diff --git a/example/test-export.ts b/example/test-export.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e3a20c98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/test-export.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+const barFunc = (input: string): string => `bar: ${input}`;
+
+// explicitly define exported functions and their names
+export const foo = (): string => "foo";
+export const bar = barFunc;
+export const __init = (templateProcessor: { setData: (path: string, value: string) => void }): void => {
+    templateProcessor.setData("/messageFromInitFunction", "__init sidecar succeeded");
+}
diff --git a/src/TemplateProcessor.ts b/src/TemplateProcessor.ts
index a1f7dad8..19f47aa1 100644
--- a/src/TemplateProcessor.ts
+++ b/src/TemplateProcessor.ts
@@ -699,7 +699,7 @@ export default class TemplateProcessor {
                     if (TemplateProcessor._isNodeJS || (typeof BUILD_TARGET !== 'undefined' && BUILD_TARGET !== 'web')) {
                         try {
                             resp = await this.localImport(importMe);
-                            if (fileExtension === '.js' || fileExtension === '.mjs') {
+                            if (fileExtension === '.js' || fileExtension === '.mjs' || fileExtension === '.ts' || fileExtension === '.mts') {
                                 return resp; //the module is directly returned and assigned
                             }
                         }catch(error){
@@ -1415,6 +1415,7 @@ export default class TemplateProcessor {
         const safe = this.withErrorHandling.bind(this);
         for (const name of functionNames) {
             try {
+            
                 let generator:any = this.functionGenerators.get(name);
                 if (generator) {
                     const generated:any = await generator(metaInf, this);
@@ -1635,6 +1636,16 @@ export default class TemplateProcessor {
 
         try {
             const fileExtension = path.extname(fullpath).toLowerCase();
+           
+            // Check if TypeScript files can be imported
+            if (fileExtension === '.ts' || fileExtension === '.mts') {
+                try {
+                    // Attempt to import TypeScript file
+                    return await import(fullpath);
+                } catch (e) {
+                     throw new Error('TypeScript imports not supported in this environment');
+                }
+            }
             if (fileExtension === '.js' || fileExtension === '.mjs') {
                 return await import(fullpath);
             }
diff --git a/src/test/TemplateProcessor.test.js b/src/test/TemplateProcessor.test.js
index 961507ee..62b68ade 100644
--- a/src/test/TemplateProcessor.test.js
+++ b/src/test/TemplateProcessor.test.js
@@ -5694,6 +5694,41 @@ test("test import with props", async () => {
     }
 });
 
+test("import js", async () => {
+    const tp = new TemplateProcessor({
+        "lib": "${$import('./test-export.js')}",
+        "fooResult": "${lib.foo()}",
+        "barResult": "${lib.bar('test input')}"
+    }, {}, {importPath: 'example'}
+    );
+    
+    await tp.initialize();
+    
+    // Verify the imported functions work correctly
+    expect(tp.output.fooResult).toBe("foo");
+    expect(tp.output.barResult).toBe("bar: test input");
+    
+});
 
-
-
+test("import ts", async () => {
+    const tp = new TemplateProcessor({
+        "lib": "${$import('./test-export.ts')}",
+        "fooResult": "${lib.foo()}",
+        "barResult": "${lib.bar('test input')}"
+    }, {}, {importPath: 'example'}
+    );
+    
+    await tp.initialize();
+    
+    // Skip test if not running in Bun
+    if (process.versions.bun) {
+   
+        // Verify the imported functions work correctly
+        expect(tp.output.fooResult).toBe("foo");
+        expect(tp.output.barResult).toBe("bar: test input");
+        
+    } else {
+        // TypeScript imports are not supported in node
+        expect(tp.output.lib.error).toBeDefined();
+    }
+});