The error means there are circular references between your modules. You should put the models in a module like index.ts and make the associations here. Please pay attention to my file directory structure:

E.g.

./models/book.ts:

import Sequelize from 'sequelize';

import { sequelize } from '../../../db';



export default class Book extends Sequelize.Model {}

Book.init(

  {

    title: {

      allowNull: false,

      type: Sequelize.STRING(100),

    },

  },

  { sequelize, modelName: 'books' },

);

./models/author.ts:

import Sequelize from 'sequelize';

import { sequelize } from '../../../db';



export default class Author extends Sequelize.Model {}

Author.init(

  {

    firstName: {

      allowNull: false,

      type: Sequelize.STRING(100),

    },

    lastName: {

      allowNull: false,

      type: Sequelize.STRING(100),

    },

  },

  { sequelize, modelName: 'authors' },

);

./models/authorbook.ts:

import Sequelize from 'sequelize';

import { sequelize } from '../../../db';



export default class AuthorBook extends Sequelize.Model {}

AuthorBook.init(

  {

    authorId: {

      type: Sequelize.INTEGER,

      allowNull: false,

    },

    bookId: {

      type: Sequelize.INTEGER,

      allowNull: false,

    },

  },

  { sequelize, modelName: 'authorbooks' },

);

./models/index.ts:

import Author from './author';

import Book from './book';

import AuthorBook from './authorbook';



Author.hasMany(AuthorBook, {

  onUpdate: 'CASCADE',

});

Book.hasMany(AuthorBook, {

  onUpdate: 'CASCADE',

});

AuthorBook.belongsTo(Author, { foreignKey: 'authorId' });

AuthorBook.belongsTo(Book, { foreignKey: 'bookId' });



export { Author, Book, AuthorBook };

Now, we can use these models.

index.ts:

import { Author, AuthorBook, Book } from './models';

import { sequelize } from '../../db';

import faker from 'faker';



(async function test() {

  try {

    await sequelize.sync({ force: true });

    // seed

    const author = await Author.create({

      firstName: faker.name.firstName(),

      lastName: faker.name.lastName(),

    });

    const book = await Book.create({

      title: faker.lorem.words(3),

    });

    await AuthorBook.create({ authorId: author.id, bookId: book.id });

  } catch (error) {

    console.log(error);

  } finally {

    await sequelize.close();

  }

})();

The execution results:

Executing (default): DROP TABLE IF EXISTS authorbooks CASCADE;

Executing (default): DROP TABLE IF EXISTS books CASCADE;

Executing (default): DROP TABLE IF EXISTS authors CASCADE;

Executing (default): DROP TABLE IF EXISTS authors CASCADE;

Executing (default): CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS authors (id   SERIAL , firstName VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL, lastName VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (id));

Executing (default): SELECT i.relname AS name, ix.indisprimary AS primary, ix.indisunique AS unique, ix.indkey AS indkey, array_agg(a.attnum) as column_indexes, array_agg(a.attname) AS column_names, pg_get_indexdef(ix.indexrelid) AS definition FROM pg_class t, pg_class i, pg_index ix, pg_attribute a WHERE t.oid = ix.indrelid AND i.oid = ix.indexrelid AND a.attrelid = t.oid AND t.relkind = 'r' and t.relname = 'authors' GROUP BY i.relname, ix.indexrelid, ix.indisprimary, ix.indisunique, ix.indkey ORDER BY i.relname;

Executing (default): DROP TABLE IF EXISTS books CASCADE;

Executing (default): CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS books (id   SERIAL , title VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (id));

Executing (default): SELECT i.relname AS name, ix.indisprimary AS primary, ix.indisunique AS unique, ix.indkey AS indkey, array_agg(a.attnum) as column_indexes, array_agg(a.attname) AS column_names, pg_get_indexdef(ix.indexrelid) AS definition FROM pg_class t, pg_class i, pg_index ix, pg_attribute a WHERE t.oid = ix.indrelid AND i.oid = ix.indexrelid AND a.attrelid = t.oid AND t.relkind = 'r' and t.relname = 'books' GROUP BY i.relname, ix.indexrelid, ix.indisprimary, ix.indisunique, ix.indkey ORDER BY i.relname;

Executing (default): DROP TABLE IF EXISTS authorbooks CASCADE;

Executing (default): CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS authorbooks (id   SERIAL , authorId INTEGER NOT NULL REFERENCES authors (id) ON DELETE CASCADE ON UPDATE CASCADE, bookId INTEGER NOT NULL REFERENCES books (id) ON DELETE CASCADE ON UPDATE CASCADE, PRIMARY KEY (id));

Executing (default): SELECT i.relname AS name, ix.indisprimary AS primary, ix.indisunique AS unique, ix.indkey AS indkey, array_agg(a.attnum) as column_indexes, array_agg(a.attname) AS column_names, pg_get_indexdef(ix.indexrelid) AS definition FROM pg_class t, pg_class i, pg_index ix, pg_attribute a WHERE t.oid = ix.indrelid AND i.oid = ix.indexrelid AND a.attrelid = t.oid AND t.relkind = 'r' and t.relname = 'authorbooks' GROUP BY i.relname, ix.indexrelid, ix.indisprimary, ix.indisunique, ix.indkey ORDER BY i.relname;

Executing (default): INSERT INTO authors (id,firstName,lastName) VALUES (DEFAULT,$1,$2) RETURNING *;

Executing (default): INSERT INTO books (id,title) VALUES (DEFAULT,$1) RETURNING *;

Executing (default): INSERT INTO authorbooks (id,authorId,bookId) VALUES (DEFAULT,$1,$2) RETURNING *;

check the database:

node-sequelize-examples=# select * from authors;

 id | firstName | lastName

----+-----------+----------

  1 | Laron     | Deckow

(1 row)



node-sequelize-examples=# select * from books;

 id |          title

----+-------------------------

  1 | facilis molestias sequi

(1 row)



node-sequelize-examples=# select * from authorbooks;

 id | authorId | bookId

----+----------+--------

  1 |        1 |      1

(1 row)

Dependencies versions: sequelize: ^5.21.3, postgres:9.6

source code: https://github.com/mrdulin/node-sequelize-examples/tree/master/src/examples/stackoverflow/61163520