Editor Setup

VS Code extension

Directory: tools/quilt/

The VS Code extension provides:

• Syntax highlighting — TextMate grammar for the Quilt arrow-bracket syntax.
• Arrow-glyph keybindings — chord shortcuts for typing all Quilt Unicode operators.
• Language Server — launches quilt-lsp for .quilt files; provides quilt diagnostics and, for .rs.quilt files, full Rust support proxied through rust-analyzer.

Installation

Install QuiltLang from the VS Code Marketplace: search for QuiltLang in the Extensions view, or run code --install-extension quiltlang.quiltlang. You'll still need the quilt-lsp server on your PATH (and rust-analyzer for Rust support) — grab the binary from the latest release, or cargo install --git https://github.com/QuiltLang/quilt quilt-lsp.

From source (for development)

To hack on the extension itself, run the install script from the repo root (idempotent — re-run it after updates):

bin/install_tools

It performs the manual steps below: cargo install --path quilt-lsp, npm install in tools/quilt, and symlinking the extension into ~/.vscode/extensions/quiltlang. It also warns if rust-analyzer or rust-script is missing from PATH.

Manual steps (what the script does)

1. Build and install the LSP server:

   cargo install --path quilt-lsp

   Or point the extension at the binary you built:

   // .vscode/settings.json
   { "quilt-lsp.serverPath": "/path/to/target/debug/quilt-lsp" }

2. Install the extension's npm dependencies (needed for the extension host):

   cd tools/quilt && npm install

3. Symlink the extension into VS Code's extensions directory:

   ln -sfn "$(pwd)/tools/quilt" ~/.vscode/extensions/quiltlang

   (-n matters: without it, re-running with an existing link drops a recursive quiltlang symlink inside tools/quilt.) Or open VS Code and use Developer: Install Extension from Location….

4. Reload VS Code.

5. Rust support also requires rust-analyzer:

   rustup component add rust-analyzer

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
quilt-lsp.serverPath	quilt-lsp	Path to the quilt-lsp binary
quilt-lsp.rustAnalyzerPath	rust-analyzer	Override rust-analyzer command
quilt-lsp.trace.server	off	off | messages | verbose LSP tracing

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Keybindings

The extension registers chord keybindings for all Quilt Unicode operators so they are convenient to type on a standard keyboard. The full list is in tools/quilt/package.json.

Mac keybinding file

tools/DefaultKeyBinding.dict is a macOS ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict snippet for system-level arrow-key input. Copy or merge it into:

~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict

Restart apps after installing.

Typical chord patterns

The VS Code extension uses a multi-key chord (e.g. ctrl+k ctrl+u) to insert each glyph. The exact bindings are in package.json under "keybindings".

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Quilt comments in the editor

Quilt line comments (⟨//⟩ text) and block comments (⟨/*⟩ … ⟨*/⟩) are understood by the LSP server and stripped before the language fragment reaches the downstream server, so they do not appear as syntax errors in the ground language. The LSP translates them to standard ground-language comments in the projected document.

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How the LSP is started

The extension's extension.js starts quilt-lsp as a child process communicating over stdio whenever a .quilt file is opened. See Quilt LSP for the server architecture.