Typescript Best Practices
TypeScript best practices. Use when reading or editing any .ts or .tsx file.
Specification
- Skill ID
- cursor/plugins/typescript-best-practices
- Publisher
- cursor
- Repository
- plugins
- Installs
- 0
- Files
- 2
- Synced
- Sep 23, 2026
How to use it
Open any RiverX project, open the Skills panel in the chat, and search for this identifier. The files are fetched from the source repository at install time.
cursor/plugins/typescript-best-practicesInstalls these files- SKILL.md
- references/patterns.md
What this skill tells the agent
TypeScript best practices
Apply the type-system-discipline principle skill first.
| Rule | Summary |
|---|---|
| Discriminated unions | Model variants with a kind literal discriminant so impossible states can't be represented. No optional-field bags. |
| Branded types | Brand primitives with & { readonly __brand: "X" } so they can't be mixed up. Validate once at the boundary. |
| Constructive modeling | Build the shape so the illegal value can't be constructed. [T, ...T[]] for non-empty, [T, T][] for even length, start plus duration for a range. Not a runtime guard, not a wish for refinement types. |
| Simplest total type | Keep T[] while every operation on it stays total. Strengthen to NonEmpty<T> only where the loose type forces !, a cast, or a "should never happen" throw. |
unknown over any | External data is unknown. |
| Schemas before guards | Before hand-writing a property-by-property type guard, use the repository's runtime schema library and infer the type from the schema, such as z.infer. |
No as casts | Every as is a runtime crash waiting. Cast only after validation. |
| Narrowing hierarchy | Discriminant switch > in operator > typeof/instanceof > user-defined type guard > as. |
| Type guards | Must verify the claim. A lying guard is worse than as because the bug hides behind a name that says it's safe. Name them isX or hasX. |
| Exhaustiveness | Inline const _exhaustive: never = x; in default arms so the compiler errors when a new variant is added. |
satisfies over as | Validates the value without widening literal types. |
| Boundary validation | Parse where data crosses in, into a named domain type. Record<string, unknown> (however spelled) stops at that parse. Trust types inside. See the boundary-discipline principle skill. |
| Schema-derived types | Reach for Pick/Omit/Parameters/ReturnType/Awaited/typeof before declaring a new interface. |
| Object args | Pass objects, not positional, so argument order is self-documenting. Skip on hot paths (per-frame render, tokenizers, parsers). |
| Real tests | Don't mock what you can run. Prefer the framework's real test primitives with leak/disposable checks, and verify UI in a running build. Mock only what you can't run locally. |
| Structured telemetry | Prefer structured logger diagnostics with enough context to debug from an id. No console.log in shipped code. |
Examples: references/patterns.md.
More from cursor
Use this skill in a project
Open any RiverX project, search the Skills panel for cursor/plugins/typescript-best-practices, and install it in one click.