Beancount LSP for VS Code

Use this extension to connect VS Code to the Beancount language server (beancount-lsp) and get Beancount language features.

What you need

• Python 3.10+ with pip (or uv)
• The beancount-lsp package installed from PyPI
• This VS Code extension installed

Install the extension

install extension from vscode market: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=trim21.beancount-lsp

Install the language server (PyPI)

Install into your preferred Python environment (a workspace .venv is recommended so the extension can auto-detect it):

# Standard pip
pip install beancount-lsp

# Or with uv
uv pip install beancount-lsp

Verify it is available:

beancount-lsp --version

Configure the extension

Set these in VS Code Settings or settings.json:

• beancount.root_file (required): path to your main Beancount file, e.g.

"beancount.root_file": "ledger.beancount"

• beancount.server_path (optional): full path to the beancount-lsp executable. If omitted, the extension searches in order: beancount.server_path, your workspace .venv (.venv/bin/beancount-lsp), then your system PATH.

"beancount.server_path": "/home/user/.local/bin/beancount-lsp"

• beancount.log_level (optional): trace, debug, info, warn, error, off (default: info).

Commands

Commands (Command Palette → type “Beancount”):

• Beancount: Start Language Server
• Beancount: Stop Language Server
• Beancount: Restart Language Server

Troubleshooting

• View logs in VS Code: View → Output, then pick beancount-language-server (server) from the dropdown.
• If the server does not start, check that beancount-lsp runs in a terminal (beancount-lsp --version).
• If you installed into a virtualenv, either open the workspace containing that .venv (auto-detected) or set beancount.server_path explicitly.
• Ensure beancount.root_file is set; the server will not start without it.
• Increase verbosity with beancount.log_level set to debug or trace.

Link

• Repository: https://github.com/trim21/beancount-lsp