How to intellisense alias module path in VSCode

Question

I would like VSCode to IntelliSense the module path so I can access it by click.

For example, after configurating jsconfig.json I'm able to access ./src/styled/index by importing its global path.

But I couldn't figure out how to make it work with an alias @styles

// VSCode Intellisene Works
import { mixins, theme } from 'styles';

// VSCode Intellisene Doesn't work
import { mixins, theme } from '@styles';

My current jsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "jsx": "react",
    "paths": {
      "@styles": ["src/styles/index"]
    }
  }
}

Answer 1

In the settings.json file, add this line:

"typescript.preferences.importModuleSpecifier": "non-relative"

If this property is removed, then the ugly relative auto-import is the default option. Simply change 'typescript' to 'javascript' if you're currently using JS. To know more about this setting option, just hover on it like this:

(Bonus tip) Prefix ~/ to all internal import paths with the following compiler options in tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "paths": {
      "~/*": ["./*"]
    }
  },
}

Answer 2

Seems I had to restart VSCode.

---

Javascript (javascript,javascriptreact file types in VSCode)

An example of jsconfig.json file for reference:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "./src",
    "jsx": "react",
    "paths": {
      "@styles": ["styles/index"],
      "@fonts": ["fonts/index"],
      "@components": ["components/index"],
      "@atoms": ["components/atoms/index"],
      "@molecules": ["components/molecules/index"],
      "@organisms": ["components/organisms/index"],
      "@templates": ["components/templates/index"],
      "@icons": ["components/atoms/Icons/index"],
      "@config": ["config/index"],
      "@utils": ["utils/index"],
      "@hooks": ["hooks/index"],
      "@constants": ["constants/index"],
      "@queries": ["queries/index"],
      "@reducers": ["state/store/reducers"],
      "@actions": ["state/store/actions"],
      "@slices": ["state/slices/"],
      "@storybookHelpers": ["../.storybook/helpers"]
    }
  }
}

An example of how styles/index looks like:

export * from './colors';
export * from './GlobalStyle.styles';
export * from './mixins.styles';

// Or
export { COLORS } from './colors';
export { default as GlobalStyle } from './GlobalStyle.styles';
export { default as mixins } from './mixins.styles';

Will allow import (with IntelliSense):

import { COLORS, mixins, GlobalStyle } from '@styles';

For a bonus: aliases.js, which is a helper which I use to define aliases in webpack config files, it helps to not repeat yourself, for example when using the same aliases in storybook and for the application itself.

// Remember to update `jsconfig.json`
const aliases = (prefix = `src`) => ({
  '@actions': `${prefix}/state/store/actions`,
  '@atoms': `${prefix}/components/atoms`,
  '@molecules': `${prefix}/components/molecules`,
  '@organisms': `${prefix}/components/organisms`,
  '@templates': `${prefix}/components/templates`,
  '@components': `${prefix}/components`,
  '@config': `${prefix}/config`,
  '@constants': `${prefix}/constants`,
  '@hooks': `${prefix}/hooks`,
  '@icons': `${prefix}/components/atoms/Icons`,
  '@queries': `${prefix}/queries`,
  '@reducers': `${prefix}/state/store/reducers`,
  '@slices': `${prefix}/state/slices`,
  '@styles': `${prefix}/styles`,
  '@utils': `${prefix}/utils`,
  '@storybookHelpers': `../.storybook/helpers`,
});

module.exports = aliases;

// usage example at .storybook/webpack.config.js file
const path = require("path");
const alias = require(`../src/config/aliases`);

const SRC = "../src";
const aliases = alias(SRC);

const resolvedAliases = Object.fromEntries(
  Object.entries(aliases).map(([key, value]) => [
    key,
    path.resolve(__dirname, value),
  ])
);

module.exports = ({ config }) => {
  config.resolve.modules.push(path.resolve(__dirname, SRC));
  config.resolve.alias = resolvedAliases;
  return config;
};

---

Typescript (typescript,typescriptreact files)

At tsconfig.json use the compilerOptions.paths option, notice that the paths are relative to baseUrl:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "paths": {
      "@components/*": ["components/*"],
      "@config": ["config"],
      "@constants": ["constants"],
      "@hooks": ["hooks"],
      "@styles": ["styles"],
      "$types/*": ["types/*"],
      "@utils": ["utils"]
    }
}

This allows aliases (with IntelliSense), for example:

// Example of hooks/index.ts file
export * from './useLogin';
export * from './useLocalStorage';
export * from './useAuth';

// Usage examples
import {ROUTES} from '@constants';
import {Text} from '@components/atoms';
import {mixins} from '@styles';
import {useLocalStorage} from '@hooks';

Answer 3

I had the right configuration as described by the other answers. In VS code I restarted the TypeScript server using Ctrl + Shift + P -> TypeScript: Restart TS server command and it fixed the editor highlighting the import path error.

Just for completeness here is what my tsconfig.json looks like:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    ...
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "paths": {
      "@/*": ["./src/*"]
    }
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*"]
}

Answer 4

As a side note, make sure the include in your jsconfig/tsconfig is pointing to correct paths.

Answer 5

For anyone like me who the other answers aren't working for, these are the tsconfig bits that worked for me, in addition to the settings addition in the accepted answer and ensuring you're setting includes/excludes properly:

  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "paths": {
      "@/*": ["./src/*"],
    }
  }

Full credit to this gist: https://gist.github.com/EmilyRosina/eef3aa0d66568754a98382121fefa154