tsc --watch doesn't work in docker container

[calanchue]

Bug Report

🔎 Search Terms

watch container

🕗 Version & Regression Information

• I have conducted testing under Typescript 5.0.4.
• Environment for testing:
  • Windows 11: tsc --watch functioned correctly.
  • Host mahicne Windows11, Docker container node:20 -> tsc --watch was unsuccessful
  • Host mahicne Windows11, Docker container mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/typescript-node:0-20 -> tsc --watch didn't work either
    • vscode devcontainer image from Microsoft, designed for developing with Typescript

⏯ Playground Link

this is not about code.

💻 Code

this is not about code

🙁 Actual behavior

It appears that tsc is unable to detect file changes in the container.

• run tsc --watch
• Initially, it ran without any issues and produced the following output.

  [12:43:12 AM] Starting compilation in watch mode...
  
  [12:43:18 AM] Found 0 errors. Watching for file changes.
  ``
  

• make change in ts files which should be compile
• nothing happens. no changes in the js output
• make change in ts files which makes error
• nothing happens. doesn't show error message

🙂 Expected behavior

it works fine with my windosw11

• Initially, it ran without any issues and produced the following output.

[12:43:12 AM] Starting compilation in watch mode...

[12:43:18 AM] Found 0 errors. Watching for file changes.

• Made changes in the TypeScript files, which were required to be compiled.
• Verified that the changes were reflected in the corresponding JavaScript files.
• Introduced an error by making further changes in the TypeScript files.
• Confirmed that the error message was displayed appropriately.

  [오전 9:53:48] File change detected. Starting incremental compilation...
  
  src/app.ts:19:5 - error TS1440: Variable declaration not allowed at this location.
  
  19     let's make syntax error
         ~~~
  
  src/app.ts:19:5 - error TS2304: Cannot find name 'let'.
  
  19     let's make syntax error
         ~~~
  
  src/app.ts:19:28 - error TS1002: Unterminated string literal.
  
  19     let's make syntax error
    
  
  [오전 9:53:48] Found 3 errors. Watching for file changes.
  

[IllusionMH]

Are you changing files that are located inside of docker container or mounted from host system?
In later case I don't think that mounts provide reliable file change notifications so most watchers would break.

[RyanCavanaugh]

If your OS isn't providing watch events, then you can use a polling based watch strategy in your TS config or command line: https://www.typescriptlang.org/tsconfig#watchOptions

[calanchue]

The issue originated from a binding mount with the Windows host filesystem.

As advised by @RyanCavanaugh , the polling method can also be used.

In my case, I resolved the problem by moving the files to the WSL2 file system. I first created the project on the WSL2 file system, then mounted the directory to the container. This allowed for tsc --watch to function as expected. Additionally, the WSL2 filesystem can be directly accessed (\\wsl2$) by the Windows file browser, resulting in a seamless experience for me.

[gremo]

I have the same problem on Windows. Watch won't work for files in src even if I change them inside the container itself (i.e. using vscode or the shell).

There is a lot of confusion about bind mounts on Windows: do the bind mount completly screw the watch functionality of all tools relying on watch events (TypeScript, Rollup, and many more...)... when editing from withing the container and Windows itself?

[TheMatrix97]

Same here, currently using a nodejs devcontainer with vscode, and npx tsc --watch don't detect any change....

[akbarnafisa]

I'm running Node inside Docker on my Windows computer, and configuring these settings fixed the issue for me.

  "watchOptions": {
    "watchFile": "dynamicPriorityPolling"
  }