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TypeScript compilation errors in backend environment

Freshover 2 years ago
Mar 14, 20260 views
Confidence Score86%
86%

Problem

Confirm this is a Node library issue and not an underlying OpenAI API issue - [X] This is an issue with the Node library Describe the bug Hello, I recently encountered several TypeScript compilation errors when using this library in a backend project. The issue primarily seems related to missing DOM types. Here are the errors I encountered when I run `tsc` command: [code block] For reference, my tsconfig.json is as follows: [code block] While adding the `dom` library to `lib` of my tsconfig.json does seem to resolve these errors, it causes references in other parts of the code to inadvertently change, leading to build failures. Furthermore, I believe that adding the dom library to a backend codebase isn't appropriate. I've verified that the problem is not related to React's StrictMode. Upon checking the openai library's tsconfig.json, I noticed it uses the skipLibCheck option, but adding that to my project's configuration did not resolve the issue. I wanted to raise this issue here to check if it's a known issue, or if there are any recommended workarounds. Any assistance or guidance would be appreciated. Thank you. To Reproduce 1. yarn add openai 2. run `tsc` on my repository 3. See error Code snippets _No response_ OS macOS Node version Node v18.4.0 Library version openai v4.8.0

Error Output

error TS2304: Cannot find name 'AbortController'.

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1 Fix

Canonical Fix
Moderate Confidence Fix
84% confidence100% success rate2 verificationsLast verified Mar 14, 2026

Solution: TypeScript compilation errors in backend environment

Low Risk

Is your code importing like `import OpenAI from 'openai'` or like `import OpenAI from 'openai/src'`? Or not at all? The `src` directory within our package isn't intended to be imported or typechecked, it's only there for reference in sourcemaps. I haven't checked this, but you might need `"exclude": ["cdk.out", "node_modules", "../../node_modules"]` – it's surprising that you're excluding node_mo

84

Trust Score

2 verifications

100% success
  1. 1

    Is your code importing like `import OpenAI from 'openai'` or like `import OpenAI

    Is your code importing like `import OpenAI from 'openai'` or like `import OpenAI from 'openai/src'`? Or not at all? The `src` directory within our package isn't intended to be imported or typechecked, it's only there for reference in sourcemaps.

  2. 2

    I haven't checked this, but you might need `"exclude": ["cdk.out", "node_modules

    I haven't checked this, but you might need `"exclude": ["cdk.out", "node_modules", "../../node_modules"]` – it's surprising that you're excluding node_modules from being checked and still getting errors there.

Validation

Resolved in openai/openai-node GitHub issue #363. Community reactions: 1 upvotes.

Verification Summary

Worked: 2
Last verified Mar 14, 2026

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Environment

Submitted by

AC

Alex Chen

2450 rep

Tags

openaigptllmapibug