LID — Linked-Intent Development

Keep design intent permanently linked to running code.

LID (Linked-Intent Development) is a lightweight methodology that connects every requirement to the test that proves it is met. This extension brings full LID tooling into VS Code — no separate installs required.

Installation

Search LID in the VS Code Extensions panel, or:

ext install lid-tools.lid

The language server (lid-lsp) is bundled inside the extension — nothing else to install.

Features

Language Server (LSP)

Feature	How to trigger
Hover	Point at any `@spec ID` — see the spec text and status
Go to Definition	`F12` on a `@spec ID` — jump to the spec line
Find References	`Shift+F12` on a spec definition — list every citation
Rename	`F2` on a spec ID — atomically renames across the spec file and all `@spec` citations
Completion	Type `@spec` — autocomplete from all known spec IDs
Diagnostics	Red squiggles on unknown or mismatched `@spec` references; coverage warnings on spec lines

Intent Navigator

Open the visual segment graph with LID: Show Intent Navigator (Cmd+Shift+P).

Single-click a node → read-only detail panel (specs, next/drift, dependencies)
Double-click a node → edit mode: update status, cycle spec status, add specs, edit next/drift prose
+ Segment button → add a new segment via an overlay form
Live-reloads on any file change (manual edit, MCP agent write, or navigator edit)

CLI integration

LID: Initialize Project scaffolds a new LID project (docs/arrows/index.yaml, first segment stub, docs/intent/) in the current workspace.

Commands

Command	Description
`LID: Show Intent Navigator`	Open the visual segment graph
`LID: Initialize Project`	Scaffold a new LID project in the workspace
`LID: Restart LID Server`	Restart the language server
`LID: Show Output Channel`	Open the LID output panel

Configuration

Setting	Default	Description
`lid.serverPath`	(bundled)	Absolute path to `lid-lsp`. Leave empty to use the bundled binary.
`lid.trace.server`	`off`	LSP trace verbosity: `off` / `messages` / `verbose`

Tool	Install	Purpose
`lidc` CLI	`brew install EtaCassiopeia/lid/lid-tooling`	CI hook, `lidc check`, `lidc init`
`lid-mcp` server	`brew install EtaCassiopeia/lid/lid-tooling`	MCP server for AI agents (Claude, Cursor)

See the repository README for full documentation.

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0

LID — Linked-Intent Development

Mohsen Zainalpour Aghbolaghi

LID — Linked-Intent Development

Installation

Features

Language Server (LSP)

Intent Navigator

CLI integration

Commands

Configuration

Related tools

License