microsoft / microsoft/TypeScript
tsserver hangs indefinitely when inferring return type of class method that passes this to a function with deeply nested conditional return type
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Description
### 🔎 Search Terms
hang circular
### 🕗 Version & Regression Information
This behavior is present in TypeScript 5 and TypeScript 6 beta.
### ⏯ Playground Link
N/A — requires the remeda package (npm i remeda). Reproduction is a self-contained file below.
### 💻 Code
```ts
import { pick } from "remeda";
export class MyClass {
constructor(public readonly field: number) {}
// [bad] tsserver hangs indefinitely: no explicit return type
getIdentity() {
return pick(this, ["field"]);
}
// [good] works fine: explicit return type breaks the cycle
getIdentityFixed(): Pick {
return pick(this, ["field"]);
}
}
```
### 🙁 Actual behavior
`tsserver` becomes completely unresponsive. The editor (VS Code) loses all language service features (hover types, completions, diagnostics) until tsserver is manually restarted. No error is emitted; tsserver simply loops forever.
The cause is an undetected circular type inference chain. To infer the return type of `getIdentity()`, TypeScript must evaluate `PickFromArray` (remeda's `pick` return type). That involves `IsBoundedRecord` → `IsBounded>`. `KeysOfUnion` uses `UnionToIntersection`, which places `MyClass` in a contravariant function parameter position — forcing eager, non-deferred evaluation of the full structural type of `MyClass`. The full type of `MyClass` includes `getIdentity: () => `, whose inferred return type is what we started trying to compute. Because the cycle passes through ~5 distinct type alias instantiations, TypeScript's cycle-detection heuristics never fire, and the checker loops indefinitely instead of emitting a "circularly references itself" error.
### 🙂 Expected behavior
TypeScript should detect the circular inference and either:
- Emit a "Return type annotation circularly references itself" error (as it does for simpler cycles), or
- Fall back to any with a warning.
Either outcome is acceptable. The checker should never hang.
### Additional information about the issue
Workaround: add an explicit return type annotation to the method. This gives TypeScript the type of `MyClass.getIdentity()` upfront, preventing the cycle from forming.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by installing remeda and running the self-contained TypeScript reproduction with tsserver. Compare the hanging inferred-return case with the explicit Pick annotation, then trace circularity handling around the reported PickFromArray, IsBoundedRecord, IsBounded, KeysOfUnion, and UnionToIntersection chain. Done means tsserver no longer hangs and either reports a circular return-type error or falls back to any with a warning.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- typescript
- Domain
- compilers
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100