[SOLVED] How to document an external dependency from a node

How to document an external dependency from a node_modules folder in Typedoc?

I'm developing a project that is using external dependencies from a node_module within it. Since those dependencies are part of the project, I'd like to add them to typedoc documentation, but what I get is just the string of the type declaration, not its content:

node_module/dependency/index.d.ts

export interface SomeInterface {
  propA: string
  propB: number
  propC: string
}

...

// much more content I don't want to import from typedoc

my-project index.d.ts

import { SomeInterface } from 'dependency'

export type MyType = Pick<SomeInterface, 'propA' | 'propB'>

I don't add the node_modules dependency index.d.ts to the entryPoints because it has a lot of content I don't want.

typedoc.json

{
  "$schema": "https://typedoc.org/schema.json",
  "entryPoints": [
    "./src/index.d.ts",
  ],
  "out": "api-docs"
}

Typedoc shows the string of how the type is declared, but it doesn't shows its content at all:

result in typedoc

Type alias MyType

MyType: Pick<SomeInterface, 'propA' | 'propB'>

desired result

Type alias MyType

MyType: {
  propA: string
  propB: number
}

I don't want to add the external dependency to the entryPoints of typedoc because it has a lot of information that I don't need.

Solution

It isn't exactly what you're looking for, but TypeDoc's @interface tag can get you close.

/** @interface */
export type MyType = Pick<SomeInterface, 'propA' | 'propB'>

This will result in TypeDoc documenting the type as if it were an interface, which will resolve all included properties.

If you really want a type alias, there is a small plugin which can be used to tell TypeDoc to document the type alias using the type which TypeScript shows when hovering over the type. This might someday be included directly in TypeDoc, but is not currently included.