VRL Language Support for VSCode

A comprehensive Visual Studio Code extension providing advanced support for VRL (Vector Remap Language) files.

Features

🎨 Syntax Highlighting

Complete VRL syntax highlighting with proper tokenization
Support for functions, keywords, operators, strings, and comments
Field path highlighting with proper scoping
Error and fallible function highlighting

🧠 IntelliSense & Code Completion

Auto-completion for all VRL built-in functions
Context-aware field path suggestions
Function signatures with parameter hints
Smart snippets for common VRL patterns

🔍 Advanced Language Features

Hover Information: Detailed documentation for functions and keywords
Real-time Diagnostics: Syntax and semantic error detection
Error Handling Validation: Ensures proper use of fallible functions
Best Practice Suggestions: Performance and maintainability hints

🛠 Commands & Tools

Validate Script (Ctrl+Shift+V): Comprehensive VRL script validation
Format Document: Auto-format VRL code with proper indentation
Show Documentation: Quick access to Vector documentation

🎯 Code Quality

Real-time syntax error detection
Semantic validation for function calls
Warning system for potential issues
Type validation suggestions

Installation

Using the Makefile (Recommended)

# Build and install the extension
make install

# Or build only
make build

Manual Installation

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Compile and package
npm run compile
npm run package

# Install the generated .vsix file
code --install-extension vscode-vrl-*.vsix

Usage

Basic Example

Create a .vrl file and start typing:

# Parse JSON message
. = parse_json!(.message)

# Add timestamp
.processed_at = now()

# Transform log level
.level = upcase(.level)

# Conditional processing
if contains(.message, "error") {
    .severity = "high"
    log("High severity event detected", level: "warn")
}

# Clean up
del(.temp_field)

Advanced Features

The extension provides intelligent suggestions as you type:

Type parse_ to see all parsing functions
Use . to access field paths with auto-completion
Error handling is automatically suggested for fallible functions
Hover over functions to see documentation and examples

Configuration

Access settings through File > Preferences > Settings and search for "VRL":

{
    "vrl.enableIntelliSense": true,
    "vrl.enableErrorChecking": true,
    "vrl.enableTypeHints": true,
    "vrl.maxErrorCount": 100
}

Development

Prerequisites

Node.js (16+)
Visual Studio Code
TypeScript

Setup

# Clone and setup
git clone <repository-url>
cd vscode-vrl
make dev-setup

# Start development
make watch

# Run tests
make test

Available Make Targets

make - Build the extension
make install - Build and install to VSCode
make clean - Clean build artifacts
make test - Run test suite
make lint - Run code linting
make watch - Development watch mode
make info - Show build information

VRL Language Support

This extension supports the complete VRL syntax including:

Functions

Parsing: parse_json, parse_syslog, parse_regex, parse_key_value, parse_csv, parse_timestamp
Type Conversion: to_string, to_int, to_float, to_bool, to_timestamp
String Manipulation: contains, starts_with, ends_with, replace, split, join, upcase, downcase
Array/Object Operations: merge, keys, values, filter, map, reduce
Encoding: encode_base64, decode_base64, encode_percent, decode_percent
Hashing: sha1, sha2, sha3, md5, hmac
Utilities: uuid_v4, now, type, length, assert

Language Features

Field path expressions (.field.subfield)
Error handling with ! and ?? operators
Conditional statements (if, else)
Comments (# comment)
All VRL data types and literals

Contributing

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch
Make your changes
Run tests: make test
Submit a pull request

Vector Remap Language (VRL) for VSCode

Oryan Perlmutter