How to use pico8-ls with neovim?

[miguno]

Any pointers how to install pico8-ls for non-vscode setups?

[japhib]

Support for neovim (any editors aside from vscode, really) still needs to be built out. Contributions are welcome! I haven't made an LSP extension for neovim before, but these look like some good starting resources:
https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig
https://neovim.io/doc/user/lsp.html

[japhib]

It looks like if you use this: https://github.com/autozimu/LanguageClient-neovim

it might be as simple as adding a new language-server config (see readme for that file). I'm guessing you'd just want to build the Typescript files under server/ in this repo into Javascript (see scripts in server/package.json), and then you could just use Node to run server.js.

[musjj]

This seems to work for me:

git clone https://github.com/japhib/pico8-ls
cd pico8-ls
npm install
cd server
npm run compile
echo -e '#!/usr/bin/env bash\n'"node $PWD/out/server.js" '"$@"' > ~/bin/pico8-ls # or any other folder in your $PATH

I might submit it to mason later on to make it easier to install for neovim users.

[chandrahmuki]

for me i have some errors when i try to launch the server : PICO-8 Language Server starting.
/Users/davidbachman/pico8-ls/server/node_modules/vscode-languageserver/lib/node/main.js:185
throw new Error('Connection input stream is not set. ' + commandLineMessage);
^

Error: Connection input stream is not set. Use arguments of createConnection or set command line parameters: '--node-ipc', '--stdio' or '--socket={number}'
at _createConnection (/Users/davidbachman/pico8-ls/server/node_modules/vscode-languageserver/lib/node/main.js:185:15)
at createConnection (/Users/davidbachman/pico8-ls/server/node_modules/vscode-languageserver/lib/node/main.js:132:12)
at Object. (/Users/davidbachman/pico8-ls/server/out/server.js:41:48)
at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1149:14)
at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1203:10)
at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1027:32)
at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:868:12)
at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:81:12)
at node:internal/main/run_main_module:23:47

Node.js v18.10.0

Update: i started with --stdio seems to have launched without the error but then no idea what to do to make it work in neovim ? thanks for any help

[japhib]

So, that only gets you the language server part. The other half is getting a language-server client. The thing I linked to above, https://github.com/autozimu/LanguageClient-neovim, provides the client. I think you have to install that as a plugin though.

Anyways, the thing about --stdio or --socket={number}, what you want to do is dependent on the language server client. Looking through the readme for https://github.com/autozimu/LanguageClient-neovim, the examples shown there invoke the respective language server with stdio.

[chandrahmuki]

This seems to work for me:

git clone https://github.com/japhib/pico8-ls
cd pico8-ls
npm install
cd server
npm run compile
echo -e '#!/usr/bin/env bash\n'"node $PWD/out/server.js" '"$@"' > ~/bin/pico8-ls # or any other folder in your $PATH

I might submit it to mason later on to make it easier to install for neovim users.

could you please share your configuration for the client side ? and what you are using ? it could be nice to submit that to mason as well like you mentioned it if you have any time to do so.
Cheers !

[kikito]

Here's my attempt at adding support for this LSP in mason: mason-org/mason-registry#2365

I could not find a way to add a "client" there - I am not sure that is needed.

[kikito]

The mason PR above was merged

[kikito]

Despite the above being merged, I was not able to make pico-ls work in any fashion. I am not knowledgeable enough about LSPs to know what is wrong. I see no difference at all when I open a p8 file, independently of whether I have the mason plugin enabled or not.

[musjj]

I don't use this LSP anymore, but if you're using neovim you don't need a plugin because it has a built-in LSP client.

A simple setup could look like this (untested):

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("FileType", {
  pattern = "pico8", -- or whatever filetype you have for *.p8 files
  callback = function(args)
    -- For now, the root directory is set to the directory of your *.p8 file.
    -- If you want a more complex root matching behavior, see `:help vim.fs.find()`
    local path = vim.fs.dirname(vim.api.nvim_buf_get_name(args.buf))
    vim.lsp.start {
      name = "pico8-ls",
      cmd = { "pico8-ls", "--stdio" }, -- you might need to tweak this
      root_dir = path,
    }
  end,
})

Most users however, would use the nvim-lspconfig plugin because it's more convenient. Unfortunately, there is no configuration for pico8-ls yet. You can look at lua/lspconfig/server_configurations if you want to contribute.

[JacobVanzella]

The following configuration gets the server up and running for me (more options at :h lsp), however, without syntax highlighting. I've spent sometime trying to get syntax highlighting to work to no avail. But this will get the server attached auto-completing for you though.

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd({'BufNew', 'BufEnter'}, {
    pattern = { '*.p8' },
    callback = function(args)
        vim.lsp.start({
            name = 'pico8-ls',
            cmd = { 'pico8-ls', '--stdio' },
            root_dir = vim.fs.dirname(vim.api.nvim_buf_get_name(args.buf)),
            -- Setup your keybinds in the on_attach function
            on_attach = on_attach,
        })
    end
})

[musjj]

For syntax highlighter there's https://github.com/Bakudankun/PICO-8.vim, but it's very bare-bones.

If you want richer syntax highlighting, you can try using tree-sitter's lua parser for *.p8 files by doing vim.treesitter.language.register("lua", "pico8"). But since pico-8's syntax isn't 100% compatible with lua, you might get some incorrect highlighting.

Btw, you can set a filetype for *.p8 files by adding vim.filetype.add { extension = { p8 = "pico8" } } to your config.

[JacobVanzella]

Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated.

[Bcarpenter5]

quick guide

for those who are like me and looking to get neovim working properly with pico8-ls

• first install pico8-ls with mason,
• then place the following code into your lua.init file

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd({'BufNew', 'BufEnter'}, {
    pattern = { '*.p8' },
    callback = function(args)
        vim.lsp.start({
            name = 'pico8-ls',
            cmd = { 'pico8-ls', '--stdio' },
            root_dir = vim.fs.dirname(vim.api.nvim_buf_get_name(args.buf)),
            -- Setup your keybinds in the on_attach function
            on_attach = on_attach,
        })
    end
})

code block from @JacobVanzella

for highlighting, I use the pico8.vim plugin but as @musjj said it is "very bare bones"

should work from that point on