PyWire for Visual Studio Code

Full IDE support for PyWire — an HTML-over-the-wire Python web framework built on Starlette. Provides syntax highlighting, formatting, and language intelligence for .wire files.

What is PyWire?

PyWire lets you build reactive web UIs in Python using a custom template format (.wire files). Each file is a self-contained component that combines Python logic, HTML structure, and optional embedded CSS and JavaScript — no JavaScript framework required.

---
count = wire(0)

---
<button @click={count.value += 1}">Clicked {count} times</button>

Features

Syntax Highlighting

Full syntax highlighting for .wire files, with embedded language support for each section:

Python — logic block between --- fences
HTML — template markup with PyWire expressions and directives
CSS — inside <style> blocks
JavaScript — inside <script> blocks

Language Intelligence

Completions — context-aware suggestions for Python, HTML attributes, CSS properties, and JS
Hover documentation — type info and docstrings on hover
Go to definition — navigate to symbols across Python, CSS, and JS
Find references — locate all usages of a symbol
Rename — rename symbols across embedded languages
Signature help — function argument hints as you type
Document highlights — highlight all occurrences of the symbol under the cursor

Embedded <script> and <style> blocks receive full JS and CSS language support from VS Code's built-in language services.

Formatting

.wire files are formatted with Prettier via the prettier-plugin-pywire formatter. Format on save is enabled by default — no configuration needed.

To format manually: Format Document (Shift+Alt+F).

Smart Comment Toggling

Cmd+/ (macOS) or Ctrl+/ (Windows/Linux) toggles comments based on which section the cursor is in:

Python block → # line comment
HTML template →

Dev Server Integration

Start and stop the PyWire dev server directly from the editor. When a .wire file is open, a ▶ Run Dev Server button appears in the editor title bar. Clicking it opens a terminal and runs uv run pywire dev --no-tui. The button switches to ■ Stop Dev Server while the server is running.

Update Notifications

The extension periodically checks for newer versions of PyWire and prompts you to upgrade. To upgrade manually, run the PyWire: Attempt Upgrade command from the Command Palette.

Requirements

Python extension for VS Code — used to detect your active Python interpreter
PyWire installed in your Python environment:
```
uv add pywire
# or
pip install pywire
```

The language server (pywire-language-server) is installed automatically as part of PyWire.

Configuration

Setting	Default	Description
`pywire.pythonPath`	`"python3"`	Path to the Python interpreter used to launch the language server. Defaults to the interpreter selected in the Python extension.
`pywire.tyPath`	(auto)	Path to the `ty` type checker executable. Defaults to `ty` on `PATH`.
`pywire.disableUpdateNotifications`	`false`	Disable periodic checks for PyWire updates.
`pywire.trace.server`	`"off"`	Trace LSP communication between VS Code and the language server. Set to `"messages"` or `"verbose"` for debugging.

Settings can be adjusted in Settings (Cmd+,) under Extensions → PyWire, or directly in your settings.json:

{
  "pywire.pythonPath": "/path/to/.venv/bin/python"
}

Commands

All commands are available from the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P):

Command	Description
PyWire: Run Dev Server	Start the PyWire dev server in a terminal
PyWire: Stop Dev Server	Stop the running dev server
PyWire: Restart Language Server	Restart the language server (useful after installing packages)
PyWire: Attempt Upgrade	Upgrade PyWire to the latest version
PyWire: Open Docs	Open the PyWire documentation site
PyWire: Open Docs (Nightly)	Open the nightly documentation site
PyWire: Toggle Comment	Toggle a context-aware comment on the selected lines

Troubleshooting

Language server not starting — Make sure PyWire is installed in the Python environment selected in the Python extension. Run PyWire: Restart Language Server after installing.

Wrong interpreter — Set pywire.pythonPath explicitly to your virtual environment's Python binary (e.g. /path/to/.venv/bin/python).

Seeing LSP errors — Set pywire.trace.server to "verbose" and check the PyWire output channel (View → Output → PyWire) for details.

❤️ Support pywire

If pywire is helping you build, consider supporting the project. Donations cover documentation hosting, CI/CD runners, and the caffeine required for development.

🚀 Faster development of the core framework.
📖 Better docs and community examples.
🔧 Integration research.

PyWire

pywire