Triple-slash directives are single-line comments containing a single XML tag. The contents of the comment are used as compiler directives.

Triple-slash directives are only valid at the top of their containing file. A triple-slash directive can only be preceded by single or multi-line comments, including other triple-slash directives. If they are encountered following a statement or a declaration they are treated as regular single-line comments, and hold no special meaning.

/// <reference path="..." />

The /// <reference path="..." /> directive is the most common of this group. It serves as a declaration of dependency between files.

Triple-slash references instruct the compiler to include additional files in the compilation process.

They also serve as a method to order the output when using --out or --outFile. Files are emitted to the output file location in the same order as the input after preprocessing pass.

Preprocessing input files

The compiler performs a preprocessing pass on input files to resolve all triple-slash reference directives. During this process, additional files are added to the compilation.

The process starts with a set of root files; these are the file names specified on the command-line or in the "files" list in the tsconfig.json file. These root files are preprocessed in the same order they are specified. Before a file is added to the list, all triple-slash references in it are processed, and their targets included. Triple-slash references are resolved in a depth first manner, in the order they have been seen in the file.

A triple-slash reference path is resolved relative to the containing file, if unrooted.

Errors

It is an error to reference a file that does not exist. It is an error for a file to have a triple-slash reference to itself.

Using --noResolve

If the compiler flag --noResolve is specified, triple-slash references are ignored; they neither result in adding new files, nor change the order of the files provided.

/// <reference no-default-lib="true"/>

This directive marks a file as a default library. You will see this comment at the top of lib.d.ts and its different variants.

This directive instructs the compiler to not include the default library (i.e. lib.d.ts) in the compilation. The impact here is similar to passing --noLib on the command line.

Also note that when passing --skipDefaultLibCheck, the compiler will only skip checking files with /// <reference no-default-lib="true"/>.

/// <amd-module />

By default AMD modules are generated anonymous. This can lead to problems when other tools are used to process the resulting modules, such as bundlers (e.g. r.js).

The amd-module directive allows passing an optional module name to the compiler:

amdModule.ts

///<amd-module name="NamedModule"/>
export class C {
}

Will result in assigning the name NamedModule to the module as part of calling the AMD define:

amdModule.js

define("NamedModule", ["require", "exports"], function (require, exports) {
  var C = (function () {
    function C() {
    }
    return C;
  })();
  exports.C = C;
});

/// <amd-dependency />

Note: this directive has been deprecated. Use import "moduleName"; statements instead.

/// <amd-dependency path="x" /> informs the compiler about a non-TS module dependency that needs to be injected in the resulting module’s require call.

The amd-dependency directive can also have an optional name property; this allows passing an optional name for an amd-dependency:

/// <amd-dependency path="legacy/moduleA" name="moduleA"/>
declare var moduleA:MyType
moduleA.callStuff()

Generated JS code:

define(["require", "exports", "legacy/moduleA"], function (require, exports, moduleA) {
  moduleA.callStuff()
});