Context

The create-remix CLI allows users to select whether they want to use JavaScript instead of TypeScript. This will auto-convert everything to JavaScript.

There is (currently) no way to control this behavior.

Teams and individuals building modern web applications have many great reasons to build them with TypeScript.

One of the challenges with TypeScript is getting it configured properly. This is not an issue with a stack which starts you off on the right foot without needing to configure anything.

Another challenge with TypeScript is handling dependencies that are not written in TypeScript. This is increasingly becoming less of an issue with more and more dependencies being written in TypeScript.

Decision

We strongly advise the use of TypeScript even for simple projects and those worked on by single developers. So instead of working on making this project work with the JavaScript option of the create-remix CLI, we've decided to throw an error informing the user to try again and select the TypeScript option.

We've also made the example script in the README.md provide a selected option of --typescript so folks shouldn't even be asked unless they leave off that flag in which case our error will be thrown.

Consequences

This makes the initial experience not great for folks using JavaScript. Hopefully the Remix CLI will eventually allow us to have more control over whether that question is asked.

This also may anger some folks who really don't like TypeScript. For those folks, feel free to fork the starter.

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