[rcfox]

It's impossible to try to debug your problem with so little to go on. Maybe the type was unioned with something incompatible. At some points, you need to resort to runtime type checking: `if (x instanceof HTMLInputElement) { // TS will know it's a HTMLInputElement at this point } `

Enabling Typescript on an existing, untyped project is going to be rough to start. You'll need to gradually increase the strictness levels and perhaps work on typing one module at a time. With an entirely new project, start with maximum strictness, and things will come together much easier. You might need to learn to do things in new ways to make it easier to work with TS, but that doesn't mean it's wrong.

Certainly, 1 hour to attempt to use any new technology is way too little time. I'd say a minimum of a week of honest effort with a new toy project is warranted before deciding whether it's not for you.