Novis for VS Code

This extension adds support for the Novis language to VS Code. It works with .nvs files and with nvs.toml projects.

What you get

• Syntax colours as soon as you open a file.
• Errors and warnings while you type.
• Completion, hover information, go to definition and find references.
• Formatting of the whole file.
• Commands to run the current file and to run its tests.
• A debugger for .nvs programs.
• In the Explorer, a letter beside a file that declares one class (C), interface (I), enum (E) or type alias (T).

Getting started

The extension needs the nvs program. If nvs is on your PATH, the extension uses it. If not, run Novis: Download nvs from the Command Palette. The nvs.path setting has the same Download nvs link. You can also set the path to nvs in that setting.

The extension starts when you open a .nvs file, or a folder that contains an nvs.toml file.

Colours for class names and methods

Your colour theme decides every colour in a .nvs file. Some themes give class names and methods almost the same colour. You can change this in two ways:

• Pick the Novis Dark or Novis Light colour theme. Run Novis: Use Novis Colour Theme, or choose the theme with Preferences: Color Theme.
• Keep your theme and turn on nvs.highlighting.distinctNames. Novis then adds colour rules for your theme to editor.semanticTokenColorCustomizations in your user settings. When you turn it off, Novis removes these rules.

Open the Settings editor and search for nvs.highlighting to see both options.

Where hidden secrets are still visible

The editor hides the value of a secret string while you read the code. The setting is nvs.secrets.redact. This only changes what the editor draws. The value is still in the file, and you can see it in these places:

• Search results and the Quick Open preview. They show the matching lines outside the editor.
• Diff and source control views. The old value of a secret you changed is visible there.
• The minimap. It draws the text of the file.
• Other extensions. Their hovers, code lenses and web views read the text of the file.
• The clipboard. If you copy a hidden value, the clipboard gets the real value.
• The file on disk, the working tree and the Git history. A secret that is written in the code is still in the code.

Keep real secrets out of the source code. Read them from the environment or a secret store instead.

More information

The documentation is at novis-lang.org. You can report a problem on GitHub.