Tonel Smalltalk for VS Code

Editor support for Tonel .st files. Highlighting lives in this extension. Navigation and syntax diagnostics come from tonel-smalltalk-language-server over stdio.

Features

• Syntax highlighting for comments, strings, symbols, pragmas, Tonel keywords, and class names
• Go to Definition (F12)
• Find All References (Shift+F12)
• Hover for class, trait, and variable information
• Syntax-error diagnostics

The language server implements those LSP methods. This extension does not reimplement them.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85 or newer
• Network access to GitHub on first start, unless you provide the tonel-smalltalk-language-server binary yourself. See Language server.
• A workspace folder that contains the Tonel sources. The server indexes that folder on startup.

Develop

npm run package uses @vscode/vsce 4, which requires Node.js 22 or newer.

npm install
npm test
npm run compile

Press F5 and choose Run Extension.

Language server

The language server (tonel-smalltalk-language-server) is downloaded automatically. No manual setup is required.

The extension picks the first match:

1. tonelSmalltalk.serverPath: that executable
2. tonel-smalltalk-language-server on PATH
3. The latest release from mumez/tonel-smalltalk-language-server, downloaded into the extension's global storage

Step 3 checks GitHub for the latest release on every start and downloads it only when that version is not stored yet. When GitHub is unreachable, it uses the newest stored version. Extraction uses the system tar (System32\tar.exe on Windows 10 and later).

Download a release manually

To use a binary instead of the automatic download, download the archive for your platform from the releases page:

• tonel-smalltalk-language-server-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
• tonel-smalltalk-language-server-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
• tonel-smalltalk-language-server-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
• tonel-smalltalk-language-server-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
• tonel-smalltalk-language-server-aarch64-pc-windows-msvc.zip
• tonel-smalltalk-language-server-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip

Each archive contains a directory with the tonel-smalltalk-language-server executable (tonel-smalltalk-language-server.exe on Windows). Extract it, then copy the executable onto PATH, or set its path in your VS Code settings.json, for example on Windows:

{
  "tonelSmalltalk.serverPath": "C:\\Users\\someone\\bin\\tonel-smalltalk-language-server.exe"
}

Build from source

Build the server in its own repository:

cargo build --release

The release binary is target/release/tonel-smalltalk-language-server. Point tonelSmalltalk.serverPath at it, or copy it onto PATH.

Logs

Startup logs are in the Tonel Smalltalk Language Server output channel. A successful index logs Workspace scan complete.

Package

npm run package

npm run compile type-checks with tsc and bundles src/extension.ts and vscode-languageclient into dist/extension.js with esbuild, so the VSIX ships no node_modules. This produces vscode-tonel-smalltalk-0.0.1.vsix. Install it from the VS Code Extensions view with Install from VSIX.

Publish

The Publish workflow (.github/workflows/publish.yml) runs on manual dispatch only. It needs a repository secret VSCE_PAT holding an Azure DevOps personal access token with the Marketplace (Manage) scope for the mumez publisher.

1. Bump version in package.json and push to main.
2. Run Actions > Publish > Run workflow.

The workflow runs npm test and fails if a GitHub release named v<version> already exists. Then it publishes the VSIX to the Visual Studio Marketplace and attaches the same VSIX to a new GitHub release v<version>.

Manual check

1. Leave tonelSmalltalk.serverPath empty and remove the server from PATH to test the automatic download, or set tonelSmalltalk.serverPath.
2. Press F5 in this repository.
3. In the Extension Development Host, open a folder of .st files.
4. Confirm comments, strings, symbols, and class names are colored.
5. Put the cursor on a class name and press F12. The editor opens that class definition.
6. Press Shift+F12 and confirm the references list.
7. Hover a class name and confirm the hover shows class information.
8. Insert a syntax error and confirm a diagnostic appears.
9. Confirm the output channel logs Workspace scan complete.

Known limitations

• The language server is not bundled. If it cannot be found or downloaded, the extension shows an error message and does not start the client. Platforms other than macOS, Linux (glibc), and Windows on x64 or arm64 have no prebuilt binary and need tonelSmalltalk.serverPath.
• The download uses Node's fetch. Depending on the VS Code version, it may not follow VS Code's proxy settings. If the download fails behind a proxy, download the binary manually.
• Downloaded versions stay in global storage. Old versions are not removed.
• tonelSmalltalk.serverPath is read when the extension activates. Changing it needs a window reload. There is no restart command.
• The server indexes the workspace folder at startup, then updates documents that are open. It does not handle workspace/didChangeWatchedFiles, so a class added or edited in a closed .st file stays out of the index until reload.
• Highlighting is a TextMate grammar, not the tree-sitter grammar used by the language server. These forms are colored incorrectly or not at all:
  • radix integers such as 16r1F
  • a leading minus on a number, such as -3
  • scaled decimals such as 1.5s2 (the . is treated as a statement terminator)
  • keyword symbols such as #at:put:
  • a space character literal, $ followed by a space
  • Class, Trait, Extension, and Package anywhere, including when they are message receivers
• A <...> pragma is recognized only at the start of a line, after optional whitespace. A comparison written that way is colored as a pragma.
• The server provides definition, references, hover, and syntax diagnostics. Completion, formatting, rename, and code actions are not available.

Remaining work

• @types/vscode is declared as ^1.85.0, so the lockfile can resolve a much newer API than the VS Code 1.85 engine. Pin a 1.85-compatible range before using newer editor APIs.
• npm test does not launch the Extension Development Host. The manual check above is still the way to confirm definition, references, hover, and diagnostics against a real language server.