Parameters returns never when used with a generic function that combines Pick and Partial on the generic type argument

[12joan]

🔎 Search Terms

partial pick generic parameters never

🕗 Version & Regression Information

• This is the behavior in every version I tried, and I reviewed the FAQ for entries about Parameters

⏯ Playground Link

https://www.typescriptlang.org/play/?ts=5.9.0-dev.20250331#code/C4TwDgpgBA8gRgKygXgFBSgHygbyqSALigHIBDEgGigEsATYgZ2ACcaA7Ac2rKdY85QAvuiy584CMRJwqtBlGZsu1OMXYBXALZwILYQG5UqDsD0AzMgGNoAQQAKASVyiA7gHsWAa0YAeACpQEAAeZux0jLCIAHwAFKIY7ojE-pSiAJTEAG7u9EaiZAA2jO4A6p4+AUGhEOGR8AhxCVBJCMT2NFZeAdQkBBAkYiT0JNFpGJlQOXnGGEUltsVlFX6BIWERUY3xGInJUPZkLMA0RQHRGdm5dPkYdO4QjOzA5d5V67WbDU27LfsdXR6pH6g2wwzooygADIDkcTmd-BcJlcZiJUP0oK8fIcWGQtJFkLDcVoIGYWH4HI4ANokDzeRgkAC60QMvzZ7IwAHpOVAqa1iA1GejJFBFiUsYwcXiCUS8aS9BSnDT5st6UyWRyuTy+f9Ot0GtQAET9Q1iQ30Q3RIUYsXuW0SqX4lCyklkxXU8hLe0rdWs7m8-lE+GFXzfa0igAiDyeLwqjpljvl5N8lJp90ezyxvo5-vYECyeiAA

💻 Code

type Obj =
  | { type: 'a', id: string, a: string }
  | { type: 'b', id: string, b: number };

interface API {
  works<T extends Obj>(
    obj: T,
  ): void;

  alsoWorks<T extends Obj>(
    obj: Pick<T, 'type' | 'id'>,
  ): void;

  alsoAlsoWorks<T extends Obj>(
    obj: Partial<T>
  ): void;

  doesntWork<T extends Obj>(
    obj: Pick<T, 'type' | 'id'> & Partial<T>
  ): void;
}

type WorksParams = Parameters<API['works']>;                 // [obj: Obj]
type AlsoWorksParams = Parameters<API['alsoWorks']>;         // [obj: Pick<Obj, "type" | "id">]
type AlsoAlsoWorksParams = Parameters<API['alsoAlsoWorks']>; // [obj: Partial<Obj>]
type DoesntWorkParams = Parameters<API['doesntWork']>;       // never

🙁 Actual behavior

Parameters<API['doesntWork']> returns never

🙂 Expected behavior

The Parameters<API['doesntWork']> case behaves like the other cases and returns [obj: Pick<Obj, "type" | "id"> & Partial<Obj>].

Additional information about the issue

I'm not sure why Parameters works for all cases except when Pick and Partial are used together. I'm having the same problem when using extends and infer to get the parameters.

My use case is to prepend an argument event: IpcMainInvokeEvent to several generic functions to match the signature expected by the listener argument of Electron's ipcMain.handle method. If anyone knows of a workaround for this Parameters problem, I'd love to hear it.

[RyanCavanaugh]

Not sure why this is happening. A workaround:

type Obj =
  | { type: 'a', id: string, a: string }
  | { type: 'b', id: string, b: number };

type PartialPick<T, K extends keyof T> = Pick<T, K> & Partial<T>;

interface API {
  works<T extends Obj>(
    obj: T,
  ): void;

  alsoWorks<T extends Obj>(
    obj: Pick<T, 'type' | 'id'>,
  ): void;

  alsoAlsoWorks<T extends Obj>(
    obj: Partial<T>
  ): void;

  doesntWork<T extends Obj>(
    obj: Pick<T, 'type' | 'id'> & Partial<T>
  ): void;

  worksButWhy<T extends Obj>(
    obj: PartialPick<T, 'type' | 'id'>
  ): void;
}

type WorksParams = Parameters<API['works']>;                 // [obj: Obj]
type AlsoWorksParams = Parameters<API['alsoWorks']>;         // [obj: Pick<Obj, "type" | "id">]
type AlsoAlsoWorksParams = Parameters<API['alsoAlsoWorks']>; // [obj: Partial<Obj>]
type DoesntWorkParams = Parameters<API['doesntWork']>;       // never
//    ^?
type WorksButWhy = Parameters<API['worksButWhy']>;       // OK
//    ^?

[Andarist]

It boils down to the inability to converge on a union inference in this case (TS playground):

type Obj =
  | { type: "a"; id: string; a: string }
  | { type: "b"; id: string; b: number };

declare function doesntWork<T extends Obj>(
  obj: Pick<T, "type" | "id"> & Partial<T>,
): void;

declare const obj: Obj;

doesntWork(obj); // error
doesntWork<typeof obj>(obj); // ok

I thought that a distributive conditional type would make it work but it doesn't change anything here:

declare function doesntWork<T extends Obj>(
  obj: T extends any ? Pick<T, "type" | "id"> & Partial<T> : never,
): void;

When it comes to worksButWhy - this case is just able to infer between type arguments of a matching type alias.