Initialize yarn:

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yarn init -y

Install Node.js:

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volta pin node@20.0.0

Install TypeScript:

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yarn add typescript

Install ts-node:

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yarn add --dev ts-node

Create a tsconfig.json file. This is a TypeScript configuration file that details compilation settings. In this case, you can leave it at the default settings generated:

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yarn tsc --init

Test a sample program:

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echo "console.log('Hello, TypeScript!');" > hello.ts
yarn ts-node hello.ts

# If "Hello, TypeScript!" is displayed, it's a success.

The test script ran successfully. This completes the setup of the TypeScript development environment.

Summary

This article described how to set up a TypeScript development environment easily using Volta. By using Volta, managing Node.js versions becomes straightforward, making the development environment setup smoother. Additionally, specifying the Node.js version with Volta in your project’s package.json can help eliminate version discrepancies among developers, adding another layer of convenience to your workflow.