Sorbetto for VS Code

Sorbetto is a Visual Studio Code extension that provides language support for Ruby via Sorbet, a type checker developed by Stripe. It began as a fork of the official Ruby Sorbet extension, originally created to explore improvements in code maintainability and user experience (UX). Since then, Sorbetto's internals have been extensively rewritten, and new functionality has been added. While it continues to serve as an experimentation platform, it now follows its own path—compatibility with the original extension is no longer a priority.

Note that both extensions rely on the same Sorbet Language Server, so any differences in behavior occur exclusively in the VS Code layer.

Some relevant custom features:

• Multi-root workspace support, including separate Sorbet LSP instances per workspace folder
• Uses the Language Status Item to report status
• New configuration model
• Getting started experience:
  • Set up a workspace for Ruby development via the Setup Workspace command
  • Gemfile files include an Install action
  • Provides code snippets for standard Sorbet constructs
• Autocomplete is enabled in several contexts:
  • require_relative statements
  • gem entries in Gemfile files
  • # typed sigils
• Improved quickfix actions, e.g., fix all instances of a given error code across all files (documentation).

Some of the maintainability updates:

• Minimum VS Code version updated to 1.99, enabling use of more recent extensibility APIs.
• Language Client library upgraded to version 9.0.
• Migrated to esbuild for minification and bundling, reducing extension footprint significantly.

Table of Contents

• Getting Started
  • Setting Up a Workspace
  • Running a Ruby Script
• Sorbet Language Status Item
• Sorbet Configuration
• Sorbet Snippets
• Multi-root Workspaces
• Workspace Setup
• Extension Logs

Getting Started

Setting Up a Workspace

1. Open an existing workspace, or create a new one from an empty folder.
2. Run the Sorbetto: Setup Workspace command.
3. Your workspace is ready to use.

Running a Ruby Script

1. Create a new Ruby file, for example main.rb.
2. Add some content to it — you can use the Snippets: Fill File with Snippet command and select a ruby snippet.
3. Run the file with the Sorbetto: Run Ruby File command.
   • Later, you may want to create a Launch Configuration, but this command is the quickest way to run a standalone script.

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Sorbet Language Status Item

Sorbetto uses the Language Status Item for Ruby to report LSP status. This approach provides a unified, consistent UI that can display multiple status entries with associated actions. Specific entries can also be pinned to the status bar for quick access, preserving the familiar UX from the official extension.

The following entries are available on the language status item:

• Sorbet Configuration: shows the active Sorbet LSP configuration name as set via sorbetto.sorbetLspConfiguration, along with a quick Configure action to modify it.
• Sorbet Status: displays the current status of the Sorbet LSP, including a busy indicator. The Output action brings the Sorbetto Output pane into view for checking log entries.

Note VS Code displays the language status item only when an editor for the matching language is open. You can extend this behavior to editors of any language by enabling the Sorbetto: Always Show Status Items setting. However, at least one editor must still be open for the item to appear.

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Sorbet Configuration

Use the Settings Editor to modify the configuration values used by the extension.

The most important setting is the Sorbet Lsp Configuration which provides the following values:

• Stable: runs the Sorbet LSP using bundle exec srb typecheck, and any other settings values you might have added.
• Custom: runs the Sorbet LSP using a custom command and arguments you provide in the Sorbet Lsp Custom Configuration setting.
• Disabled: disables Sorbet entirely.

When compared to the official extension, Beta and Experimental are not configuration modes here but instead settings you can enable separately. Additionally, a limited set of features are exposed as standalone settings, such as Enable RBS support and Enable require_ancestor support. It is expected over time the number of settings will grow. The extension attempts to de-duplicate configuration values whenever they might overlap.

You can also edit the sorbet/config file in your workspace directly. However, the extension does not process this file, so you may inadvertently create conflicting configurations. For details, see the Sorbet: Config file documentation.

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Sorbet Snippets

Sorbetto provides snippets for standard Sorbet constructs on top of the ones offered by Sorbet already. In particular, a whole set of ruby language snippets are now available via the Snippet: Fill File with Snippet and Snippet: Insert Snippet commands. All snippets have an associated trigger word recognized by IntelliSense while typing, making them easily accessible. For example, typing abstract will display the snippets for an abstract class, module, or method, allowing for quick and intuitive code insertion.

Multi-root Workspaces

Multi-root workspaces allow developers to work on multiple project folders simultaneously within a single VS Code window. This model requires extensions to follow specific rules to work correctly, as they must resolve all references to project roots.

Sorbetto 0.3.0 was updated with this in mind, creating one Sorbet LSP client for every configured workspace folder. This is useful in scenarios when working on multiple projects, each relying on distinct Ruby or gem versions.

Two aspects to be aware of:

• When context is needed to determine the target of an action—e.g., showing the appropriate language status items—the current active text editor is used as a cue. If an action cannot determine its target workspace, a selection dropdown will be shown. This typically occurs with VS Code stock commands that do not accept a URI as context.

• Configuration values are read in the following order of precedence: first from the workspace folder, then the workspace, and finally the user scope. Be sure to set configuration values at the appropriate layer. Note that UI settings can only be set at workspace or user level. This is likely the most complex management piece you will encounter when using multi-root workspaces, so refer to the documentation if needed.

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Workspace Setup

The Setup Workspace command automates all steps from Adopting Sorbet in one convenient place. This command configures bundler to install gems locally via bundle config set --local path 'vendor/bundle'.

Note: Do not use this command if you prefer globally installed gems; instead, follow the linked documentation to set up your workspace.

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Extension Logs

Sorbetto uses a single output channel to log both its own exceptions and Sorbet’s. The log level can be controlled via the standard Developer: Set Log Level command, selecting Sorbetto from the dropdown. See documentation for details.

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