You can count to an arbitrary number (until the recursion limit) by using tuples of length N (and go back and forth to number literals by using the type of tuple['length'])

e.g. :

  type zero = []

  type Inc<N extends string[]> = [...N,'']
  type Dec<N extends string[]> = N extends [...infer T,''] ? T : never
  
  type one = Inc<zero>
  type two = Inc<one>
  type oneb = Dec<two>