Comline VSCode Extension

Language support for Comline schema files (.ids).

Features

This extension provides rich language support for Comline through integration with the Comline Language Server:

🎨 Syntax Highlighting

• Keywords: struct, enum, protocol, const, use, import, namespace, option
• Primitive types: i8-i128, u8-u128, f32, f64, bool, string, bytes
• Collection types: list, map, set, option
• Comments: single-line (//) and multi-line (/* */)
• String literals and escape sequences
• Numbers: integers, floats, hexadecimal

🔍 Language Server Features

• Real-time Diagnostics - Syntax error detection as you type
• Document Symbols - Hierarchical outline view (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+O)
• Hover Information - Type definitions and signatures on hover
• Go to Definition - Jump to type declarations (F12)
• Find References - Locate all usages of a symbol (Shift+F12)
• Auto-Completion - Context-aware suggestions for keywords, types, and symbols
• Semantic Tokens - Enhanced syntax highlighting based on semantic analysis

🛠️ Editor Features

• Comment toggling (Ctrl/Cmd+/)
• Bracket matching and auto-closing
• Code folding for struct/enum/protocol blocks
• comline.toml highlighting, and diagnostics, completion, hover and quick fixes from the Comline language server, which reads the file against the package next to it: the languages config.idp declares, the encodings in view, and the versions its generators handle. Other TOML extensions such as Even Better TOML attach to the toml language, so they leave comline.toml (its own comline-toml language) alone

⚙️ CLI Commands

A Comline icon in the editor title bar (when a .ids/.idp file or comline.toml is open) opens a menu to run the comline CLI against the current workspace, with a toast reporting success or failure:

• Build — compile and freeze a new version
• Check — validate without writing anything
• Generate — write generated code for every configured target
• Clean — remove generated code

Each is also available from the Command Palette as Comline: Build / Comline: Check / Comline: Generate / Comline: Clean. Requires the comline CLI to be installed and on PATH (or configured via comline.cli.customPath, see below) — install it with:

cargo install --git https://github.com/ComlineProject/cli

Requirements

• The language server is bundled. Releases ship one package per platform (linux-x64, linux-arm64, darwin-x64, darwin-arm64, win32-x64), each carrying its own comline-lsp. Editing features need nothing else.
• Build / Check / Generate / Clean need the comline CLI, which is not bundled. Install it and put it on PATH, or point comline.cli.customPath at it (see CLI Binary Location):

  cargo install --git https://github.com/ComlineProject/cli

Installation

From Open VSX (VSCodium and other Open VSX editors)

Search for "Comline" in the Extensions view. The editor picks the package for your platform.

From VSIX (Manual Installation)

1. Download the .vsix for your platform from releases, e.g. comline-vscode-0.1.0-linux-x64.vsix. SHA256SUMS lists their checksums.
2. In VS Code: Extensions → ... → Install from VSIX...
3. Select the downloaded file

On a platform without its own package, install the -universal one. It has no bundled server, so set comline.server.mode to path or custom (below).

Development builds

Every change to main is built as a GitHub prerelease (v0.1.1-dev.N), and release candidates appear as -rc.N prereleases. Neither is published to Open VSX: install them from releases the same way. Expect them to be less tested.

From the VS Code Marketplace (Coming Soon)

Not published there yet; use a .vsix from releases.

Configuration

The extension supports three modes for locating the language server binary:

1. Bundled (Default)

The extension includes a pre-built language server binary. No configuration needed!

2. System PATH

Use a globally installed comline-lsp binary:

{
  "comline.server.mode": "path"
}

First, install the language server:

cargo install --git https://github.com/ComlineProject/language-server

3. Custom Path

Specify a custom path to the language server binary:

{
  "comline.server.mode": "custom",
  "comline.server.customPath": "/path/to/comline-lsp"
}

Additional Settings

{
  // Enable debug logging
  "comline.server.debug": true,
  
  // Trace LSP communication (off, messages, verbose)
  "comline.trace.server": "messages"
}

CLI Binary Location

The Build/Check/Generate/Clean commands look for comline on PATH by default. To use a non-PATH install instead:

{
  "comline.cli.mode": "custom",
  "comline.cli.customPath": "/path/to/comline"
}

Usage

1. Open any .ids file
2. The extension will automatically activate and start the language server
3. Enjoy intelligent code editing features!

Example Comline Schema

/// User service protocol
struct User {
    id: u64
    name: string
    email: string
    created_at: u64
}

enum UserRole {
    Admin
    User
    Guest
}

error UserNotFound {
    message = "no user with id {self.id}"
    id: u64
}

protocol UserService {
    function get_user(id: u64) -> User ! UserNotFound;
    function create_user(name: string, email: string) -> User;
    function delete_user(id: u64) -> bool;
}

Troubleshooting

Language server not found

• Default mode: Ensure the bundled binary is included with the extension
• PATH mode: Run which comline-lsp (Linux/Mac) or where comline-lsp (Windows) to verify installation
• Custom mode: Check that comline.server.customPath points to the correct binary

No syntax highlighting

• Ensure the file has a .ids extension
• Try reloading the window: Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P → Developer: Reload Window

LSP features not working

• Check the Output panel: View → Output → Select "Comline Language Server"
• Enable trace logging: "comline.trace.server": "verbose"
• Restart the language server: Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P → Comline: Restart Language Server

Building from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ComlineProject/comline-vscode
cd comline-vscode

# Install dependencies
yarn install

# Link a local comline-lsp build (needed to actually run the server —
# see TESTING.md)
yarn link-binary <path-to-a-language-server-checkout>

# Compile TypeScript
yarn compile

# Package the extension
yarn package

This creates a .vsix file that can be installed manually.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open issues or submit pull requests on GitHub.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Links

• This extension
• Comline Core
• Comline Language Server
• VSCode Extension API