Scenario

We currently require fs like this in node:

const fs = require('fs');

but When we try to import libraries in a .ts file, VS Code marks the corresponding line with an error:
[ts] Cannot find module 'fs'. This happens no matter how I try to import the library:

import * as fs from 'fs';    // [ts] Cannot find module 'fs'
import fs = require('fs');   // [ts] Cannot find module 'fs'
const fs = require('fs');    // [ts] Cannot find name 'require'

We are wondering what the equivalent typescript version is?

Answer

With Typescript, after running npm install --save-dev @types/node we can import the fs the specific function we want from the fs library with a destructured import like this:

import * as fs from 'fs';

// or if we just want to use one specific function of the fs module like WriteFileSync for //example

import { writeFileSync } from ‘fs';

The destructured part is important in the event that you want to minimize the module you are writing with tools like Webpack / Rollup. Since we are now only importing what we need, the remaining parts of the library we are importing from can be shaved off.