Metal Shading Language (VS Code)

VS Code extension for Apple's Metal Shading Language powered by metal-analyzer.

What To Expect After Install

This extension activates when you open a .metal file.

• There is no command palette command to run manually.
• Syntax highlighting appears for .metal files.
• Language features (diagnostics, hover, completion, go-to-definition) are provided by metal-analyzer.

Installation (VSIX)

1. Open VS Code.
2. Run Extensions: Install from VSIX....
3. Select the built .vsix file.
4. Reload VS Code when prompted.
5. Open any .metal file to activate the extension.

Server Binary

Setting: metal-analyzer.serverPath

• Default: metal-analyzer
• Behavior on macOS:
  • If metal-analyzer is in PATH, it is used.
  • Otherwise the extension downloads the latest GitHub release binary automatically.

You can also set an absolute path, for example:

• ~/.cargo/bin/metal-analyzer

Settings

The extension forwards metal-analyzer.* settings to the language server in real time.

• metal-analyzer.formatting.*
  • enabled (default true)
  • command (default clang-format)
  • args (default [])
  • formatter style always comes from the nearest .clang-format (or _clang-format) file
• metal-analyzer.diagnostics.*
  • onType (default true)
  • onSave (default true)
  • debounceMs (default 500)
  • scope (default openFiles, or workspace to analyze all workspace .metal files at startup/config changes)
• metal-analyzer.indexing.*
  • enabled (default true)
  • concurrency (default 1)
  • maxFileSizeKb (default 512)
  • excludePaths (default []; skips matching folders/files for both background indexing and workspace-scope diagnostics)
• metal-analyzer.compiler.*
  • includePaths (default [])
  • extraFlags (default [])
  • platform (default auto; one of auto, macos, ios, none)
• metal-analyzer.logging.level
  • one of error, warn, info, debug, trace (default info)

Example:

{
  "metal-analyzer.diagnostics.debounceMs": 300,
  "metal-analyzer.diagnostics.scope": "workspace",
  "metal-analyzer.indexing.maxFileSizeKb": 1024,
  "metal-analyzer.indexing.excludePaths": [
    "external/vendor-shaders"
  ],
  "metal-analyzer.compiler.includePaths": [
    "/path/to/includes"
  ],
  "metal-analyzer.compiler.platform": "auto",
  "metal-analyzer.compiler.extraFlags": [
    "-DMETAL_DEBUG=1"
  ]
}

Quick Verification

1. Open a .metal file.
2. Confirm language mode shows Metal.
3. Hover a known symbol or trigger completion.
4. Save to trigger diagnostics.

If features are still inactive, check View -> Output and select metal-analyzer in the output channel.

Diagnostics Source Troubleshooting

• metal-analyzer diagnostics are reported with source metal-compiler.
• If errors show source C/C++, they are not coming from metal-analyzer.
• In VS Code settings, remove conflicting file associations such as:

{
  "files.associations": {
    "*.metal": "cpp"
  }
}

• Ensure the current file language mode is Metal (status bar, lower-right).