Use non-relative imports using TypeScript's baseurl property without WebPack - node.js

Question

I am writing a node web application using TypeScript and Express.
I managed to get everything working, however the issue I have run into is that my imports don't seem to respect the baseUrl option of my tsconfig.json.
Here is how my tsconfig.json looks like:
{
"compilerOptions": {
"module": "commonjs",
"moduleResolution": "node",
"pretty": true,
"sourceMap": true,
"target": "es6",
"outDir": "./dist",
"baseUrl": "./src"
},
"exclude": [
"node_modules"
]
}
As an example, let's say I have the following files:
- dist/
- a/
- car.js
- b/
- hat.js
In car.js I can easily require hat.js by doing:
import hat from '../../b/hat'; // relative version
This works as expected.
However, I also want to be able to do the following:
import hat from 'b/hat'; // absolute version
This does not generate any issues during compilation or shows any IDE errors, as the tsconfig.json specifies the baseUrl as ./src. Thus the above is perfectly valid TypeScript code.
However, my expectation was that the code will compile down to the relative version:
const hat = require('../../b/hat');
Unfortunatly it compiled down to:
const hat = require('b/hat');
and thus predictably does not work.
Other users have solved this issue by using 3rd party tools such as: https://github.com/s-panferov/awesome-typescript-loader
https://decembersoft.com/posts/say-goodbye-to-relative-paths-in-typescript-imports/
But majority of these tools is designed to work with WebPack, which isn't really suitable for an node back-end application. This is because we are running a long-running server, and thus won't benefit from being bundled into a single file versus several different files (unlike front-end web development).
My question is, how can I compile my TypeScript files, without WebPack, so that absolute imports works correctly.

Answer 1

So the way to do it is to transform back the non-relative imports to relative imports after build so that commonjs will recognize them. And the way to easily do it is the following:
Step 1: Install the transform modules:
npm i -D typescript-transform-paths
npm i -D ttypescript
Step 2: Modify tsconfig.json
"compilerOptions: {
...
"plugins": [
{ "transform": "typescript-transform-paths" },
{ "transform": "typescript-transform-paths", "afterDeclarations": true }
]
}
Step 3: Modify package.json
We will use ttypescript to build the project instead of tsc inorder to use transformers.
"build": "ttsc"
Step 4: Build and Start the project
npm run build
npm start

Answer 2

OP I haven't gotten this to work yet, but this article may provide some guidance: https://levelup.gitconnected.com/get-rid-of-relative-import-path-hell-in-your-typescript-project-9952adec2e84
TL;DR
yarn add link-module-alias
package.json
...
"_moduleAliases": {
"~": "dist"
}
...

Answer 3

My question is, how can I compile my TypeScript files, without WebPack, so that absolute imports works correctly.
My opinion
Don't. In fact don't do it even do it with webpack.
Reason
The node resolution algorithm is complicated enough : https://nodejs.org/api/modules.html#modules_all_together and doesn't need to be complicated further with "and oh, now we have baseurl".
If you still want to do it, here are your options.