diff --git a/packages/kbn-ace/.babelrc b/packages/kbn-ace/.babelrc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..30ffbd24e1f18e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-ace/.babelrc
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+  "presets": ["@kbn/babel-preset/node_preset"],
+  "ignore": [
+    "src/ace/modes/x_json/worker/x_json.ace.worker.js"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/packages/kbn-ace/BUILD.bazel b/packages/kbn-ace/BUILD.bazel
index 78e986d6e07168..49c9c6f7832591 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-ace/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/packages/kbn-ace/BUILD.bazel
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 load("@npm//@bazel/typescript:index.bzl", "ts_config", "ts_project")
 load("@build_bazel_rules_nodejs//:index.bzl", "js_library", "pkg_npm")
+load("//src/dev/bazel:index.bzl", "jsts_transpiler")
 
 PKG_BASE_NAME = "kbn-ace"
 PKG_REQUIRE_NAME = "@kbn/ace"
@@ -7,6 +8,7 @@ PKG_REQUIRE_NAME = "@kbn/ace"
 SOURCE_FILES = glob(
   [
     "src/**/*.ts",
+    "src/ace/modes/x_json/worker/x_json.ace.worker.js",
   ],
   exclude = [
     "src/ace/modes/x_json/worker/worker.d.ts",
@@ -26,18 +28,27 @@ NPM_MODULE_EXTRA_FILES = [
   "README.md"
 ]
 
-SRC_DEPS = [
+RUNTIME_DEPS = [
   "@npm//brace",
   "@npm//lodash",
   "@npm//raw-loader",
 ]
 
 TYPES_DEPS = [
+  "@npm//brace",
   "@npm//@types/lodash",
   "@npm//@types/node",
 ]
 
-DEPS = SRC_DEPS + TYPES_DEPS
+jsts_transpiler(
+  name = "target_node",
+  srcs = SRCS,
+  additional_args = [
+    "--copy-files",
+    "--quiet"
+  ],
+  build_pkg_name = package_name(),
+)
 
 ts_config(
   name = "tsconfig",
@@ -48,14 +59,15 @@ ts_config(
 )
 
 ts_project(
-  name = "tsc",
+  name = "tsc_types",
   args = ['--pretty'],
   srcs = SRCS,
-  deps = DEPS,
+  deps = TYPES_DEPS,
   declaration = True,
   declaration_map = True,
-  incremental = True,
-  out_dir = "target",
+  emit_declaration_only = True,
+  incremental = False,
+  out_dir = "target_types",
   source_map = True,
   root_dir = "src",
   tsconfig = ":tsconfig",
@@ -64,7 +76,7 @@ ts_project(
 js_library(
   name = PKG_BASE_NAME,
   srcs = NPM_MODULE_EXTRA_FILES,
-  deps = DEPS + [":tsc"],
+  deps = RUNTIME_DEPS + [":target_node", ":tsc_types"],
   package_name = PKG_REQUIRE_NAME,
   visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
 )
diff --git a/packages/kbn-ace/package.json b/packages/kbn-ace/package.json
index 8dd175b787148c..dfc440812e747a 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-ace/package.json
+++ b/packages/kbn-ace/package.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "name": "@kbn/ace",
   "version": "1.0.0",
   "private": true,
-  "main": "./target/index.js",
-  "types": "./target/index.d.ts",
+  "main": "./target_node/index.js",
+  "types": "./target_types/index.d.ts",
   "license": "SSPL-1.0 OR Elastic License 2.0"
 }
diff --git a/packages/kbn-ace/src/ace/modes/x_json/worker/x_json.ace.worker.ts b/packages/kbn-ace/src/ace/modes/x_json/worker/x_json.ace.worker.js
similarity index 100%
rename from packages/kbn-ace/src/ace/modes/x_json/worker/x_json.ace.worker.ts
rename to packages/kbn-ace/src/ace/modes/x_json/worker/x_json.ace.worker.js
diff --git a/packages/kbn-ace/tsconfig.json b/packages/kbn-ace/tsconfig.json
index d5abe0f7bb9fc8..8fa6be6fb3fc30 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-ace/tsconfig.json
+++ b/packages/kbn-ace/tsconfig.json
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 {
   "extends": "../../tsconfig.base.json",
   "compilerOptions": {
-    "incremental": true,
-    "outDir": "./target",
     "declaration": true,
     "declarationMap": true,
+    "emitDeclarationOnly": true,
+    "incremental": false,
+    "outDir": "./target_types",
     "sourceMap": true,
     "sourceRoot": "../../../../packages/kbn-ace/src",
     "stripInternal": true,