diff --git a/gruntfile.js b/gruntfile.js
index 710e97235..2fb9f5c07 100644
--- a/gruntfile.js
+++ b/gruntfile.js
@@ -321,59 +321,6 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
                 dest: "<%= grunt.option('path') %>/node_modules/tns-core-modules/",
             }
         },
-        ts: {
-            build: {
-                tsconfig: {
-                    tsconfig: 'tsconfig.json',
-                    passThrough: true,
-                },
-                outDir: localCfg.outDir,
-                dest: localCfg.outDir,
-                options: tsOptions
-            },
-            buildNodeTests: {
-                src: [
-                    'tns-core-modules/js-libs/easysax/**/*.ts',
-                    'tns-core-modules/module.d.ts',
-                    'tns-core-modules/xml/**/*.ts',
-                    'tns-core-modules/lib.core.d.ts',
-                    'tns-core-modules/lib.dom.d.ts',
-                    'tns-core-modules/es-collections.d.ts',
-                    'tns-core-modules/declarations.d.ts',
-                    'tns-core-modules/es6-promise.d.ts',
-                    'node-tests/**/*.ts'
-                ],
-                outDir: localCfg.outDir,
-                dest: localCfg.outDir,
-                options: tsOptions
-            },
-            buildDts: {
-                src: [
-                    'tns-core-modules/**/*.d.ts',
-                    '!org.nativescript.widgets.d.ts',
-                    '!**/*.android.d.ts',
-                    '!**/node_modules/**/*',
-                    '!**/platforms/**/*',
-                    '!bin/**/*',
-                    '!**/references.d.ts',
-                    '!tns-core-modules/references.d.ts',
-                    '!tns-core-modules/android17.d.ts',
-                    '!tns-core-modules/ios/**/*',
-                    '!tns-core-modules/org.nativescript.widgets.d.ts',
-                ],
-                outDir: localCfg.outDir,
-                dest: localCfg.outDir,
-                options: tsOptions
-            },
-            testCombinedDts: {
-                src: [
-                    path.join(localCfg.outTnsCoreModules, 'tns-core-modules.d.ts'),
-                ],
-                outDir: localCfg.outDir,
-                dest: localCfg.outDir,
-                options: Object.assign({}, tsOptions, { noLib: false })
-            }
-        },
         tslint: {
             build: {
                 files: {
@@ -400,6 +347,10 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
                     callback: assignGitSHA
                 }
             },
+            compileAll: "npm run compile-all",
+            compileNodeTests: "npm run compile-node-tests",
+            compileCheckBaseDts: "npm run compile-check-base-dts",
+            compileCheckCombinedDts: "npm run compile-check-combined-dts",
         },
         simplemocha: {
             node: {
@@ -431,7 +382,6 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
 
     grunt.loadNpmTasks("grunt-contrib-clean");
     grunt.loadNpmTasks("grunt-contrib-copy");
-    grunt.loadNpmTasks("grunt-ts");
     grunt.loadNpmTasks("grunt-tslint");
     grunt.loadNpmTasks("grunt-exec");
     grunt.loadNpmTasks("grunt-shell");
@@ -446,8 +396,8 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
     ]);
 
     grunt.registerTask("compile-ts", [
-        "ts:buildDts",
-        "ts:build",
+        "shell:compileCheckBaseDts",
+        "shell:compileAll",
         "clean:typeScriptLeftovers",
         "copy:childPackageFiles"
     ]);
@@ -508,12 +458,12 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
         "copy:definitionFiles",
         "copy:jsLibs",
         "generate-tns-core-modules-dts",
-        "ts:testCombinedDts",
+        "shell:compileCheckCombinedDts",
     ]);
 
     grunt.registerTask("node-tests", [
         "clean:nodeTests",
-        "ts:buildNodeTests",
+        "shell:compileNodeTests",
         "copy:childPackageFiles",
         "copy:jsLibs",
         "env:nodeTests",
diff --git a/node-tests/test-angular-xml.ts b/node-tests/test-angular-xml.ts
index f39887e0a..1ab65689d 100644
--- a/node-tests/test-angular-xml.ts
+++ b/node-tests/test-angular-xml.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import {assert} from "chai";
-import * as xmlModule from "xml";
-var xml: typeof xmlModule = require("../tns-core-modules/xml");
+//TODO: use a path mapping to the "xml" module after upgrading to TS 2.1
+var xml = require("../tns-core-modules/xml");
 
 describe("angular xml parser", () => {
     let last_element = null;
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ describe("angular xml parser", () => {
     let parser = null;
 
     beforeEach(() => {
-        parser = new xml.XmlParser(function (event: xmlModule.ParserEvent) {
+        parser = new xml.XmlParser(function (event) {
             switch (event.eventType) {
                 case xml.ParserEventType.StartElement:
                     last_element = event.elementName;
diff --git a/node-tests/test-xml.ts b/node-tests/test-xml.ts
index 009c20689..3f3f1de3e 100644
--- a/node-tests/test-xml.ts
+++ b/node-tests/test-xml.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import {assert} from "chai";
-import * as xmlModule from "xml";
-var xml: typeof xmlModule = require("../tns-core-modules/xml");
+//TODO: use a path mapping to the "xml" module after upgrading to TS 2.1
+var xml = require("../tns-core-modules/xml");
 
