How to fix Cannot find name 'global' in TypeScript

The most common fix is to install the official Node.js type definitions:

npm install --save-dev @types/node

or with yarn:

yarn add --dev @types/node

This package provides TypeScript with all the type information it needs to understand Node.js global objects and functions.

Ensure your tsconfig.json includes Node.js in the type libraries. Update your compilerOptions:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "lib": ["ES2020"],
    "types": ["node"],
    "target": "ES2020",
    "module": "commonjs"
  }
}

The key is adding "types": ["node"] or ensuring "lib" includes appropriate Node.js support. If you're running both server and browser code, you might need multiple entries:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "lib": ["ES2020", "DOM"],
    "types": ["node"]
  }
}

If you're adding your own custom global variables, create a declaration file. Create a file like src/global.d.ts:

declare global {
  var myCustomGlobal: string;
  var myConfig: { apiUrl: string; timeout: number };
}

export {};

Then use it in your code:

// This will now work without TS2304 error
myCustomGlobal = "hello";
console.log(global.myConfig.apiUrl);

Important: The export {}; at the end is required to mark the file as an external module, which allows augmenting the global scope.

In Node.js 12+ and modern TypeScript, prefer globalThis over global. It's more portable and works across browsers and Node.js:

// Instead of:
global.myVariable = "value";

// Use:
globalThis.myVariable = "value";

globalThis is the standardized way to access global scope and doesn't require additional type declarations. If you still get an error with globalThis, install @types/node as shown in Step 1.