tripleSlashReferences

Reports triple-slash reference directives.

✅ This rule is included in the ts logical presets.

Triple-slash reference directives (/// <reference />) are an older TypeScript feature for declaring dependencies between files. With modern ECMAScript modules and tsconfig.json configuration, these directives are rarely needed.

This rule reports on uses of triple-slash references.

Examples

❌ Incorrect

/// <reference path="./types.d.ts" />
export const value = 1;

/// <reference types="node" />
const path = require("path");

✅ Correct

import type { MyType } from "./types";
export const value: MyType = 1;

import * as path from "path";

Options

This rule is not configurable.

When Not To Use It

In some cases, triple-slash directives are still necessary:

• When working with global type augmentations in a codebase not set up with tsconfig.json file inclusions
• When a file needs to reference a specific declaration file that cannot be resolved through normal module resolution
• When using /// <reference lib="..." /> for lib references in a codebase that overrides them

You might consider using Flint disable comments and/or configuration file disables for those specific situations instead of completely disabling this rule.

Further Reading

• TypeScript: Triple-Slash Directives

Equivalents in Other Linters

• Deno: triple-slash-reference
• ESLint: @typescript-eslint/triple-slash-reference
• Oxlint: typescript/triple-slash-reference