LSP for Copilot

Give GitHub Copilot the same code-intelligence superpowers your editor already has.

LSP for Copilot bridges VS Code's Language Server Protocol engine with GitHub Copilot Chat, exposing 13 semantic code-navigation tools that Copilot can call on its own — or that you can invoke explicitly with #tool references.

Instead of relying on text search or guesswork, Copilot can now jump to definitions, trace call hierarchies, inspect types, find implementations, and more — using the same language servers that power your editor's Go to Definition, Find References, and hover tooltips.

✨ Why?

Out of the box, Copilot Chat reads files and searches text. That works — until it doesn't:

• It guesses where a symbol is defined instead of knowing.
• It can't trace call chains, type hierarchies, or implementations.
• It misses inferred types, parameter names, and diagnostics the language server already computed.

This extension fixes all of that. Every tool wraps a real LSP request, so the answers are precise, up-to-date, and language-aware.

📦 Installation

From the VS Code Marketplace

Search for "LSP for Copilot" in the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X) and click Install.

From a .vsix file

code --install-extension lsp-for-copilot-1.0.0.vsix

Requirements

• VS Code ≥ 1.100.0
• GitHub Copilot Chat extension installed and signed in
• A language server for the language you're working in (e.g. TypeScript, Rust Analyzer, Pylance, clangd, etc.)

🛠️ Tools

The extension registers 13 Chat Tools that Copilot can use automatically, or that you can reference directly in chat with #toolName.

Navigation

Search & Discovery

Inspection

Hierarchies

🚀 Usage

Automatic (just chat)

Copilot will discover and call these tools on its own when it needs code intelligence. Just ask naturally:

"Where is the DatabaseConnection class defined?"

"What calls the processPayment function?"

"Show me all implementations of the Logger interface."

"Are there any type errors in server.ts?"

Explicit #tool references

You can also force a specific tool by referencing it in chat:

#findSym Find the "handleRequest" function in src/server.ts and show its references

#symbols List everything in src/models/user.ts

#callHierarchy Who calls authenticate() in src/auth.ts?

#diagnostics Check src/index.ts for errors

The power tool: #findSym

#findSym is the most versatile tool — it resolves a symbol by name (no need to know exact line numbers), then chains any follow-up action:

#findSym symbolName="UserService" action="implementation"        → find all implementations
#findSym symbolName="fetchData"   action="references"            → find all call sites
#findSym symbolName="Config"      action="hover"                 → get type info & docs
#findSym symbolName="parse"       action="callHierarchy_incoming"→ who calls parse()?

🌐 Language Support

This extension works with any language that has a VS Code language server. That includes, but is not limited to:

Note: The quality of results depends on the language server. Some servers support all LSP features; others support a subset.

🔧 Development

git clone https://github.com/your-org/lsp-for-copilot.git
cd lsp-for-copilot
npm install

Scripts

Debug

Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host with the extension loaded.

Architecture

src/
├── extension.ts          # Activation entry point — registers all 13 tools
├── types.ts              # Shared TypeScript interfaces
├── tools/
│   ├── index.ts          # Tool registration hub
│   ├── findSymbol.ts     # ⭐ Composite name→position→action tool
│   ├── goToDefinition.ts # LSP textDocument/definition
│   ├── findReferences.ts # LSP textDocument/references
│   ├── hover.ts          # LSP textDocument/hover
│   ├── declaration.ts    # LSP textDocument/declaration
│   ├── typeDefinition.ts # LSP textDocument/typeDefinition
│   ├── implementation.ts # LSP textDocument/implementation
│   ├── documentSymbols.ts# LSP textDocument/documentSymbol
│   ├── workspaceSymbols.ts# LSP workspace/symbol
│   ├── callHierarchy.ts  # LSP callHierarchy/*
│   ├── typeHierarchy.ts  # LSP typeHierarchy/*
│   ├── diagnostics.ts    # VS Code diagnostics collection
│   └── inlayHints.ts     # LSP textDocument/inlayHint
└── utils/
    └── lsp.ts            # Shared LSP helpers (retries, formatting, snippets)

📄 License

MIT