Wolfram System Integration with Visual Studio Code

Official Visual Studio Code extension for Wolfram Language

Developing Wolfram Language Code in Other Editors and IDEs with LSP from WTC 2021: Watch Video (youtube)

Features

• Syntax Highlighting
• Diagnostics and suggestions for fixes
• Formatting files and selections
• Semantic highlighting
• Expand and shrink selection
• Outline
• Color swatches
• Symbol references
• Documentation on hover
• New menu items (Open in System Editor)

Syntax Highlighting

Support for the entire Wolfram Language syntax and all built-in functions.

Setup

Install the Wolfram Language extension from the Visual Studio Code Marketplace.

The extension must be installed from Wolfram Research.

LSP functionality uses a Wolfram kernel to run as a language server.

This requires Wolfram System 12.1 or higher.

The Wolfram Language extension depends on LSPServer paclet to provide LSP functionality.

Install LSPServer paclet and its dependencies by running this Wolfram Language code:

PacletInstall["CodeParser"]
PacletInstall["CodeInspector"]
PacletInstall["CodeFormatter"]
PacletInstall["LSPServer"]

If properly setup, you should have syntax highlighting and linting of Wolfram Language .wl files.

Test this by typing this into a new .wl file and saving it:

Which[a, b, a, b]

You should see warnings about duplicate clauses.

Settings

If you have Wolfram System installed in the default location on your system, you may not have to change any settings.

If Wolfram System is not in the default location, then specify the actual location:

Open the Command Palette

Enter the command: Preferences: Configure Language Specific Settings...

Select Wolfram

A settings.json file is now open.

Add a wolfram.kernel setting:

{
  …

  "wolfram.kernel": "/Applications/Mathematica.app/Contents/MacOS/WolframKernel"

  …
}

You may also change the command that is used to start the server:

{
  …

  "wolfram.command": [
      "`kernel`",
      "-noinit",
      "-noprompt",
      "-nopaclet",
      "-noicon",
      "-nostartuppaclets",
      "-run",
      "Needs[\"LSPServer`\"];LSPServer`StartServer[]"
  ]

  …
}

You may disable Wolfram language server by specifying:

"wolfram.lsp_server_enabled": false,

Other Settings

It is convenient to remove $ from word separators, which is a letterlike character in WL.

"editor.wordSeparators": "`~!@#%^&*()-=+[{]}\\|;:'\",.<>/?",

A color theme that focuses on WL syntax is available.

"workbench.colorTheme": "BrentonWL",

Experimental Settings

You can enable experimental settings. These are not supported.

implicitTokens controls the display of implicit tokens.

{
  …

  "wolfram.implicitTokens": ["*", ",", ";;", "?"]
  …
}

• "*": display implicit Times character ×
• ",": display Null around stray commas
• ;;: display 1 and All around ;;
• ;: display Null after ;
• ?: display □ in place of missing arguments

semanticTokens controls semantic highlighting such as Module variables.

{
  …

  "wolfram.semanticTokens": true
  …
}

To use semantic tokens, a theme that has semantic highlighting enabled must be used, such as BrentonWL.

Troubleshooting

Make sure that the paclets can be found on your system:

PacletInstall["CodeParser"]
PacletInstall["CodeInspector"]
PacletInstall["CodeFormatter"]
PacletInstall["LSPServer"]

Needs["LSPServer`"]

If the kernel cannot start, then check Output view and open the Wolfram Language Error Report output channel for more information.