How to get knexfile.ts to generate migrations?

In a next.js project, I am trying to add knex. I've installed sqlite3, knex, ts-node (because I saw it whilst googling). Then I ran

npx knex init -x ts

and changed the generated knexfile.ts to have

require("ts-node/register");

module.exports =  {
    development: {
      client: "sqlite3",
      connection: {
        filename: "./dev.sqlite3"
//I also tried using absolute path (same thing
      },
      debug: true,
      useNullAsDefault: true,
    },
  
 ....
  };
   

I read that you need to include ts-node/register, I tried import 'ts-node/register' but the same thing, nothing works.

In package.json I have this script

"knex": "./node_modules/.bin/knex --knexfile database/knexfile.ts  migrate:make"

I also used knex directly, and nothing. It complains about the require, if you remove the require it complains about needing the ts-node/register, if you import it it doesn't accept import, it doesn't accept module.exports it doesn't accept export default

If I change the file to javascript (knexfile.js) it generates javascript files