denoland/deno · error · anyhow::Error

No emittable files found. Only TypeScript/JSX/TSX files can

Error message

No emittable files found. Only TypeScript/JSX/TSX files can be transpiled.

What it means

Inputs are filtered by `MediaType::is_emittable`; only TypeScript/JSX/TSX sources qualify. Non-emittable files (.js, .mjs, .json, .css, ...) each log a 'Skipping ... (not a TypeScript/JSX/TSX file)' warning and are dropped; if nothing remains the tool bails with this message.

Source

Thrown at cli/tools/transpile.rs:102

    if !media_type.is_emittable() {
      log::warn!(
        "{} Skipping {} (not a TypeScript/JSX/TSX file)",
        colors::yellow("Warning"),
        file_path.display()
      );
      continue;
    }

    let specifier =
      ModuleSpecifier::from_file_path(&file_path).map_err(|_| {
        anyhow::anyhow!("Invalid file path: {}", file_path.display())
      })?;

    file_entries.push((file_path, specifier, media_type));
  }

  if file_entries.is_empty() {
    anyhow::bail!(
      "No emittable files found. Only TypeScript/JSX/TSX files can be transpiled."
    );
  }

  // Transpile each file (TS -> JS)
  for (file_path, specifier, media_type) in &file_entries {
    let source_bytes = sys
      .fs_read(file_path)
      .with_context(|| format!("Failed to read {}", file_path.display()))?;
    let source_code = String::from_utf8(source_bytes.into_owned())
      .with_context(|| format!("{} is not valid UTF-8", file_path.display()))?;

    let parsed_source = deno_ast::parse_module(deno_ast::ParseParams {
      specifier: specifier.clone(),
      text: source_code.into(),
      media_type: *media_type,
      capture_tokens: false,
      scope_analysis: false,

View on GitHub (pinned to 89f33cbef2)

Solutions

1. Read the per-file 'Skipping ...' warnings printed above the error — they name exactly which files were dropped
2. Pass .ts/.tsx/.jsx inputs: `deno transpile src/**/*.ts`
3. If the files are plain JavaScript, transpilation is unnecessary — run or bundle them directly instead

Example fix

# before
deno transpile dist/**/*.js
# after
deno transpile src/**/*.ts

# bash: verify the file set contains emittable types before running
emittable=$(find src -type f \( -name '*.ts' -o -name '*.tsx' -o -name '*.jsx' \) | wc -l)
[ "$emittable" -gt 0 ] || { echo "no .ts/.tsx/.jsx inputs" >&2; exit 1; }
deno transpile $(find src -type f -name '*.ts')

When it happens

Trigger: `deno transpile app.js`, or a glob whose matches are all plain JavaScript/JSON — every entry is skipped and `file_entries` ends up empty.

Common situations: Pointing transpile at a directory of already-compiled JS; wrong glob (`*.js` instead of `*.ts`); using transpile where the sources were assumed to be TypeScript.

Related errors

• Type checking failed: {}
• Type checking failed.
• No input files specified
• Cannot use --output with multiple input files. Use --outdir
• Cannot use --declaration without --output or --outdir. Decla

AI-assisted analysis of denoland/deno@89f33cbef2 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b2c4adaf853d0296. Report an issue: GitHub.