Support loading remote types

Search Terms

It would be great if TypeScript supported importing type definitions in config files directly from a remote URL (akin to JSON’s $schema), enabling typed configs without forcing consumers to install and maintain purely type-level dependencies in package.json

✅ Viability Checklist

• This wouldn't be a breaking change in existing TypeScript/JavaScript code
• This wouldn't change the runtime behavior of existing JavaScript code
• This could be implemented without emitting different JS based on the types of the expressions
• This isn't a runtime feature (e.g. library functionality, non-ECMAScript syntax with JavaScript output, new syntax sugar for JS, etc.)
• This isn't a request to add a new utility type: https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/No-New-Utility-Types
• This feature would agree with the rest of our Design Goals: https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/TypeScript-Design-Goals

⭐ Suggestion

Motivating Example

Example:

// @ts-import "http://example.com/Definitions-1.2.0/Library.d.ts"

Use Cases

1. What do you want to use this for? For tools config ts files
2. What shortcomings exist with current approaches?

• Type-only dependencies are unnecessarily coupled to package management Even when a library is consumed purely at the type level, users are required to declare and version it in package.json. This inflates dependency graphs, increases maintenance overhead, and introduces update and security workflows for artifacts that have no runtime relevance.
• Ergonomics for library and framework authors Tool authors lack a lightweight, declarative way to publish stable, versioned configuration contracts.

1. What workarounds are you using in the meantime? Import in the package.json