Property does not exist on type '{}' in TypeScript

Property does not exist on type '{}' in TypeScript #

The "Property does not exist on type '{}'" error occurs when we try to access or set a property that is not contained in the object's type. To solve the error, type the object properties explicitly or use a type with variable key names.

Here is an example of how the error occurs:

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const obj = {};

// ⛔️ Error: Property 'name' does not
// exist on type '{}'.ts(2339)
obj.name = 'Tom';

We didn't explicitly type the obj variable and declared it to an empty object, so we aren't able to assign or access properties that don't exist on the object's type.

To solve the error, type the object explicitly and specify any of the properties you intend to access.

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// ✅ When you know property names ahead of time
type Employee = {
  id?: number;
  name?: string;
};

const obj: Employee = {};

obj.id = 1;
obj.name = 'Alice';

// ✅ When you don't know ALL property names ahead of time
type Employee2 = {
  [key: string]: any; // 👈️ variable key
  name: string;
};

const obj2: Employee2 = {
  name: 'James',
};

obj2.salary = 100;

The first example shows how to type an object when you know its property names and the types of the values ahead of time.

We need to declare the object as empty, so we marked the properties as optional by using a question mark.

The important thing here is - the properties exist on the object type, so we won't get the "Property does not exist on type {}" error when accessing them.

In some cases, you won't know the names of all of the object's keys or the shape of the values ahead of time.

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type Employee2 = {
  [key: string]: any; // 👈️ variable key
  name: string;
};

const obj2: Employee2 = {
  name: 'James',
};

obj2.salary = 100;

The {[key: string]: any} syntax is called an index signature and is used when you don't know the names of the object's keys or the shape of the values ahead of time.

The syntax means that when the object is indexed with a string key, it will return a value of any type.

We set the name property to string in the Employee2 type, so the type checker would throw an error if the property is not provided or is set to a value of a different type.

If you don't know the names of all of the object's keys, but know the shape of the values, you can use a more specific index signature for better type safety.

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type Employee2 = {
  [key: string]: string | number;
  name: string;
  id: number;
};

const obj2: Employee2 = {
  id: 1,
  name: 'James',
};

obj2.department = 'accounting';
obj2.salary = 100;

The index signature means that when the object is indexed with a string key, it will return a value that has a string or number type.

The string | number syntax is called a union type in TypeScript.

In other words, you can't specify that when the object is indexed with a string key, it returns a value of type string and add another string key to the interface that has a value of type number.

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type Employee2 = {
  [key: string]: string;
  name: string;
  // ⛔️ Error: Property 'id' of type 'number' is
  // not assignable to 'string' index type 'string'.ts(2411)
  id: number;
};

The example shows that the type checker throws an error if we specify that when indexed with a string key, the object returns a value of type string, and try to add another string key that has a value of number.

Conclusion #

To solve the "Property does not exist on type '{}'" error, make sure to only access properties on the object that exist on the object's type. If you try to access a property that does not exist on the object's type, the error is thrown.