Installing

Vscode

Install the extension here. Then, it will prompt you to allow the extension to autoinstall the server binary from the releases page. Alternatively, you can build slang-server and set slang.path to that binary.

Vscode Forks (Cursor, Antigravity, VSCodium, etc.)

Install from your editor, or download from the OpenVSX Marketplace

Neovim

slang-server is available in nvim-lspconfig as slang_server (note the underscore) and in the mason.nvim package registry as slang-server, so no additional configuration is required in most cases. The default configuration shipped with nvim-lspconfig can be found here.

Install the binary via :MasonInstall slang-server (or otherwise place it on PATH), then enable the server with vim.lsp.enable("slang_server"), or follow your own Neovim configuration's convention for enabling servers.

Restart and run :LspInfo to make sure the LSP was correctly installed.

Code lenses

On Neovim 0.10 and 0.11, code lenses must be refreshed explicitly. It is also recommended to map vim.lsp.codelens.run() so that the lenses on the current line can be selected and executed. The following configuration keeps lenses current and maps <leader>cl to run them:

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("LspAttach", {
  callback = function(args)
    local client = vim.lsp.get_client_by_id(args.data.client_id)
    if not client or client.name ~= "slang_server"
        or not client:supports_method("textDocument/codeLens") then
      return
    end

    local group = vim.api.nvim_create_augroup("slang-server-codelens", { clear = false })
    vim.api.nvim_clear_autocmds({ group = group, buffer = args.buf })
    vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd({ "BufEnter", "CursorHold", "InsertLeave" }, {
      group = group,
      buffer = args.buf,
      callback = function()
        vim.lsp.codelens.refresh({ bufnr = args.buf })
      end,
    })

    vim.lsp.codelens.refresh({ bufnr = args.buf })
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>cl", vim.lsp.codelens.run, {
      buffer = args.buf,
      desc = "Run code lens",
    })
  end,
})

Neovim 0.12 and newer can use vim.lsp.codelens.enable() instead of the refresh autocmds. vim.lsp.codelens.run() is still used to execute the lens on the current line.

Enhanced features

Once the language server is installed, it is recommended to install the slang-server.nvim plugin; this provides enhanced HDL specific features such as design hierarchy view and waveform integration.

Other editors

Most modern editors can at least point to a language server binary for specific file types. This will provide standard LSP features, but not HDL specific features.

If the editor also allows for executing LSP commands, HDL features like setting a compilation should be available.