"The inferred type of X cannot be named without a reference to Y" (TS2742) occurs when multiple modules with the same package ID are resolved

[renke]

Bug Report

🔎 Search Terms

• TS2742
• cannot be named without a reference

🕗 Version & Regression Information

Problems occurs with 4.5.x and 4.6.x and most likely earlier versions (I've tried a few other versions). It stills occurs on 4.7.0-dev.20220321.

⏯ Playground Link

I've created minimal repository that shows the problem: https://github.com/renke/typescript-package-id-merge-repro

The problem occurs when using pnpm (due to the modules layout it uses). No problems occur when using npm/yarn.

To reproduce the problem run pnpm install and then pnpm check pnpx tsc -b.

💻 Code

I don't think the code itself matters to much except from the fact that it in fact does not have explicit type annotations (which is kind of the idea when using zod and by extension @renke/vommer).

import { vod } from "@renke/vommer";
import { z } from "zod";

export const UserId = vod("UserId", z.string());

export type UserId = z.infer<typeof UserId>;

export const Email = vod("Email", z.string().min(0));

export type Email = z.infer<typeof Email>;

export const User = vod(
  "User",
  z.object({
    id: UserId,
    email: Email,
  })
);

export type User = z.infer<typeof User>;

🙁 Actual behavior

The following error occurs when trying to build a composite TypeScript project (same happens when just using declaration: true).

The inferred type of 'User' cannot be named without a reference to '.pnpm/@renke+vo@0.2.0/node_modules/@renke/vo'. This is likely not portable. A type annotation is necessary.

The dependency tree of @renke/vommer

@renke/vommer 0.2.0
├── @renke/vo 0.2.0
└─┬ @renke/vod 0.2.0
  └── @renke/vo 0.2.0

Looking at the resolution trace TypeScript tries to resolve @renke/vo two times the first time from @renke/vommer and the second time from @renke/vod. Both end up having the package ID @renke/vo/dist/index.d.ts@0.2.0.

Using "preserveSymlinks": true doesn't solve the problem in so far that the error disappears but the type is inferred as any, because the dependencies of @renke/vommer are not found. Also I don't actually want to use it.

🙂 Expected behavior

The error should not occur when there are two (or more) modules that have the same resolved package ID. It would make sense for the error to occur when they have different versions.

[zengguirong]

same problem

[renke]

So, aside from finding a solution to this problem, is my assumption correct that having multiple packages with typings that have the same version should not cause any problems?

I'd also appreciate any hints on where to look at the source code to solve this problem.

[dohooo]

same problem!

[quadristan]

@renke i have a repro where everything has the same version here : https://github.com/quadristan/ts-indirect-type-reference-bug

[agmitron]

same problem :( have you solved it?

[renke]

I haven't solved it yet, but there is also a similar issue #48212 with a milestone of TypeScript 4.8.0. Let's hope it will be solved soon.

[StarHosea]

same problem

[kiastorm]

I got this issue because the mentioned dependency had this code in its index.d.ts:

declare module 'react' {
  interface DOMAttributes<T> {
    css?: InterpolationWithTheme<any>
  }
}

and the file it was complaining in was using React.HTMLAttributes<HTMLElement> which references React.DOMAttributes. I worked around this issue by omitting the declared properties Omit<React.HTMLAttribute<HTMLElement>, "css">

[Peroconino]

Same problem :(

[vaibhavkumar-sf]

Same Problem for me too :(

[ivanbanov]

is there any expected timeline for a fix for this problem?

[grmkris]

same here