Why can't TypeScript find types for a package you just installed?

I installed a package. TypeScript can't find its types.

Beginner to intermediateRead 5 minDoing: half an hour5 steps

▶ Start

What you'll have at the end

A short .d.ts stub or an installed @types package, with the red squiggle gone

Before you start

You need

A TypeScript project with strict checking on, and a freshly installed JavaScript package whose import the checker is already flagging for having no shape it can find.

Not covered

Turning off the checker's strictness for missing shapes project-wide, which trades this one honest error for a blind spot that then covers every future untyped import too.

Leans on

Confirm what's actually missing before you write anything

Read exactly what the error is telling you
Check whether a shape already exists

Write the shape and prove it holds

Write a shape for what you use
Put it somewhere the checker actually reads
Confirm the fix holds project-wide

Where to go next

Giving a fetch response a real type instead of any

For when the missing shape comes from your own network call instead of an installed package, a different any to close.

Fix an import alias that works in the editor but fails the build

For when the import itself is the problem, one path in the editor and a different one at build time, rather than a genuinely missing shape.

Checked 22 Aug 2026

Part of the TypeScript cookbook