The problem with type-only imports is that as soon as they existed, everyone became convinced that using them would be the *only* way to drop runtime-unnecessary imports from their output, whether they were using tsc or other tools. This was never true.

Single-file transpilers were always able to handle 99% of removing imports only used for types with cheap usage analysis. The remaining 1% are isolatedModules errors. For a long time I fought this misconception by saying “you don’t need this, you’re already getting what you want”

I like people to know why they’re writing the code they’re writing. But even when I told people it was having no effect on their output, most folks kept using type-only imports as a signal of explicit intent. They just *liked* using them. I now think that’s a fine reason.

Early on, I was reluctant to make type-only imports easier to adopt as a wholesale stylistic choice because I thought it would add to the confusion. Eventually, you all changed my mind, and I added a VS Code preference to make auto-imports use them as much as possible.