LSP / IDE

shader-clippy ships a JSON-RPC LSP server (shader-clippy-lsp) that thin-wraps the same diagnostic + fix engine the CLI uses. Any LSP-speaking editor can drive it.

VS Code extension

Recommended path on VS Code 1.85+. Search for Shader Clippy by nelcit in the Extensions view, or:

code --install-extension nelcit.shader-clippy

The Marketplace serves the matching per-platform .vsix for your OS+arch (linux-x64 / win32-x64 / darwin-arm64). The LSP binary is bundled inside the .vsix — no extra download required.

Sideload from a .vsix

Per-platform .vsix files are also attached to every GitHub Release:

• shader-clippy-<version>-linux-x64.vsix
• shader-clippy-<version>-win32-x64.vsix
• shader-clippy-<version>-darwin-arm64.vsix

code --install-extension shader-clippy-<version>-<target>.vsix

Extension settings

Setting	Type	Default	Purpose
shaderClippy.serverPath	string	""	Override the bundled LSP binary with a custom build. Empty = use the bundled binary (or shader-clippy-lsp on PATH).
shaderClippy.targetProfile	string	""	Slang target profile (e.g. sm_6_6, vs_6_7, ps_6_8). Empty = server default per shader stage.
shaderClippy.enableReflection	boolean	true	Enable Phase 3 reflection-aware rules. Disable on slow machines for AST-only latency.
shaderClippy.enableControlFlow	boolean	true	Enable Phase 4 control-flow / uniformity rules.
shaderClippy.trace.server	enum	"off"	LSP wire trace ("off", "messages", "verbose") for debugging.

Other LSP clients

The LSP wire is generic. Any editor with LSP support can drive shader-clippy-lsp directly. Get the binary from a tagged GitHub Release and put it on PATH, then point your editor's HLSL filetype at it.

Neovim (lspconfig)

require('lspconfig.configs').shader_clippy = {
  default_config = {
    cmd = { 'shader-clippy-lsp' },
    filetypes = { 'hlsl' },
    root_dir = require('lspconfig.util').root_pattern('.shader-clippy.toml', '.git'),
  },
}
require('lspconfig').shader_clippy.setup{}

Helix

In ~/.config/helix/languages.toml:

[language-server.shader-clippy]
command = "shader-clippy-lsp"

[[language]]
name = "hlsl"
language-servers = ["shader-clippy"]

Emacs lsp-mode

(with-eval-after-load 'lsp-mode
  (lsp-register-client
   (make-lsp-client :new-connection (lsp-stdio-connection "shader-clippy-lsp")
                    :major-modes '(hlsl-mode)
                    :server-id 'shader-clippy)))

Workspace awareness

The LSP server reads .shader-clippy.toml per-document using the same walk-up logic as the CLI (see Configuration). Multi-root workspaces are supported — each root resolves its own config independently.

A file watcher on .shader-clippy.toml invalidates the cached Config for every open document under the changed config root, so editing the config takes effect immediately without an editor restart.

Quick-fixes

Rules with machine-applicable fixes surface as VS Code code actions under the lightbulb. The action title shows the actual replacement (e.g. "Replace pow(x, 2.0) with x * x") so the rewrite intent is visible before you click. Other LSP clients expose the same actions via textDocument/codeAction requests.

Latency budget

Per ADR 0014 §3, the LSP server targets:

• Incremental re-lint of a saved buffer: <100 ms p50.
• Cold reflection (first compile of a source via Slang): may exceed 500 ms; surfaced as linting… status.
• AST-only rule packs (Phase 0/1/2): hit the budget cold, because the reflection engine never constructs for those packs.

If your typical edit-cycle latency is too high, disable reflection or control-flow stages via the settings above.