How to debug "Output generation failed"?

[WesSouza]

I am running ts-node on a complex monorepo project, which stopped working with a vague "Output generation failed" error which I cannot find a way to properly debug.

Error: Debug Failure. Output generation failed
    at transpileModule ([redacted]/.yarn/__virtual__/ts-node-virtual-d8f90fb59e/3/.yarn/berry/cache/ts-node-npm-10.9.1-6c268be7f4-10c0.zip/node_modules/ts-node/src/ts-transpile-module.ts:173:48)

I have tried to enable TS_NODE_DEBUG=true, but it seems the error happens before logging the module in question.

How can I troubleshoot this? I am using yarn berry.

[WesSouza]

It turns out TS_NODE_DEBUG=true was indicating the correct file that was causing the issue.

The issue was caused by a .ts file importing a .d.ts file which only had declare statements. I assume ts-node failed because those files do not emit any code, and the code aborts in that scenario.

I would still argue that ts-node should throw a less vague error in those cases.