ts-node vs tsc, and the TypeScript commands you actually need

When you are new to TypeScript, the tooling can feel like it has too many moving parts. You see tsc in one tutorial, ts-node in another, sometimes tsx , and it is not always clear which one to reach for. This post will clear that up. The core idea Browsers and Node.js do not understand TypeScript. They only understand JavaScript. So somewhere along the way, your .ts file has to turn into a .js file. The question is just when and how. You have two main options: Compile ahead of time, save .js fil