Tsserver not properly using excludes defined in jsconfig.json

Bug Reports
1

TL;DR:

I have Cursor (Pro) and the typescript server keeps crashing on me. Investigations revealed that the FileWatcher (according to tsserver.log) is watching node_modules !!! Even though jsconfig.json excludes node_modules in every way possible. (See jsconfig.json at end)

Details:

I use a monorepo with several inter-dependent top-level folders, as you’ll see in the data below, but not sure that’s relevant or not.

I found the problem from this snippet in the exthost folder under the typescript extension’s TypeScript.log file:

TypeScript.log snippet

2025-01-13 17:35:54.945 [info] <syntax> Forking...
2025-01-13 17:35:54.945 [info] <syntax> Starting...
2025-01-13 17:35:54.945 [info] <semantic> Log file: /Users/josiahbryan/Library/Application Support/Cursor/logs/20250113T165214/window2/exthost/vscode.typescript-language-features/tsserver-semantic-log-3lYcvc/tsserver.log
2025-01-13 17:35:54.945 [info] <semantic> Forking...
2025-01-13 17:35:54.945 [info] <semantic> Starting...
2025-01-13 17:36:22.134 [error] TSServer exited. Code: null. Signal: SIGABRT
2025-01-13 17:36:22.134 [info] TSServer log file: /Users/josiahbryan/Library/Application Support/Cursor/logs/20250113T165214/window2/exthost/vscode.typescript-language-features/tsserver-semantic-log-3lYcvc/tsserver.log
2025-01-13 17:36:22.134 [info] Starting TS Server

Discussion

So at 17:36:22, the server aborts. Okay, so why? So I track down the tsserver.log mentioned …and here’s a relevant(?) snippet from tsserver.log - note the log ends at 17:36:18.067 as that’s the last entry in the log, so missing ~4 seconds of logs. I admit I could be chasing the wrong thing, but it DOES seem sus that node_modules shows up so much here. Happy to hare more of the log if it helps.

tsserver.log snippet

Info 5890 [17:36:17.378] Running: /Users/josiahbryan/devel/rubber/managed-apps/jsconfig.json
Info 5891 [17:36:17.378] Starting updateGraphWorker: Project: /Users/josiahbryan/devel/rubber/managed-apps/jsconfig.json
Info 5892 [17:36:17.927] FileWatcher:: Added:: WatchInfo: /Users/josiahbryan/Library/Caches/typescript/5.5/node_modules/@types/eslint/package.json 2000 undefined Project: /Users/josiahbryan/devel/rubber/managed-apps/jsconfig.json WatchType: File location affecting resolution
Info 5893 [17:36:17.931] FileWatcher:: Added:: WatchInfo: /Users/josiahbryan/Library/Caches/typescript/5.5/node_modules/@types/howler/package.json 2000 undefined Project: /Users/josiahbryan/devel/rubber/managed-apps/jsconfig.json WatchType: File location affecting resolution
Info 5894 [17:36:17.956] FileWatcher:: Added:: WatchInfo: /Users/josiahbryan/Library/Caches/typescript/5.5/node_modules/@types/three/package.json 2000 undefined Project: /Users/josiahbryan/devel/rubber/managed-apps/jsconfig.json WatchType: File location affecting resolution
Info 5895 [17:36:18.012] FileWatcher:: Added:: WatchInfo: /Users/josiahbryan/Library/Caches/typescript/5.5/node_modules/@types/webxr/package.json 2000 undefined Project: /Users/josiahbryan/devel/rubber/managed-apps/jsconfig.json WatchType: File location affecting resolution
Info 5896 [17:36:18.059] FileWatcher:: Added:: WatchInfo: /Users/josiahbryan/devel/rubber/managed-apps/node_modules/autolinker/package.json 2000 undefined Project: /Users/josiahbryan/devel/rubber/managed-apps/jsconfig.json WatchType: File location affecting resolution
Info 5897 [17:36:18.067] FileWatcher:: Added:: WatchInfo: /Users/josiahbryan/devel/rubber/managed-apps/node_modules/aws-sdk/package.json 2000 undefined Project: /Users/josiahbryan/devel/rubber/managed-apps/jsconfig.json WatchType: File location affecting resolution

Discussion

Note that FileWatcher is admitting it’s watching “managed-apps/node_modules” even though it also says it is using the managed-apps/jsconfig.json, which is shown below and explicitly EXCLUDES node_modules in every way possible. (I’ve been desperately trying to get this to work, hence all the variations, yet no matter what I do, it seems to include node_modules in the watch list)

jsonconfig.json

Here’s the /managed-apps/jsconfig.json file that is shown in the logs:

{
	"compilerOptions": {
		// Helps VS Code resolve imports relative to /src directory
		// Essential in monorepos to avoid confusing relative paths (../../)
		"baseUrl": ".",

		// Prevents deep scanning of node_modules which improves performance
		// Particularly important in monorepos with multiple node_modules folders
		"maxNodeModuleJsDepth": 0,

		// Uses Node.js style module resolution
		// Critical for correctly resolving imports between different packages in the monorepo
		"moduleResolution": "node",

		// Allows cleaner import syntax (import React from 'react' vs import * as React from 'react')
		// Maintains consistency across the monorepo, especially when some packages use default exports and others don't
		"allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,

		"paths": {
			// This fixes the import of shared components that were copied from outside shared into here.
			// "toolkit" : ["./toolkit"],
			"managed-apps/*": ["./*"],
			"backend/*": ["../backend/src/*"],
			"shared/*": ["../shared/*"],
			"admin-app/*": ["../admin-app/src/*"]
		}
	},
	"include": [
		"./toolkit/**/*",
		"./**/frontend/*",
		"./**/backend/**/*",
		"./**/common/*"
	],
	"exclude": [
		"node_modules",
		"../shared/node_modules",
		"../managed_apps/node_modules",
		"../admin-app/node_modules",
		"../backend/node_modules",
		"**/node_modules",
		"./node_modules/**/*",
		"**/Caches/**/*",
		"**/Library/**/*"
	]
}
2

Hey, thanks for reporting this and for the really great investigation on your end!

I’ve added this to our internal feedback tracker, so hopefully this will be investigated and resolved in a future update!

3

Hey Dan - thanks! Can you check internally with an “Eric” or “Sam”? I also have some sort of email thread going with them where they were suggesting some stuff. Nothing fixed there yet, but maybe there’s an investigation going on already? Not sure, just adding data :slight_smile: Thanks!!

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