How to install and run Typescript locally in npm?

As of npm 5.2.0, once you've installed locally via

npm i typescript --save-dev

...you no longer need an entry in the scripts section of package.json -- you can now run the compiler with npx:

npx tsc

Now you don't have to update your package.json file every time you want to compile with different arguments.

It took me a while to figure out the solution to this problem - it's in the original question. You need to have a script that calls tsc in your package.json file so that you can run:

npm run tsc 

Include -- before you pass in options (or just include them in the script):

npm run tsc -- -v

Here's an example package.json:

{
  "name": "foo",
  "scripts": {
    "tsc": "tsc"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "typescript": "^1.8.10"
  }
}

To install TypeScript local in project as a development dependency you can use --save-dev key

npm install --save-dev typescript

It's also writes the typescript into your package.json

You also need to have a tsconfig.json file. For example

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES5",
    "module": "system",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "sourceMap": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "removeComments": false,
    "noImplicitAny": false
  },
  "exclude": [
    "node_modules",
    ".npm"
  ]
}

For more information about the tsconfig you can see here http://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/tsconfig-json.html