@typest/vite

Vite plugin for typed asset paths – autocomplete & type‑checking for every static file in your public directory.

This package has two entrypoints:

• @typest/vite/plugin — Vite plugin (used in vite.config.ts)
• @typest/vite — virtual module (used in your app code)

Installation

npm

$ npm install @typest/vite

yarn

$ yarn install @typest/vite

pnpm

$ pnpm install @typest/vite

bun

$ bun add @typest/vite

Quick start

1. Add the plugin to vite.config.ts

import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import { typedAssets } from "@typest/vite/plugin";

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    typedAssets({
      sources: [{ dir: "public" }],
    }),
  ],
});

2. Start the dev server (important!)

npm

$ npm run dev

yarn

$ yarn run dev

pnpm

$ pnpm run dev

bun

$ bun run dev

The plugin scans your assets and creates a type declaration file (src/assets.d.ts). This happens only when the dev server runs – until then your editor can’t provide autocomplete.

3. Import and use

App.tsx

import { imagePath } from "@typest/vite";

<img src={imagePath("logo.png")} />;

Now imagePath('…') will list every image in your public folder.

How it works

• Scans the directories you configured.
• Serves a virtual module at @typest/vite that exports imagePath, videoPath, etc. – only for asset types that actually exist.
• Writes a src/assets.d.ts that augments the module with exact string‑literal keys.
• Watches for file changes and refreshes the types automatically.

No runtime overhead – the generated code is a simple object lookup.

Configuration

All you can (and need to) configure is the sources array.

typedAssets({
  sources: [{ dir: "public" }, { dir: "public/images", basePath: "/images" }],
});

sources

An array of asset directories to scan. Each entry:

Option	Type	Default	Description
dir	string	required	Path to the asset folder (relative to project root).
basePath	string	undefined	Public URL prefix for assets in this directory (e.g. "/images").
include	string[]	["**/*"]	Glob patterns to include.
exclude	string[]	[]	Glob patterns to ignore.
typeMap	Record<string, AssetType>	undefined	Override the built‑in extension → type mapping. Valid types: "image", "video", "audio", "font", "raw", "generic".

Important: The generated type declarations are written to src/assets.d.ts and are automatically picked up by TypeScript. You don’t need to add anything to tsconfig.json.

Importing

Always import from @typest/vite (the package root). Exports are created only for asset types that have at least one file:

import {
  imagePath,
  videoPath, // only available if you have video files
} from "@typest/vite";

No empty categories – your editor will only suggest what’s real.

Troubleshooting

Autocomplete isn’t working

• You must run the dev server at least once. The declaration file is generated when you start vite dev.
• Delete old generated files (src/assets.d.ts) to remove stale types.
• The assets.d.ts must be within the src/ directory.
• Restart the TypeScript server in your editor: Cmd+Shift+P → TypeScript: Restart TS server.

Images are broken

• Make sure the files are inside public/ (Vite only serves static files from there).
• Check that basePath matches the URL structure. If you put files in public/images/, set basePath: "/images", or public/videos/, set basePath: "/videos".

Build fails with TypeScript errors in the virtual module

Ensure you have the latest version. The virtual module is plain JavaScript – if you see TypeScript errors about it, the plugin may not be intercepting correctly. Reinstall and restart your dev server.