How to have absolute import paths in a library project?

I have a library with a workspace containing two projects, one for the library itself and one for a test application.

├── projects
    ├── midi-app
    └── midi-lib

In the workspace tsconfig.json file I configured some @app and @lib paths:

"paths": {
  "@app/*": ["projects/midi-app/src/app/*"],
  "@lib/*": ["projects/midi-lib/src/lib/*"],
  "midi-lib": [
    "dist/midi-lib"
  ],
  "midi-lib/*": [
    "dist/midi-lib/*"
  ]
}

There is a projects/midi-lib/tsconfig.lib.json file which extends on the above tsconfig.json file:

"extends": "../../tsconfig.json",

There is a public-api.ts file which contains:

export * from './lib/midi-lib.module';

I can use this library with the test application just fine.

But when I try using it in another client application, in another workspace, imported as a Node module, I get many errors on the unknown paths Can't resolve '@lib/...'

How to express the library paths so that they are exposed in a client application ? Or how to translate the library paths when packaging the library ?

As a side question, I wonder why the extends is not done the other way around. Why is it not the tsconfig.json file that extends on the projects/midi-lib/tsconfig.lib.json file ?

Here is how I package and then use the library:

To package the library, add the following scripts in the scripts array of the parent package.json file

"copy-license": "cp ./LICENSE.md ./dist/midi-lib",
"copy-readme": "cp ./README.md ./dist/midi-lib",
"copy-files": "npm run copy-license && npm run copy-readme",
"build-lib": "ng build midi-lib",
"npm-pack": "cd dist/midi-lib && npm pack",
"package": "npm run build-lib && npm run copy-files && npm run npm-pack",

and run the command: npm run package

then install the dependency

npm install ../midi-lib/dist/midi-lib/midi-lib-0.0.1.tgz

and import the module in the application module In the app.module.ts file have:

import { MidiLibModule } from 'midi-lib';
@NgModule({
  imports: [
    MidiLibModule

finally insert the component in a template

<midi-midi-lib></midi-midi-lib>

When the library is installed in a client application, it has lots of .d.ts files in the node_modules/midi-lib directories:

├── bundles
├── esm2015
│   └── lib
│       ├── device
│       ├── keyboard
│       ├── model
│       │   ├── measure
│       │   └── note
│       │       ├── duration
│       │       └── pitch
│       ├── service
│       ├── sheet
│       ├── soundtrack
│       ├── store
│       ├── synth
│       └── upload
├── esm5
│   └── lib
│       ├── device
│       ├── keyboard
│       ├── model
│       │   ├── measure
│       │   └── note
│       │       ├── duration
│       │       └── pitch
│       ├── service
│       ├── sheet
│       ├── soundtrack
│       ├── store
│       ├── synth
│       └── upload
├── fesm2015
├── fesm5
└── lib
    ├── device
    ├── keyboard
    ├── model
    │   ├── measure
    │   └── note
    │       ├── duration
    │       └── pitch
    ├── service
    ├── sheet
    ├── soundtrack
    ├── store
    ├── synth
    └── upload

Like this one lib/service/melody.service.d.ts file

import { SoundtrackStore } from '@lib/store/soundtrack-store';
import { ParseService } from '@lib/service/parse.service';
import { CommonService } from './common.service';
export declare class MelodyService {
    private soundtrackStore;
    private parseService;
    private commonService;
    constructor(soundtrackStore: SoundtrackStore, parseService: ParseService, commonService: CommonService);
    addSomeMelodies(): void;
    private addSoundtrack;
    private generateNotes;
}

As can be seen, it contains references to the @lib path mapping, which is not known in the client application.

I also tried to use the baseUrl property as a work around, but that didn't help either, as when installing the library, this baseUrl value was not specified.

Why is packaging the library with the command npm run package not resolving the paths mappings ?

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