Disallow the declaration of empty interfaces (no-empty-interface)

An empty interface is equivalent to its supertype. If the interface does not implement a supertype, then the interface is equivalent to an empty object ({}). In both cases it can be omitted.

Rule Details

This rule aims to ensure that only meaningful interfaces are declared in the code.

❌ Incorrect

// an empty interface
interface Foo {}

// an interface with only one supertype (Bar === Foo)
interface Bar extends Foo {}

// an interface with an empty list of supertypes
interface Baz {}

✅ Correct

// an interface with any number of members
interface Foo {
  name: string;
}

// same as above
interface Bar {
  age: number;
}

// an interface with more than one supertype
// in this case the interface can be used as a replacement of a union type.
interface Baz extends Foo, Bar {}

Options

This rule accepts a single object option with the following default configuration:

{
  "@typescript-eslint/no-empty-interface": [
    "error",
    {
      "allowSingleExtends": false
    }
  ]
}

• allowSingleExtends: true will silence warnings about extending a single interface without adding additional members

When Not To Use It

If you don't care about having empty/meaningless interfaces, then you will not need this rule.

Compatibility

• TSLint: no-empty-interface

Attributes

• ✅ Recommended
• 🔧 Fixable
• 💭 Requires type information