Sharif NOVA Language (VS Code extension)

VS Code support for Sharif NOVA, the programming language developed by Sharif Technologies (referred to as NOVA throughout this document). Syntax highlighting for .nova files, plus Run/Build/Serve commands wired into VS Code's editor toolbar, right-click menu, and Command Palette — the same experience most language extensions give you, not just a terminal.

Run (▷ button, top-right of the editor, or Ctrl+Alt+N / Cmd+Alt+N) → nova run <file>
Build (editor toolbar / right-click) → nova build <file> (compiles any PAGE declarations to dist/*.html)
Serve (editor toolbar / right-click) → nova serve <file> <port> — genuinely live serving: the extension polls the port with a real HTTP request (not a guessed delay), and once SERVICE/API is actually answering requests it opens your default browser to it automatically and shows a status bar item (📡 NOVA :3000) — click the status bar item, or run "NOVA: Stop Server", to stop it.

All commands open (or reuse) an integrated terminal named NOVA and run the real CLI there — full color output and real stdin for ASK behave exactly like running it by hand.

Install

This extension isn't published on the VS Code Marketplace, so searching for "NOVA" in the Extensions view's search box won't find it — that search only reaches the public Marketplace, not this repository. Two ways to actually install it:

Option A — Install from VSIX (uses the Extensions tab's own UI)

Build the package (one-off, packaging-only — nothing gets added to this repository's own dependencies):
```
cd editors/vscode/nova-lang
npx --yes @vscode/vsce package
```
This writes sharif-tech-nova-lang-0.4.0.vsix in that folder.
In VS Code, open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X), click the ... (More Actions) menu at the top of that panel, choose Install from VSIX..., and pick the .vsix file you just built.
Reload if prompted. Open any .nova file and the Run/Build/Serve buttons appear in the editor's top-right corner.

Equivalently, from the command line:

code --install-extension editors/vscode/nova-lang/sharif-tech-nova-lang-0.4.0.vsix

Option B — Copy into your extensions folder (no build step at all)

# macOS/Linux
cp -r editors/vscode/nova-lang ~/.vscode/extensions/sharif-tech-nova-lang-0.4.0

# Windows (PowerShell)
Copy-Item -Recurse editors\vscode\nova-lang "$env:USERPROFILE\.vscode\extensions\sharif-tech-nova-lang-0.4.0"

Then run Developer: Reload Window from the Command Palette (or restart VS Code). This won't show up in the Extensions list as an "installed" card the way Option A does, but it works identically.

File icons

VS Code's Explorer, Open Editors, and tabs all draw file icons from whichever single File Icon Theme is active — that's a separate setting from language/syntax registration, so a .nova file being correctly recognized as NOVA (status bar, syntax highlighting) doesn't by itself give it a distinct icon.

This extension ships its own icon theme, NOVA Icons, giving .nova files the NOVA mark. The first time you open a .nova file, it offers to turn this on (Enable updates the ordinary workbench.iconTheme setting — nothing is switched silently, and you're only asked once). You can also turn it on or off anytime via Preferences: File Icon Theme in the Command Palette and choosing NOVA Icons, or switch back to any other icon theme (such as your existing one) the same way — this is a normal, independent VS Code setting, not something the extension locks in.

Note that activating NOVA Icons replaces whatever icon theme was active before for all files, not just .nova ones — VS Code only supports one active file icon theme at a time, and no extension (this one included) can reach into another extension's already-active icon theme to add a single icon to it. NOVA Icons includes plain, neutral icons for ordinary files and folders so the rest of your workspace still looks reasonable if you do switch to it.

Using Material Icon Theme instead

If you use Material Icon Theme and want to keep it for everything else, that extension has its own supported way to point one file pattern at a custom icon (material-icon-theme.files.associations) — this extension uses exactly that, rather than replacing your icon theme. If you have Material Icon Theme installed and active, opening a .nova file offers this automatically; you can also run it anytime from the Command Palette:

NOVA: Add NOVA Icon to Material Icon Theme

This copies the NOVA icon to ~/.vscode/extensions/icons/nova.svg (the location Material Icon Theme's own custom-association feature requires) and adds a "*.nova": "../../icons/nova" entry to your user settings' material-icon-theme.files.associations — nothing else about Material Icon Theme's configuration is touched, and a reload picks it up.

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`nova.cliPath`	(auto-detect)	Absolute path to `src/cli.js`. Only needed to override auto-detection — the extension first looks for a NOVA checkout above the current file, then falls back to the globally-installed `nova` command (`npm install -g nova-lang`).
`nova.defaultServePort`	`3000`	Port used by NOVA: Serve.
`nova.openBrowserOnServe`	`true`	Auto-open the browser once the server is confirmed live. Set to `false` if you'd rather just watch the status bar / terminal.

What's highlighted

Every keyword through NOVA's current milestone (see the main repo's docs/SPECIFICATION.md): control flow (IF/FOR EACH/REPEAT/TRY), declarations (DO/DATA/PAGE/SERVICE/API), persistence/IO (SAVE/GET/DELETE/ASK/REQUEST), page elements (TITLE/STYLE/HEADING/TEXT/BUTTON), string interpolation ("Hello, {name}"), comments (#), numbers, and operators. DATA <Name> and DO <name> also get their name highlighted as a type/function, the way most language extensions do.

NOVA Language by Sharif Technologies

SHARIF TECHNOLOGIES