Ethers 6.11.1 does not seem to export "Signer" interface

[rrthomas]

Ethers Version

6.11.1

Search Terms

Signer, import, export

Describe the Problem

import { Signer } from 'ethers';

gives VS Code warning: "Signer is not found in ethers".

If I import AbstractSigner instead, it is found.

Code Snippet

No response

Contract ABI

No response

Errors

No response

Environment

node.js (v12 or newer), Hardhat

Environment (Other)

No response

[ricmoo]

It’s definitely exported… Can you include the full error? Are you sure you are pulling in v6?

[rrthomas]

Thanks for the quick response! I see what you mean in the source. Sorry, not sure what you mean by "full error", that's all the error VS Code shows.

Here's where I looked:

$ grep '"version"' node_modules/ethers/package.json
  "version": "6.11.1"

I looked in package.json and found the imports referred to lib.esm/index.js and lib.commonjs/index.js. My project is CommonJS, but neither of those files mentions Signer as an export as far as I can see.

[ricmoo]

The index.js includes an export * from "./ethers.js".

What happens if you try importing another type, like BigNumberish? I wonder if the VSCode linter doesn’t see exported types. Also, what version of TS’ linter are you using? I think there is a drop-down in the bottom right of VS Code; can you make sure it’s a recent version?

I think I read somewhere a goal of newer TS is to get the VS Code linter to behave more like the compiler…

[rrthomas]

Importing BigNumberish works fine. (But Signer is an interface, not a type?)

I'm using latest VS Code and TypeScript, FWIW.

[rrthomas]

Also, I cannot find Signer mentioned in lib.commonjs/ethers.js (or lib.esm/ethers.js).

[ricmoo]

That’s super strange that BigNumberish works, then.

There won’t be a Signer in the lib.esm/.js or lib.commonjs/.js, because it’s a TypeScript type. It doesn’t exist outside of TypeScript (no JS code is generated for it).

It shows up here and here for esm and commonjs respectively though.

But can you verify the TS engine VS Code is using matches? It’s a dropdown in the bottom right corner and completely unrelated to the TypeScript you are actually using. I’ve seen weird things happen before when that mismatches. I have only used VS Code enough to help others debug things like this though; I am by no means an expert on all its configuration.

[rrthomas]

Sorry, I was looking in the wrong place for the export, you're quite right of course.

I checked the version of TypeScript; VS Code was using 5.3.2, not the workspace's 5.3.3, but changing didn't help.

But anyway, this indeed seems to be a problem with my setup, not Ethers; sorry for the noise.

[ricmoo]

No worries. If you find the solution, please post it here for the future peeps that have the same problem.

I’m going to move this to discussions, but if there is a bug we can move it back. :)

[rrthomas]

All I can see is that Signer appears to be an interface (in code_modules/ethers/lib.commonjs/providers/signer.d.ts), but ethers.d.ts exports it as a type. Is that legit?