How to use a git+https dependency correctly - node.js

Question

I am trying to use a git+https dependency (on github) to make a typescript library. I pared it down to a single file as an example and it is still failing. Using a file dependency works perfectly. Switching to a git+https dependency causes me to get an error:
export const Greeter = (name: string) => `Hello ${name}`;
^^^^^^
SyntaxError: Unexpected token 'export'
The two dependencies, nothing else changes in either project:
"#dgmyers/greeter": "git+https://git#github.com:dgmyers/typescript-greeter-library.git#v0.1.1",
"#dgmyers/greeter": "file:../typescript-greeter-library",
Files:
typescript-greeter-library/src/hello.ts
export const Greeter = (name: string) => `Hello ${name}`;
typescript-greeter-library/dist/hello.d.ts (tsc generated)
export declare const Greeter: (name: string) => string;
typescript-greeter-library/package.json
{
"name": "typescript-greeter-library",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "",
"main": "src/hello.ts",
"types": "dist/hello.d.ts",
"scripts": {
"clean": "rm -rf dist/*",
"build": "tsc",
"test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
},
"repository": {
"type": "git",
"url": "git+https://github.com/dgmyers/typescript-greeter-library.git"
},
"author": "",
"license": "UNLICENSED",
"bugs": {
"url": "https://github.com/dgmyers/typescript-greeter-library/issues"
},
"homepage": "https://github.com/dgmyers/typescript-greeter-library#readme"
}
typescript-greeter-library/tsconfig.json
{
"compilerOptions": {
"sourceMap": true,
"lib": ["es2020"],
"target": "es5",
"declaration": true,
"moduleResolution": "node",
"emitDeclarationOnly": true,
"emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
"experimentalDecorators": true,
"baseUrl": "./node_modules",
"outDir": "./dist",
"module": "commonjs",
"typeRoots": [
"./types"
]
}
}
consumer/package.json
{
"name": "consumer",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "",
"main": "index.js",
"scripts": {
"run": "ts-node src/index.ts",
"test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
},
"keywords": [],
"author": "",
"license": "UNLICENCED",
"dependencies": {
"#dgmyers/greeter": "git+https://git#github.com:dgmyers/typescript-greeter-library.git#v0.1.2",
"#types/node": "^16.3.1",
"ts-node": "^10.1.0",
"typescript": "^4.3.5"
}
}
consumer/index.ts
import { Greeter } from '#dgmyers/greeter'
console.log(`${Greeter('dgmyers')}`);

Answer 1

When installing via a source repo, ie. via the github: or git+https: protocol, npm will run the prepare lifecycle script and pack it like publishing it.
Generally, even your source repo is not in pure js (e.g. written in typescript) it's still fine because the script for compiling the source (e.g. tsc) is usually configured in prepare and npm will compile it when you install the repo.
However, there're still 2 scenarios it will fail.
missing the compilation script in prepare
missing the .npmignore file in the source repo so npm fallbacks to .gitignore which generally excludes the folder containing the compiled code
Mayne you've one of them.