HLSL Clippy — VS Code extension

In-editor diagnostics, hover docs, and quick-fix code actions for HLSL — powered by the hlsl-clippy linter. This extension is a thin wrapper around the hlsl-clippy-lsp JSON-RPC server (see ADR 0014).

Features

Inline diagnostics as you type, with the same rule ids the CI gate emits.
Code-action quick-fixes for every machine_applicable rule (lightbulb menu).
Hover tooltips that link to the per-rule documentation page.
Workspace-aware: respects .hlsl-clippy.toml walk-up resolution and multi-root projects (per ADR 0014 §4).
No telemetry. The extension never reports back. Diagnostics stay local.

The diagnostics surfaced in VS Code's Problems panel are byte-for-byte the same as the diagnostics the CLI emits in CI logs (modulo formatting).

Requirements

VS Code 1.85 or newer.

The hlsl-clippy-lsp server binary is bundled inside the extension — since v0.5.3 the Marketplace ships a per-platform .vsix for each of linux-x64, win32-x64, and darwin-arm64, and the matching binary lives at <extension>/server/<platform>/hlsl-clippy-lsp[.exe]. Marketplace installs and .vsix sideloads both Just Work with no extra download.

Power-user overrides (only set these if you need them):

hlslClippy.serverPath — point at a custom-built hlsl-clippy-lsp binary (e.g. a local debug build). Bypasses the bundled binary.
PATH lookup — if hlsl-clippy-lsp (or hlsl-clippy-lsp.exe) is on PATH, it takes precedence over the bundled binary.

Installation

From the Marketplace

Search for "HLSL Clippy" by nelcit in the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X), or install from the command line:

code --install-extension nelcit.hlsl-clippy

The Marketplace serves the matching .vsix for your OS+arch automatically; the LSP binary is included.

From a `.vsix` (sideload)

Per-platform .vsix files are attached to every GitHub Release — pick the one for your platform:

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

Then:

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

Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Purpose
`hlslClippy.serverPath`	`string`	`""`	Explicit path to a custom `hlsl-clippy-lsp` binary. Empty = use the binary bundled with the extension (or `hlsl-clippy-lsp` on `PATH`).
`hlslClippy.targetProfile`	`string`	`""`	Slang target profile (e.g. `sm_6_6`, `vs_6_7`, `ps_6_8`). Empty = server default per stage. Forwarded to `LintOptions::target_profile`.
`hlslClippy.enableReflection`	`boolean`	`true`	Enable Phase 3 reflection-aware rules. Disable on slow machines to keep AST-only latency.
`hlslClippy.enableControlFlow`	`boolean`	`true`	Enable Phase 4 CFG-aware rules.
`hlslClippy.trace.server`	`string`	`"off"`	Trace LSP communication (`off` / `messages` / `verbose`).

Commands

Command	Description
`HLSL Clippy: Restart Server`	Stop and re-spawn the LSP server (useful after a binary update).
`HLSL Clippy: Show Output Channel`	Reveal the extension's output panel.

Rule documentation

Every diagnostic includes a hover link to the rule's docs page. Browse the full catalog at docs/rules/.

License

Apache-2.0. See LICENSE in the repo root.

This extension bundles vscode-languageclient (MIT, Microsoft Corp.) and @types/vscode (MIT). Third-party license texts are reproduced in THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md.

Reporting issues

File bugs at https://github.com/NelCit/hlsl-clippy/issues. Please include:

The output of HLSL Clippy: Show Output Channel.
Your hlslClippy.* settings.
A minimal reproducer shader.

HLSL Clippy

NelCit