Reference to tsconfig.spec.json created in new app with --minimal flag

[Wartijn]

Command

new

Is this a regression?

• Yes, this behavior used to work in the previous version

The previous version in which this bug was not present was

Description

When running npx @angular/cli@next new (currently @angular/[email protected] ) with the --minimal flag, the references array in tsconfig.json contains {"path": "./tsconfig.spec.json"}, which doesn't exist.

Minimal Reproduction

1. Run npx @angular/cli@next new tmp-app --minimal
   • Which stylesheet format would you like to use? CSS
   • Do you want to enable Server-Side Rendering (SSR) and Static Site Generation (SSG/Prerendering)? No
2. open tsconfig.json

expected result

tsconfig doesn't contain any references to testing-related files, because of the new flag.

actual result

tsconfig.json contains:

  "references": [
    {
      "path": "./tsconfig.app.json"
    },
    {
      "path": "./tsconfig.spec.json"
    }
  ]

vscode complains: "File '/xxx/xxx/tmp-app/tsconfig.spec.json' not found"

Exception or Error

Your Environment

Angular CLI: 20.0.0-next.8
Node: 22.14.0
Package Manager: npm 11.3.0
OS: linux x64

Angular: 20.0.0-next.8
... build, cli, common, compiler, compiler-cli, core, forms
... platform-browser, router

Package                      Version
------------------------------------------------------
@angular-devkit/architect    0.2000.0-next.8
@angular-devkit/core         20.0.0-next.8
@angular-devkit/schematics   20.0.0-next.8
@schematics/angular          20.0.0-next.8
rxjs                         7.8.2
typescript                   5.8.3
zone.js                      0.15.0

Anything else relevant?

No response

[Wartijn]

I've also just noticed that tsconfig.app.json contains

  "exclude": [
    "src/**/*.spec.ts"
  ]

Which it doesn't need (and isn't added when running new with @angular/cli 19.2.9)