TypeScript Best Practices for 2026

Why TypeScript?

TypeScript has become the standard for building large-scale JavaScript applications. Its type system catches errors at compile time, improves code documentation, and enhances developer productivity.

Essential Best Practices

1. Use Strict Mode

Enable strict mode in your tsconfig.json to catch more potential errors:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "strict": true
  }
}

2. Prefer Interfaces Over Types

Use interfaces for object shapes and types for unions, primitives, and functions.

3. Avoid Any

The 'any' type defeats the purpose of TypeScript. Use 'unknown' when you truly don't know the type, and narrow it down with type guards.

4. Use Utility Types

TypeScript provides powerful utility types like Partial, Required, Pick, and Omit. Use them to reduce code duplication.

5. Leverage Type Inference

• * Don't over-annotate. TypeScript is smart enough to infer types in many cases.

  * Advanced Patterns

  * Discriminated Unions

• * Use discriminated unions for type-safe state management and API responses.

  * Generic Constraints

• * Use generic constraints to create flexible yet type-safe functions and components.

Conclusion

Following these best practices will help you write cleaner, more maintainable TypeScript code that scales with your project.