To Run Karma tests with Intellij Idea:

• modify file ~/.IntelliJIdea15/config/plugins/js-karma/js_reporter/karma-intellij/lib/intellijRunner.js
• line 63, change from refresh: false to refresh: true

To continuously compile, in unit tests, either:

• (suggested:) use npm plugin (tsc:w script) AND disable IDE compilation, or
• write npm run tsc:w AND disable IDE compilation, or
• set up a custom compiler in idea settings (ctrl+shift+s): /usr/lib/node_modules/typescript/bin ** tell to use config from tsconfig.json ** set up a typescript file watcher

To make the IDE give suggestions in TS:

• *Settings->Javascript->Libraries->Add (node_modules)

To continuously compile, in the app:

• npm start

See image idea_dev_setting.png to have an idea of a dev env set up.