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I can't seem to get the outDir flag working when used in package.json . Directory structure is pretty simple: tsconfig.json at the root level, together with a src/ directory and a single index.ts file plus other directories representing other modules.

When running the tsc command on the index file, it creates a new one beside it instead of in the build directory. What am I doing wrong?

My tsconfig:

My npm build script:

"build": "tsc src/index.ts"
I'm calling the script from the root dir of the project. Interestingly, running the same script with an --outDir flag works just fine.
When you pass in files for compilation with tsc src/index.ts, your tsconfig.json is ignored.
From the documentation:
  
When input files are specified on the command line, tsconfig.json
  files are ignored.
Your npm build script should just be tsc without passing any files.
In my case it was being ignored because I had noEmit: true in tsconfig.json. For whatever reason, the files still were emitted, but in the same directory instead of following outDir.
The config file was read correctly and this error also appeared when using the flag.
                Bravo. Saved me. Thanks.In my case a tsconfig.json file had been misconfigured. The symptom was loads of errors reported by 'react-scripts start', but none reported by 'npx tsc'.
– user2809286
                Mar 15 at 20:45
If you are using the incremental compiler option, you may not be getting output if you have deleted / modified files in your outDir but have not removed the .tsbuildinfo file.
My issue was a bit different, but Google brought me here - so figured others may also. 
                Thanks for deciding to post here! I couldn't figure out why tsc -b would only create my output folder occasionally. Turns out my yarn:clean would only rm -rf packages*/dist, leaving behind the .tsbuildinfo files!
– Pakman
                Jan 26, 2020 at 4:25
                Thanks for this. Note that all composite projects are incremental. I had to, similar to above commenter, rm -rf *.tsbuildinfo as a prebuild step in my build project
– Colin D
                Jun 18, 2022 at 22:49
Keep the typescript files in src folder and keep the tsconfig.json in root.
In tsconfig json file add foldername for outDir in compilerOptions
"compilerOptions": {    
    "outDir": "build",
    "module": "commonjs",
    "target": "es6",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "noImplicitAny": true,
    "sourceMap": true
and run the below commands.
just cd to the root folder and type 
  
tsc --outDir .
Make sure "outDir" is defined under "compilerOptions"
I had it defined at the same level as "compilerOptions"
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "node_modules/@types",
    "lib": [
      "es6"
    "outDir": "dist",
    "esModuleInterop": true,
  "exclude": [
    "node_modules"
  "include": [
    "src/**/*"
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– Community
                Oct 31, 2022 at 7:07
        
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