withastro/astro · error · Error

Unknown error parsing tsconfig.json or jsconfig.json. Could…

Error message

Unknown error parsing tsconfig.json or jsconfig.json. Could not update TypeScript settings.

What it means

After `astro add` installs an integration, it updates tsconfig.json/jsconfig.json (e.g. setting jsx settings for React). If the updater returns 'failure' — the config file exists but could not be parsed or written — astro add throws this generic Error from packages/astro/src/cli/add/index.ts:465 instead of corrupting your file silently.

Solutions

1. Open tsconfig.json (and jsconfig.json if present) and fix JSON/JSONC syntax errors — validate by parsing it (`npx tsc --noEmit` or an editor's JSON validator)
2. If the file is unrecoverable, back it up and regenerate a minimal tsconfig, then re-run `npx astro add <integration>`
3. As a fallback, add the integration's required compilerOptions manually (see the integration's docs) — astro add will then skip or succeed

Example fix

```jsonc
// before: tsconfig.json (trailing comma)
{ "extends": "astro/tsconfigs/strict", }

// after
{ "extends": "astro/tsconfigs/strict" }
```

// validate the config file parses before running astro add
import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
JSON.parse(readFileSync('tsconfig.json', 'utf8').replace(/\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\//g, '').replace(/(^|[^:])\/\/.*$/gm, '$1'));
console.log('tsconfig.json parses ok');

try {
  await add(['react'], { yes: true });
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message.includes('Could not update TypeScript settings')) {
    // add the jsx compilerOptions by hand, then continue
    console.error('Fix tsconfig.json manually, then re-run astro add');
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `npx astro add react` (or similar) with a tsconfig.json containing invalid JSON/JSONC syntax; a config with stray trailing commas/comments that break the parser; file locked or with weird permissions; BOM or encoding issues; two config formats colliding (jsconfig.json and tsconfig.json both present).

Common situations: Hand-edited tsconfig with syntax errors; files written by other tools (editor plugins) with unusual formatting; monorepos sharing a base config with broken `extends`; a previous interrupted astro add leaving a malformed file.

Related errors

• Couldn't parse tsconfig.json or jsconfig.json
• Invalid package name
• expects a " " value!
• No problem! Find our official integrations at…
• doesn't appear to be an integration or an adapter. Find our…

AI-assisted analysis of withastro/astro@e294953aa8 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/77c4a2cdf142bae7. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packages/astro/src/cli/add/index.ts:466

	}

	const updateTSConfigResult = await updateTSConfig(cwd, logger, integrations, flags, {
		addIncludes: hasCloudflareIntegration ? ['./worker-configuration.d.ts'] : [],
	});

	switch (updateTSConfigResult) {
		case 'none': {
			break;
		}
		case 'cancelled': {
			logger.info(
				'SKIP_FORMAT',
				msg.cancelled(`Your TypeScript configuration has ${bold('NOT')} been updated.`),
			);
			break;
		}
		case 'failure': {
			throw new Error(
				`Unknown error parsing tsconfig.json or jsconfig.json. Could not update TypeScript settings.`,
			);
		}
		case 'updated':
			logger.info('SKIP_FORMAT', msg.success(`Successfully updated tsconfig`));
	}
}

function isAdapter(
	integration: IntegrationInfo,
): integration is IntegrationInfo & { type: 'adapter' } {
	return integration.type === 'adapter';
}

// Convert an arbitrary NPM package name into a JS identifier
// Some examples:
//  - @astrojs/image => image
//  - @astrojs/markdown-component => markdownComponent

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