@types/cross-spawn

These TypeScript definitions accurately mirror the cross-spawn API, which is crucial when you're spawning child processes across Windows and Unix-like systems. The types correctly represent the spawn options, stdio configurations, and return types without surprises. In production, I've used these extensively for build tools and deployment scripts where process management needs to work reliably across developer machines and CI environments.

The definitions handle the nuanced differences between sync and async spawn variants well, with proper return type discrimination. The SpawnOptions interface correctly extends Node's native spawn options while adding cross-spawn's platform normalization behavior. One practical benefit: TypeScript will catch stdio misconfiguration at compile time, which has saved me from runtime errors when piping process output.

The main limitation is that these are just type definitions - they don't add runtime validation or observability. You still need to implement your own timeout handling, resource cleanup, and logging around spawned processes. The types also don't help much with understanding cross-spawn's actual behavior under load or memory constraints of child processes.

As a types-only package for cross-spawn, this delivers exactly what you need with zero friction. The type definitions are accurate and comprehensive, covering all the main cross-spawn APIs including spawn, sync, and the various options configurations. TypeScript autocomplete works beautifully out of the box, and the types correctly reflect the Node.js ChildProcess return types.

The learning curve is essentially non-existent if you already know cross-spawn - you just install this package alongside it and TypeScript immediately understands everything. Error messages are standard TypeScript fare, clearly indicating when you've passed wrong argument types or misconfigured options. The main gotcha is remembering that SpawnOptions extends Node's native SpawnOptions, so you need to understand the underlying Node API.

Day-to-day usage is smooth and predictable. There's no documentation to speak of since it's just type definitions, but you don't really need any - IntelliSense shows you everything. When debugging, TypeScript catches most issues at compile time rather than runtime, which is exactly the value proposition.

As a type definitions package, @types/cross-spawn does exactly what you need - provides accurate TypeScript types for the cross-spawn library. The types correctly model the spawn, sync, and _parse functions with proper return types for ChildProcess and SpawnSyncReturns. In production environments where you're spawning processes across Windows and Unix systems, having these types prevents common mistakes around option handling and stdio configuration.

The types accurately reflect cross-spawn's API surface, including the options object that extends Node's SpawnOptions. This is critical when you're configuring things like stdio piping, environment variables, and working directories. The type checking catches configuration errors at compile time rather than failing mysteriously in production, especially around shell option handling which differs between platforms.

One limitation is that these are just type definitions - they add zero runtime value for error handling, logging, or resource management. You still need to implement your own timeout handling, process cleanup, and retry logic. The types also don't warn you about cross-spawn's lack of built-in pooling or concurrency limits.