Lispex for Visual Studio Code and Open VSX

Editor support for Lispex, a safe language for business rules:

• .lspx file recognition;
• Lispex syntax highlighting;
• the Lispex file icon in both light and dark editor themes;
• errors as you type and document formatting;
• symbols and go to definition; and
• completion and hover for built-ins.

Install Native Lispex 1.21.2 or later and open a .lspx file. The extension starts lispex lsp over stdio. Make lispex available on PATH, or set lispex.path to the executable's full path. Reload the VS Code window after changing the path. Existing lispex.format.executable settings also select the executable when lispex.path is not set.

Install

• Visual Studio Marketplace

• Open VSX Registry

• From source — package it yourself:

  cd editors/vscode
  npx @vscode/vsce package
  code --install-extension lispex-*.vsix
  

Grammar

syntaxes/lispex.tmLanguage.json covers the special forms the interpreter recognises, the standard procedure set, #t / #f, #\char literals, line and nested #| … |# comments, decimal integer/rational/real literals, strings with supported escapes, and quote/quasiquote/unquote punctuation.

Lispex deliberately rejects reader extensions such as the #; datum comment, #lang, and numeric radix/exactness prefixes such as #x and #e. The extension does not highlight those spellings as supported syntax.

Formatting

Use Format Document or enable format-on-save. The language server formats the document, preserving comments and literal spellings. Invalid source stays unchanged.

If the installed executable is older than 1.21.2 or the language server cannot start, the extension shows an installation link. It then uses lispex fmt - for formatting when that command is available. This CLI formatter has a default timeout of ten seconds. Set lispex.format.timeoutMs from 1,000 to 60,000 ms to change it. Both formatting routes use the installed Native executable.

License

This extension is distributed under Apache-2.0. Its license does not license the private Lispex source repository or grant rights to Lispex marks.