Aura Programming Language

Aura is a compiled, statically typed programming language with Python-familiar syntax, deterministic ownership, native executables, and structured concurrency. The language, compiler, and editor tooling are developed in the Aura repository.

Aura's current focus includes reliable applications, agents, and ML infrastructure. Its long-term goal is a general-purpose systems language for every layer of software, including operating systems and device drivers.

This preview extension is the maintained VS Code support for .au source files. It provides:

• Aura syntax highlighting and language-aware indentation, with a distinct string.quoted.docstring scope for statement-position triple-quoted strings
• snippets for functions, classes, matching, concurrency, lambdas, and the foreign function interface (FFI)
• compiler-backed diagnostics, completions, hover, signature help, go-to-definition, references, rename, and document symbols, with docstrings in hover, completions, and signature help
• semantic highlighting, inferred-type inlay hints for unannotated locals, highlighting of the other uses of the name under the cursor, and quick fixes for compiler suggestions and unused locals
• workspace symbol search and go-to-implementation for traits and types
• recovery while you edit incomplete functions, member access, comprehensions, slices, and numeric arrays
• Aura: Run File, Build File, Test File, and Run Workspace Tests commands, a Run button in the editor title, and a ▶ Run lens above def main. They run aura in an integrated terminal named Aura.

Aura native builds do not carry debug information yet, so the extension has no debugger.

Install

Install Aura Programming Language from the Visual Studio Marketplace or Open VSX. Each Aura release also has the matching .vsix attached. Install it by hand with Extensions: Install from VSIX....

The extension contains the editor client and the JavaScript language-server transport. The Aura compiler does the semantic analysis through its aura lsp subcommand, so the aura executable must also be installed and on PATH.

Download a prebuilt CLI archive from Aura Releases, or install from source with Rust and LLVM 22:

git clone https://github.com/johnolafenwa/Aura.git
cd Aura
scripts/install-llvm.sh
export LLVM_SYS_221_PREFIX="$HOME/.cache/aura/llvm/22.1.2"
cargo install --path crates/aura --locked --force
aura --version

The prefix shown is the Linux default. On macOS, export the settings the script prints instead.

Reload VS Code after you install the CLI, then open any .au file. The extension also looks in ~/.local/bin, ~/.cargo/bin, /opt/homebrew/bin, and /usr/local/bin when VS Code does not see aura on PATH. To use a specific compiler binary, set Aura: Compiler Path (aura.compilerPath) in your user settings; the server restarts on its own. Aura: Restart Language Server restarts it by hand.

The complete installation guide covers command-line installation, WSL remote setup, custom compiler paths, and verification.

Language Support

The compiler-backed language server understands the maintained Aura surface. That includes classes, enums, traits, generics, modules, Result, optional T | None unions, Lookup and Poll, structured concurrency, closures, FFI, owned slices, and numeric arrays. It keeps giving useful help while the current buffer is incomplete.

Format Document uses the compiler's formatter, the same one aura fmt runs. To format on save, add this to your settings:

"[aura]": {
  "editor.formatOnSave": true
}

The extension stays thin on purpose. Syntax assets and snippets live here. The Aura compiler owns semantic rules and diagnostics.

Development

Contributors who build the extension from the monorepo should follow the development installation guide. Report issues in the Aura issue tracker.

License

Aura and this extension are available under the MIT License.