# Agent Note: Solution root over two aggregate programs

Status: implemented

English | [中文](2026-07-22-tsconfig-solution-root-two-aggregates.zh.md)

## Problem

The GUI split introduced a second aggregate program (`tsconfig.client.json`, [layering RFC](../architecture/2026-07-19-gui-layering-and-rpc-protocol.md)) while the root `tsconfig.json` kept doubling as the host aggregate, and `tsconfig.build.json` remained a third, hand-maintained full emit graph. That triple bookkeeping produced four concrete asymmetries:

- The typecheck and build references lists drifted apart (`packages/goal/command-goal` was in the typecheck graph but missing from the build graph).
- The lefthook pre-push hook ran `tsc -b tsconfig.json` only, so client-side type breakage passed the local checkpoint and surfaced in CI.
- tsserver discovers only configs named `tsconfig.json`, so client test files sat on no discoverable config chain and fell back to inferred projects (no paths, wrong lib/jsx).
- The vitest configs pointed at three different resolution sources (`tsconfig.vitest.json`, the root config, and one hand-written alias).

## Decision

One solution root, two check units, one shared base pair, no separate build or vitest config:

| File | Role | Forms a program? |
|---|---|---|
| `tsconfig.json` | Solution root: `extends` base, `files: []`, two references; the whole-repo `tsc -b tsconfig.json` graph, the tsserver entry, and the nearest config for get-tsconfig consumers (tsx running `examples/`, `scripts/`, doc fences) whose bare workspace imports resolve through the inherited `paths` | No |
| `tsconfig.base.json` | Shared compilerOptions and the source `paths` map; doubles as the resolution facade for vite-tsconfig-paths (no `include`, so it applies to every importer) | No |
| `tsconfig.base.client.json` | Browser compiler shape (`jsx: react-jsx`, DOM libs, `types: []`) shared by the client aggregate and every `packages/client/*` package | No |
| `tsconfig.host.json` | The former root aggregate, moved verbatim: host packages, examples, tests, scripts, website; excludes `packages/client` | Yes |
| `tsconfig.client.json` | Client packages and their tests; extends `tsconfig.base.client.json` | Yes |

The load-bearing principle: **cordis `Context` declaration-merge collisions exist only inside a `ts.Program`, never in module resolution.** A solution file forms no program, so referencing both aggregates from one root cannot collide the merges; vite-tsconfig-paths reads only `paths` and `include` and discards types, so one facade may span both sides. The only way to explode is to flatten both sides into a single program — hence two derived disciplines: `tsconfig.base.json` never gains `include`/`files` (it would leak into every extending package and narrow the facade), and every repo-wide `ts.Program` consumer (`scripts/ts-project.ts`, doc-typecheck standalone mode) seeds `tsconfig.host.json` or `tsconfig.client.json` explicitly, never the root solution. Program-backed generators and semantic gates intentionally stay host-only; the client side gets program-backed gates only when a real need arrives.

The root `tsconfig.json` remains the solution entry for explicitly running the complete Project Reference graph, and lefthook pre-push incrementally covers both sides through `tsc -b tsconfig.json --pretty false`. Because the Client depends on Remote contracts generated by Host tsdown, the repository's `build` and `typecheck` commands run the Host and Client in order; the [API Remotes build note](2026-08-08-api-remotes-generated-contract-build.md) owns the exact orchestration. `tsconfig.build.json` and `tsconfig.vitest.json` are deleted; all vitest configs point vite-tsconfig-paths at `tsconfig.base.json`.

The solution root `extends` the base deliberately: `examples/` and `scripts/` have no nearer tsconfig, so tsx (get-tsconfig) resolves their workspace imports through the root file. `extends` restores the `paths` map there while `files: []` keeps the file program-less. Their *type checking* is unaffected by this: examples, scripts, and website files are included by the host aggregate.

## Alternatives considered

- **Rename `tsconfig.build.json` to `tsconfig.host.json`** — rejected: the build graph was the full emit graph including all client packages, not a host graph; the name that fits the former root aggregate is `tsconfig.host.json`, and the build graph itself is subsumed by the solution.
- **Point vitest at the root solution** — rejected: a solution has neither `paths` nor `include`, so resolution would become a function of how far the plugin walks references, and the client aggregate's include (tests only, no src) would leave transitive src→src imports unmapped, falling through to `exports` and loading a second copy of module singletons.
- **Keep `tsconfig.vitest.json` as a dedicated facade** — retained only as the fallback if vite-tsconfig-paths mishandles an include-less config; the base file already carries the paths map, and an include-less config applies everywhere, which is strictly wider than the facade's hand-kept include list.

## Consequences

- `docs/development.md#typescript-project-layout` is the authoritative description; root `AGENTS.md` carries the two disciplines as conventions.
- The [ts-build-config note](2026-06-17-ts-build-config.md) keeps ownership of the tsc-first build pipeline (tsc emits, tsdown bundles, `.ts` specifiers with `rewriteRelativeImportExtensions`); its former "one root typecheck project" shape is superseded by this note.
- Adding an ordinary package registers it in exactly one aggregate's references: Host packages in `tsconfig.host.json` and Client packages in `tsconfig.client.json`. `api/remotes` is the only explicit split exception because the Host generates a contract that the Client consumes later; its two concrete projects are registered separately, while its package-root solution enters neither aggregate.
- The Host and Client build phases must run serially: Client tsc cannot begin until Host tsdown has generated the contract. Each phase reuses its projects' incremental state instead of processing the same graph concurrently.
