A language server for tmux.conf

[Freed-Wu]

Hey, I write a language server to complete tmux command and option. I believe it should be helpful for many people. Can I host it on tmux github organization to make more people know and try it? It can help to get more bug reports to improve it and increase its bus factor. TIA!

A demo video is here: https://asciinema.org/a/628457

[nicm]

What does it do?

[Freed-Wu]

complete tmux command and option.

complete ~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf.

[krader1961]

@nicm, a LSP is a way to augment the behavior of an editor or IDE when a user is editing a particular language (such as the Tmux config file) so that tab completion produces meaningful options. It can also provide other useful features such as jumping to the location where a symbol is defined or give a list of references to a symbol. I use an LSP for the Go language with ViM to make it easier to find where a symbol is defined or referenced. However, I would be wary of merging an LSP implementation for the Tmux confg file into your project. What might be justified is adding a link to https://github.com/Freed-Wu/tmux-language-server. Personally, I can't imagine using it because I rarely edit my ~/.tmux.conf, and the file is so small (at least compared to a typical program written C++/Go/Java), that I just don't see the utility.

[Freed-Wu]

Oh, I think you are a professional tmux user and familiar with tmux's keywords and options 😄 but for new users, a language server will be good.

the file is so small

And this language server is just a start, some function (like diagnosis of option's type) is missing. And a parser based on tree-sitter to provide a better information is future's work. So currently, small is normal.

In fact, It is not the only language server I write, Such as:

• https://github.com/termux/termux-language-server: language server for PKGBUILD, ebuild, build.sh
• https://github.com/neomutt/mutt-language-server: language server for ~/.config/neomutt/neomuttrc

I do this work just because there are many Domain Specific Languages like ~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf. They cannot get good support of language server and edit them is a little hard for many new users. I hope I can reduce their difficulty.

[nicm]

We used to link to the bash completion from somewhere but I can't find where now. But we can add a section to the FAQ.

But you will need to be more specific. What editors is it for?

[Freed-Wu]

All editors supporting LSP are here: https://microsoft.github.io/language-server-protocol/implementors/tools/