Type-Only Imports and Exports

Type-only imports and exports (import type / export type) were introduced in TypeScript 3.8 to give developers explicit control over what is a runtime dependency and what is only a type.

Regular imports may include runtime code. If you only need the type, the import can be erased entirely from the compiled output.

import { User } from './models'; // includes runtime binding
import type { User } from './models'; // compile-time only, erased