Nar Language Support for VS Code
Nar is an ML-style functional language compiled by
the lunar toolchain. This extension adds
first-class Nar editing to Visual Studio Code.
Features
- Syntax highlighting for
.nar files (modules, imports, defs, aliases,
types, infix declarations, doc comments).
- Diagnostics: parse errors are surfaced live as you type.
- Hover: signatures plus
/// doc comments for top-level definitions,
aliases, data types, and infix operators across the open workspace.
- Go to Definition across files.
- Find References (workspace-wide identifier search).
- Outline / Document Symbols for the breadcrumb bar and symbol picker.
- Completion: top-level identifiers from the indexed workspace.
- Semantic tokens: extra coloring for declarations on supported themes.
All language services are powered by the lunar
compiler running as a JSON-RPC LSP server (lua lunar/cli/init.lua --lsp).
Requirements
None for typical use. The extension bundles both:
- the
lunar compiler (as a git submodule), and
- an official Lua 5.4 interpreter for every supported
platform (
darwin-arm64, darwin-x64, linux-x64, linux-arm64,
win32-x64).
The bundled Lua is picked automatically at activation based on process.platform
and process.arch. If you'd rather use a Lua interpreter from your system,
set nar.lsp.lua to its path (or to "lua" for a PATH lookup).
The lunar CLI is auto-discovered in this order:
nar.lsp.path user setting (absolute path to lunar/cli/init.lua)LUNAR_CLI environment variable- Bundled copy shipped with the extension (
<extension>/lunar/cli/init.lua)
- Heuristic walk up from each workspace folder looking for
lunar/cli/init.lua
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
nar.lsp.path |
"" |
Absolute path to lunar/cli/init.lua. Supports ${workspaceFolder} and ${workspaceFolder:name}. |
nar.lsp.lua |
"" |
Lua interpreter binary used to run the server. When empty, uses the bundled Lua 5.4 for your platform; falls back to lua on PATH if no bundled binary is available. |
nar.lsp.args |
[] |
Extra CLI args inserted before --lsp. |
nar.trace.server |
"off" |
Trace level for the LSP communication output channel. |
Development
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/nar-lang/nar-vscode.git
cd nar-vscode
npm install
npm run compile
# Open this folder in VS Code, press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host.
To refresh the bundled compiler later:
git submodule update --remote lunar
Bundled Lua binaries
The bin/<platform>-<arch>/ directories hold the prebuilt Lua 5.4
interpreter for each supported VS Code platform. They are sourced as
follows:
A GitHub Actions workflow .github/workflows/build-lua.yml
fans these jobs out across native macOS/Linux runners and uploads a
combined lua-bundle artifact you can download and drop into bin/.
License
MIT — see LICENSE.
