TypeScript not finding definitions

Question

I have the following file structure:

+ src
|  test.ts
|  z_module.d.ts
tsconfig.json

test.ts

// does nothing?
/// <reference path="./z_module.d.ts" />
// can't now write:
var a: zzrm.zzrmObject;

// have to use:    
import * as zzrm from 'zzrm';
var a: zzrm.zzrmObject;

z_module.d.ts

declare module "zzrm" {
  export interface zzrmObject {id: string}
}

I have tried to reduce the problem but may well have reduced it incorrectly. The problem originally came from trying to use sequelize-auto-ts. Downloading the repo, upgrading the sequelize.d.ts and opening in Visual Studio Code (version 0.10.6) immediately highlights this line with the error "Cannot find namespace 'sequelize'."

var Sequelize:sequelize.SequelizeStatic = require('sequelize');
              ^^^^^^^^^

Even though sequelize.d.ts is successfully reference at the top of the file with: /// <reference path="../../typings/sequelize/sequelize.d.ts" />

Answer 1

The above "reduced" example works if the zzrm module is declared without the quotation marks:

declare module zzrm {
  export interface zzrmObject {id: string}
}

When I updated the sequelize.d.ts I failed to note that the module declaration had changed from

declare module sequelize { ... }

to

declare module "sequelize" { ... }

This is referred to in the TypeScript docs under "Ambient External Modules" but I haven't quite yet figured out how these parts all fit together and why they require you to also add import * as zzrm from 'z_module';