 describe("xml parser", () => {
     let last_element = null;
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ describe("xml parser", () => {
     let parser = null;
 
     beforeEach(() => {
-        parser = new xml.XmlParser(function (event: xmlModule.ParserEvent) {
+        parser = new xml.XmlParser(function (event) {
             switch (event.eventType) {
                 case xml.ParserEventType.StartElement:
                     last_element = event.elementName;
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 94eedda69..78b22f1c5 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@
   "scripts": {
     "setup": "npm run dev-link-tns-platform-declarations && npm run dev-link-tns-core-modules && npm run dev-link-tests && npm run dev-link-apps",
     "tsc": "tsc",
+    "compile-all": "tsc -p tsconfig.json --outDir bin/dist",
+    "compile-check-base-dts": "tsc -p tsconfig.base-dts.json",
+    "compile-node-tests": "tsc -p tsconfig.node-tests.json --outDir bin/dist/node-tests",
+    "compile-check-combined-dts": "tsc -p tsconfig.combined-dts.json",
     "tsc-w": "tsc --skipLibCheck -w",
     "dev-tsc-tns-platform-declarations": "tsc -p tns-platform-declarations",
     "dev-tsc-tests": "tsc -p tests",
diff --git a/tsconfig.base-dts.json b/tsconfig.base-dts.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f53dde4d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tsconfig.base-dts.json
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+{
+    "compilerOptions": {
+        "noEmit": true,
+        "noEmitOnError": true,
+        "noEmitHelpers": true,
+        "target": "es5",
+        "module": "commonjs",
+        "declaration": false,
+        "noImplicitAny": false,
+        "noImplicitUseStrict": true,
+        "experimentalDecorators": true,
+        "sourceMap": true,
+        "jsx": "react",
+        "reactNamespace": "UIBuilder",
+        "lib": [
+            "es2016"
+        ]
+    },
+    "include": [
+        "tns-core-modules/**/*.d.ts"
+    ],
+    "exclude": [
+        "tns-platform-declarations/node_modules/",
+        "tns-platform-declarations/package/",
+        "tns-core-modules/node_modules/",
+        "tns-core-modules/package/",
+        "tests/node_modules",
+        "tests/package/",
+        "tests/platforms",
+        "apps/node_modules",
+        "apps/package/",
+        "apps/platforms",
+        "node_modules/",
+        "package/",
+        "bin",
+        "build",
+        "Deploy",
+        "out",
+        "obj",
+        "tns-platform-declarations/references.d.ts",
+        "tns-core-modules/references.d.ts",
+        "tns-platform-declarations/ios/objc-x86_64/",
+        "tns-platform-declarations/android/"
+    ]
+}
diff --git a/tsconfig.combined-dts.json b/tsconfig.combined-dts.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6d893f0ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tsconfig.combined-dts.json
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+{
+    "compilerOptions": {
+        "noEmit": true,
+        "noEmitOnError": true,
+        "noEmitHelpers": true,
+        "target": "es5",
+        "module": "commonjs",
+        "declaration": false,
+        "noImplicitAny": false,
+        "noImplicitUseStrict": true,
+        "experimentalDecorators": true,
+        "sourceMap": true,
+        "jsx": "react",
+        "reactNamespace": "UIBuilder"
+    },
+    "include": [
+        "bin/dist/tns-core-modules/tns-core-modules.d.ts"
+    ]
+}
diff --git a/tsconfig.json b/tsconfig.json
index 675ff87ba..0e082028e 100644
--- a/tsconfig.json
+++ b/tsconfig.json
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
         "declaration": false,
         "noImplicitAny": false,
         "noImplicitUseStrict": true,
+        "removeComments": true,
         "experimentalDecorators": true,
         "diagnostics": true,
         "sourceMap": true,
diff --git a/tsconfig.node-tests.json b/tsconfig.node-tests.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a042423cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tsconfig.node-tests.json
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+{
+    "compilerOptions": {
+        "noEmitOnError": true,
+        "noEmitHelpers": true,
+        "target": "es5",
+        "module": "commonjs",
+        "declaration": false,
+        "noImplicitAny": false,
+        "noImplicitUseStrict": true,
+        "experimentalDecorators": true,
+        "sourceMap": true,
+        "jsx": "react",
+        "reactNamespace": "UIBuilder",
+        "lib": [
+            "es2016"
+        ]
+    },
+    "include": [
+        "tns-core-modules/js-libs/easysax/**/*.ts",
+        "tns-core-modules/module.d.ts",
+        "tns-core-modules/lib.core.d.ts",
+        "tns-core-modules/lib.dom.d.ts",
+        "tns-core-modules/es-collections.d.ts",
+        "tns-core-modules/declarations.d.ts",
+        "tns-core-modules/es6-promise.d.ts",
+        "node-tests/**/*.ts"
+    ]
+}