TS18003: No inputs were found in config file - in CI

By Daniel Zoghalchali·Latchkey

tsc loaded the config but its include/files/exclude globs matched zero source files.

What this error means

tsc fails with TS18003 echoing the include and exclude patterns, often from the wrong cwd or a partial checkout.

error TS18003: No inputs were found in config file '/app/tsconfig.json'. Specified 'include' paths were '["src/**/*"]' and 'exclude' paths were '["node_modules"]'.

Common causes

How to fix it

Point include at real source paths

1. Make the globs match where the code lives

{
  "include": ["src/**/*.ts", "src/**/*.tsx"],
  "exclude": ["node_modules", "dist"]
}

Run from the right directory

1. Invoke tsc -p ./tsconfig.json from the project root
2. Confirm the checkout contains the source directory

npx tsc --listFilesOnly -p tsconfig.json

How to prevent it

• Keep include aligned with the real layout and run tsc from a consistent directory with a full checkout.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• Node.js documentation
• npm CLI documentation
• GitHub Actions documentation