Typescript error "Cannot write file ... because it would overwrite input file."

In my Typescript 2.2.1 project in Visual Studio 2015 Update 3, I am getting hundreds of errors in the error list like:

Cannot write file 'C:/{{my-project}}/node_modules/buffer-shims/index.js' because it would overwrite input file.

It looks like this all the time. It doesn't actually prevent building, and everything works just fine, but the error list is distracting and difficult to locate "real" errors when they occur.

Here is my tsconfig.json file

{
  "compileOnSave": true,
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "module": "commonjs",
    "noImplicitAny": true,
    "removeComments": true,
    "sourceMap": true,
    "target": "ES5",
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
    "strictNullChecks": true,
    "allowUnreachableCode": false,
    "allowUnusedLabels": false,
    "noFallthroughCasesInSwitch": true,
    "noImplicitReturns": true,
    "noImplicitThis": true,
    "noUnusedLocals": true,
    "noUnusedParameters": true,

    "typeRoots": [],
    "types": [] //Explicitly specify an empty array so that the TS2 @types modules are not acquired since we aren't ready for them yet.
  },
  "exclude": ["node_modules"]
}

How can I get rid of all these errors?

In my instance, I was using the outDir option but not excluding the destination directory from the inputs:

// Bad
{
    "compileOnSave": true,
    "compilerOptions": {
        "outDir": "./built",
        "allowJs": true,
        "target": "es5",
        "allowUnreachableCode": false,
        "noImplicitReturns": true,
        "noImplicitAny": true,
        "typeRoots": [ "./typings" ],
        "outFile": "./built/combined.js"
    },
    "include": [
        "./**/*"
    ],
    "exclude": [
        "./plugins/**/*",
        "./typings/**/*"
    ]
}

All we have to do is exclude the files in the outDir:

// Good
{
    "compileOnSave": true,
    "compilerOptions": {
        "outDir": "./built",
        "allowJs": true,
        "target": "es5",
        "allowUnreachableCode": false,
        "noImplicitReturns": true,
        "noImplicitAny": true,
        "typeRoots": [ "./typings" ],
        "outFile": "./built/combined.js"
    },
    "include": [
        "./**/*"
    ],
    "exclude": [
        "./plugins/**/*",
        "./typings/**/*",
        "./built/**/*" // This is what fixed it!
    ]
}

I got the same issue. In my case, it was the result of the option: allowJs: true.

So I basically had to remove that line to get rid of the errors. I do not see it in your code, but perhaps it helps you here.

Good luck!

I have run into this issue due to VSCode autocompleting a file in the dist/ folder.

import { SomeClass } from '../../dist/xxx/someclass' 

To solve the problem just fix the import:

import { SomeClass } from './someclass' 

There's several possible causes to this.

• In your tsconfig.json:
  • Set outDir to "dist" or the name of another same-level folder. (prefixing with './' is unnecessary). This is where the build files go.
  • Set allowJs to false or delete the line. Note: enabled, allowJs will conflict with the declaration setting/flag. It isn't enabled by default.
  • Include "dist" (or your build folder) in exclude.
• In your package.json:
  • Set main to "index" or some other chosen name. Don't prefix with the build folder (eg "dist/index"), nor the unnecessary "./".
  • Set types (modern alias of typings) to "index". Adding the extensions (.d.ts or .js) is unnecessary.

Though you can have it a million different ways, for the sake of simplicity and developing understanding it's best to stick to common practices at first - like using "dist", simple tsconfig.json and package.json files at the same level in the tree, and so on. Of course, rooting through the files of your node_modules would also deepen your grasp, but there are more rewarding things in life.

Adding 'dist' to the excluded directories in tsconfig.json worked for me:

{
  "exclude": ["node_modules", "dist"]
}