Starting from node 22.6.0, you can directly start writing on the .ts file without installing any dependencies: index.ts function main(message: string): void { console.log("Message: " + message); } main("Hello! world"); For running with watch mode: package.json "dev": "node -w index.ts" Recommended base tsconfig tsconfig.json { "compilerOptions": { "target": "esnext", "module": "nodenext", "allowImportingTsExtensions": true, "rewriteRelativeImportExtensions": true, "verbatimModuleSyntax": true, "erasableSyntaxOnly": true } }