bot-agents/.agents/memory/imports-aliases-barrels.md

---
description: An alias owns its target (folder index.ts = folder and below, any other file = that file); no overlap; outside an area only the exact alias reaches it; ../ is banned in every file; locally, aliases target only direct src/ subfolders
---

## `#` aliases own their targets

Shared code is imported through Node subpath imports declared in
`package.json` `imports`. Node, TypeScript, Vite, Vite+'s config bundler, and
Oxlint's plugin loader all resolve them natively, so `.ts` source runs
unbuilt. `vp pack` inlines them, so they never reach package consumers.

One rule for every file, never tied to folder or file names (user rule
2026-10-17; it replaces the earlier "aliases only point at direct `src/`
subfolders" rule as the general rule, and the "import-structure plugin
checks only aliased folders" scope; this repo keeps the stricter rule as a
local convention, see the last section):

- **An alias may point anywhere** and owns its target. An alias to a
  folder's `index.ts` owns that folder and everything below it; an alias to
  any other file owns only that file.
- **No overlap.** No file may be owned by 2 aliases: no alias inside another
  alias's area, and no 2 aliases with the same target. The import-structure
  plugin's `enforce-layer-order` reports it once at the top of every file 2
  aliases claim. Fix by merging the aliases or moving files apart.
- **Outside an area, only the exact alias reaches it.** A deeper alias
  specifier (`#a/one.ts`, `no-barrel-bypass`) and a relative path into the
  area (`./a/one.ts`, `no-relative-bypass`; `./b/f.ts` to a file alias,
  `prefer-alias-import`, fixed to the alias) are bypasses.
- **Inside an area, relative imports of siblings and subfolders are free.**
- **A `../` import is banned in every file**, owned or not (`no-parent-import`).
  Runtime file URLs (`new URL("../prompt.md", import.meta.url)`) are not
  imports and are allowed.
  Anything above a file needs an alias.
- **Files no alias owns** need no `index.ts` and no alias, and import `./`
  siblings and subfolders freely.
- Unchanged: no `/*` subpath patterns, the key order of `imports` is the
  layer order `enforce-layer-order` checks (add a new alias at the right
  layer), and entry files are `index.ts` only.

```jsonc
"imports": {
  "#a": "./a/index.ts",      // owns a/**
  "#f": "./b/f.ts",          // owns only b/f.ts
  "#a-sub": "./a/sub/index.ts", // no: inside #a
  "#a2": "./a/index.ts"      // no: same target as #a
}
```

```ts
// in main.ts, which no alias owns
import { a } from "#a"; // yes
import { one } from "#a/one.ts"; // no: deeper alias specifier
import { one } from "./a/one.ts"; // no: relative path into #a
import { f } from "#f"; // yes
import { f } from "./b/f.ts"; // no: relative path to a file alias
import { g } from "./b/g.ts"; // yes: unowned
// in a/one.ts, owned by #a
import { two } from "./two.ts"; // yes: sibling
import { deep } from "./sub/deep.ts"; // yes: subfolder of the same area
import { x } from "../x.ts"; // no: no ../ anywhere
```

- Aliases point at `.ts` files only. There is no `#package` alias
  ([[ts-only-files-and-imports]]).
- Lint `jsPlugins` entries in `vite.config.ts` stay path strings, even when
  the file has an alias.
- Keep test-only helpers in their own alias (e.g. `#testing`) so they never
  land in a bundle.

## Barrels

- An area used from outside exposes its API through its alias target, and
  callers import the alias (`#ui`), not files inside it.
- Barrels are also the standard fix for `import/max-dependencies`: one barrel
  import replaces many direct ones ([[lint-overrides-policy]]).
- `import/no-cycle` is on; a barrel must not create a cycle.

Relative imports are written with the `.ts` extension.

## `scripts/` is flat (user rule, 2026-10-16)

- `scripts/` has no subfolders and no `index.ts`.
- Each tool is one file, `scripts/<name>.ts`, imported directly by file:
  `import projectLint from "./scripts/project-lint.ts";` in
  `vite.config.ts`. No alias owns `scripts/`, so these `./` imports are free.
- Code in a former `scripts/<tool>/` folder is merged or renamed into flat
  `scripts/<name>.ts` files. Non-TS assets (HTML, images, fixtures) move to
  where they belong (next to the tool's output, `.agents/`, or a gitignored
  scratch dir). A subfolder that is really an app moves under an alias.

## Local convention: aliases target direct `src/` subfolders

This is a convention of this repo only, stricter than the general rule above
(which the published import-structure plugin checks and which allows more).
It is not a plugin rule.

- Every `package.json` `imports` alias points only at the `index.ts` of a
  direct subfolder of `src/`, e.g. `"#helpers": "./src/helpers/index.ts"`.
  No alias to a single file, a deeper folder, or anything outside `src/`.
  Here the one alias is `"#testing": "./src/testing/index.ts"`.
- Code outside `src/` (`scripts/`, `tests/`, `vite.config.ts`) gets no alias
  of its own and imports its own files by `./` relative paths. It reaches
  `src/` only through the aliases, since `../` is banned.
- No lint rule checks this; check `imports` by hand when adding an alias.