Protocol Buffers IntelliSense for Visual Studio, powered by the Buf language server: completion, go to definition, hover, references, rename, formatting, and build and lint diagnostics as you type.
Protocol Buffers IntelliSense for Visual Studio 2026, powered by the
Buf Language Server.
This is an independent project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Buf Technologies.
In .proto files
IntelliSense: types, fields, options, keywords and import paths.
Quick Info on hover with doc comments.
Go to Definition (F12), Find All References (Shift+F12) and Rename across the workspace.
Format Document with buf format rules.
Build and lint errors as you type, using the lint rules in your buf.yaml.
Quick actions: organize imports, mark as deprecated, suppress a lint rule.
Tools > Buf
Build, Lint, Format All, Generate, Update and Prune Dependencies, Initialize buf.yaml, List Lint and Breaking
Change Rules, Restart Language Server, and Install or Update Buf CLI.
Requirements
Visual Studio 2026 (18.0 or later). The extension runs on .NET 10, which Visual Studio 2022 cannot
host, so it installs on VS 2022 but does not load there.
The Buf CLI 1.43 or later. If it isn't on PATH, the
extension downloads the latest release from GitHub and verifies its checksum. Configure this under
Tools > Options > Buf.
