diff --git a/js/grunt/Gruntfile.js b/js/grunt/Gruntfile.js
index f350378a9..bc3ea1302 100644
--- a/js/grunt/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/js/grunt/Gruntfile.js
@@ -157,7 +157,10 @@ module.exports = function( grunt ) {
     } ) );
 
   const reportTscResults = results => {
-    if ( ( results.stderr && results.stderr.length > 0 ) || results.code !== 0 ) {
+    if ( results.ignored ) {
+      grunt.log.ok( 'TypeScript compilation ignored due to no support in repo.' );
+    }
+    else if ( ( results.stderr && results.stderr.length > 0 ) || results.code !== 0 ) {
       grunt.fail.fatal( `tsc failed with code: ${results.code}
 stdout:
 ${results.stdout}
@@ -170,10 +173,10 @@ ${results.stderr}` );
   };
 
   grunt.registerTask( 'output-js', 'Outputs JS just for the specified repo',
-    wrapTask( async () => reportTscResults( await tsc( '../chipper', [ '--project', `../${repo}` ] ) ) )
+    wrapTask( async () => reportTscResults( await tsc( '../chipper', [ '--project', `../${repo}` ], repo ) ) )
   );
   grunt.registerTask( 'output-js-project', 'Outputs JS for the specified repo and its dependencies',
-    wrapTask( async () => reportTscResults( await tsc( '../chipper', [ '--build', `../${repo}` ] ) ) )
+    wrapTask( async () => reportTscResults( await tsc( '../chipper', [ '--build', `../${repo}` ], repo ) ) )
   );
   grunt.registerTask( 'output-js-all', 'Outputs JS for all repos',
     wrapTask( async () => reportTscResults( await tsc( '../chipper', [ '--build', '../chipper/tsconfig/all' ] ) ) )
diff --git a/js/grunt/tsc.js b/js/grunt/tsc.js
index 4832cc7b5..312589627 100644
--- a/js/grunt/tsc.js
+++ b/js/grunt/tsc.js
@@ -8,17 +8,23 @@
 
 // modules
 const execute = require( '../../../perennial-alias/js/dual/execute' );
+const fs = require( 'fs' );
 
 /**
  * @param {string} path - path to tsconfig file or directory containing tsconfig file
  * @param {Array.<string>} commandLineArgs
+ * @param {string} [repo] - if supplied, use to check on if repo supports typescript
  * @returns {Promise<{execResult: {stdout:string,stderr:string,code:number}, time: number}>} - the results from exec, and the elapsed time
  */
-const tsc = async function( path, commandLineArgs ) {
+const tsc = async function( path, commandLineArgs, repo ) {
   const args = [ '../chipper/node_modules/typescript/bin/tsc', ...commandLineArgs ];
-  return execute( 'node', args, path, {
-    errors: 'resolve'
-  } );
+  if ( !repo || ( repo && fs.existsSync( `${repo}/tsconfig.json` ) ) ) {
+
+    return execute( 'node', args, path, {
+      errors: 'resolve'
+    } );
+  }
+  return Promise.resolve( { ignored: true } );
 };
 
 // so that hook-pre-commit.js knows if it loaded a compatible version