microsoft / microsoft/TypeScript

Generic constraint is not validated in a recursive type

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Bug Domain: Conditional Types Help Wanted
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Description

Bug Report

🕗 Version & Regression Information
  • This is the behavior in every version I tried, starting from 4.1 where recursive conditional types were added
⏯ Playground Link

Playground link with relevant code

💻 Code
export type ComputeRangeLoose<
  N extends number,
  Result extends Array<number> = [],
> = Result['length'] extends N ? Result : ComputeRangeLoose<N, [...Result, Result['length']]>

type A = ComputeRangeLoose<{ foo: true }>

export type ComputeRangeStrict<
  N extends number,
  Result extends Array<number> = [],
> = N extends number
  ? Result['length'] extends N ? Result : ComputeRangeStrict<N, [...Result, Result['length']]>
  : never

type B = ComputeRangeStrict<{ foo: true }>
🙁 Actual behavior

ComputeRangeLoose<{ foo: true }> allows to pass a type that is not related to number, throwing Type instantiation is excessively deep and possibly infinite.

ComputeRangeStrict<{ foo: true }> throws an expected Type '{ foo: true; }' does not satisfy the constraint 'number'

🙂 Expected behavior

Both ComputeRangeLoose and ComputeRangeStrict throw Type '{ foo: true; }' does not satisfy the constraint 'number'


As the issue is reproducible since 4.1, I'm pretty sure it was already mentioned somewhere however I failed to find a suitable issue

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the issue in the linked TypeScript Playground using the ComputeRangeLoose and ComputeRangeStrict examples. Trace generic constraint checking for recursive conditional types and verify that both invalid instantiations report the expected constraint diagnostic rather than excessive instantiation depth.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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