A few weeks ago, I was setting up a basic TypeScript + Express backend — and I hit the same old problems:

❌ Slow reloads

❌ Config struggles

❌ ts-node-dev just wasn’t cutting it

So I looked for something better…

I found tsx — and it completely changed my workflow.

✅ What Makes tsx Better

✅ Lightning-fast reloads (powered by ESBuild)

✅ No config needed — works out of the box

✅ Full support for ESM and TypeScript

Setup Guide (Step-by-Step)

1. Initialize your project:

npm init -y

2. Install your dependencies:

npm install express

npm install -D typescript tsx @types/express

3. Create a tsconfig.json:

npx tsc --init

Then uncomment rootDir and outDir and update it in your recent generated tsconfig.json.

add include["/src/**/.*ts"] and exclude["node_modues"] after compileroption

or simply Update your tsconfig.json with this:

{

"compilerOptions": {

"target": "es2020",

"module": "commonjs",

"rootDir": "./",

"outDir": "./dist",

"esModuleInterop": true,

"forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,

"strict": true,

"skipLibCheck": true,

"allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,

"noImplicitAny": true,

"noImplicitThis": true,

"strictNullChecks": true,

"strictFunctionTypes": true,

"strictBindCallApply": true,

"strictPropertyInitialization": true,

"strictBuiltinIteratorReturn": true,

"alwaysStrict": true,

"useUnknownInCatchVariables": true

},

"files": [

"./app.ts",

"./server.ts"

],

"include": [

"*.ts"

],

"exclude": [

"node_modules"

]

}

Don’t worry about ESM configuration — tsx handles it.

4. Update your package.json scripts:

"scripts": {

"dev": "tsx watch src/server.ts",

"build": "tsc",

"start": "node dist/server.js"

}

✅ That’s it! You’ve got a fast, clean, modern TypeScript + Express setup — no hacks, no headaches.

Want a copy of my starter template?

Drop a comment or DM — happy to share it!