TypeScript 2.1 had a breaking changes regarding Extending built-ins like Error.
From the TypeScript breaking changes documentation
class FooError extends Error {
constructor(msg: string) {
super(msg);
// Set the prototype explicitly.
Object.setPrototypeOf(this, FooError.prototype);
}
sayHello() {
return "hello " + this.message;
}
}
Then you can use:
let error = new FooError("Something really bad went wrong");
if(error instanceof FooError){
console.log(error.sayHello());
}