GAP Help

Search and read GAP documentation directly in VS Code.

Supports word-selection lookup, real-time QuickPick search (matching the behavior of GAP's ?help and ??help), with results displayed in a webview panel that supports in-page link navigation and MathJax math rendering.

GAP is a system for computational discrete algebra, with particular emphasis on computational group theory, and is widely used in mathematical research. GAP comes with comprehensive built-in documentation. This extension builds on GAP's native help system, aiming to help GAP users learn and work with GAP more conveniently. For more information, see the GAP official website.

Prerequisites

This extension works with GAP for Windows (the .exe installer) and requires GAP to be in your system PATH.

1. Add GAP to PATH

Using GAP 4.16.0 as an example, run the following in PowerShell (replace the path with your actual installation path):

$userPath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', 'User')
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', $userPath + ';C:\Program Files\GAP-4.16.0\runtime\opt\gap-4.16.0;C:\Program Files\GAP-4.16.0\runtime\bin', 'User')

2. Verify the installation

After restarting your terminal, run the following command to confirm gap is correctly added:

gap --version

Features

On first activation, the extension automatically generates the help index. You can manually rebuild it later by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P and typing GAP: Rebuild Help Index.
Two search modes, switchable in settings or from the QuickPick search box:
- prefix: equivalent to GAP's ?help
- substring: equivalent to GAP's ??help
Search results are displayed in a webview panel with support for in-page link navigation and MathJax math rendering.

Demonstration

The following demonstrates the main features: word-selection lookup, QuickPick search, book filtering, opening the GAP Reference Manual from the context menu, and in-page link navigation within the webview panel.

Word-Selection Lookup

Select a word in GAP code, right-click and choose Help in GAP.

QuickPick Search

Press Ctrl+Shift+P and type GAP: Help in GAP, or right-click in the editor and choose Help in GAP to open the QuickPick search box. Type your query and select a result to view it.