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fork-ts-checker-webpack-plugin v1.0

· 2 min read
John Reilly
John Reilly
OSS Engineer - TypeScript, Azure, React, Node.js, .NET

It's time for the first major version of fork-ts-checker-webpack-plugin. It's been a long time coming :-)

A Little History​

The fork-ts-checker-webpack-plugin was originally the handiwork of Piotr Oleś. He raised an issue with ts-loader suggesting it could be the McCartney to ts-loader's Lennon:

Hi everyone!

I've created webpack plugin: fork-ts-checker-webpack-plugin that plays nicely with ts-loader. The idea is to compile project with transpileOnly: true and check types on separate process (async). With this approach, webpack build is not blocked by type checker and we have semantic check with fast incremental build. More info on github repo :)

So if you like it and you think it would be good to add some info in README/index.md about this plugin, I would be greatful.

Thanks :)

We did like it. We did think it would be good. We took him up on his kind offer.

Since that time many people have had their paws on the fork-ts-checker-webpack-plugin codebase. We love them all.

One Point Oh​

We could have had our first major release a long time ago. The idea first occurred when webpack 5 alpha appeared. "Huh, look at that, a major version number.... Maybe we should do that?" "Great idea chap - do it!" So here it is; fresh out the box: v1.0.0

There are actually no breaking changes that we're aware of; users of 0.x fork-ts-checker-webpack-plugin should be be able to upgrade without any drama.

Incremental Watch API on by Default​

Users of TypeScript 3+ may notice a performance improvement as by default the plugin now uses the incremental watch API in TypeScript.

Should this prove problematic you can opt out of using it by supplying useTypescriptIncrementalApi: false. We are aware of an issue with Vue and the incremental API. We hope it will be fixed soon - a generous member of the community is taking a look. In the meantime, we will not default to using the incremental watch API when in Vue mode.

Compatibility​

As it stands, the plugin supports webpack 2, 3, 4 and 5 alpha. It is compatible with TypeScript 2.1+ and TSLint 4+.

Right that's it - enjoy it! And thanks everyone for contributing - we really dig your help. Much love.