Language Server

Documentation for Roughly's R language server

Roughly provides a full Language Server Protocol (LSP) implementation for R that integrates with modern code editors.

Usage

The easiest way to use Roughly is through its VS Code extension.

If you want to integrate Roughly with another editor that supports the Language Server Protocol (LSP), you can start the language server directly:

roughly server

Download the latest roughly.vsix from GitHub Releases
Install the extension in VS Code:
Terminal window
```
code --install-extension roughly.vsix
```
Configure the extension by setting the path to the Roughly binary in settings.json:
```
{
  "roughly.path": "/path/to/roughly"
}
```

If you prefer to build the extension yourself:

# From the repository root
bun run package
code --install-extension roughly.vsix

Roughly’s VS Code extension provides several commands to manage the language server:

Start Language Server: Manually start the language server if it’s not running
Stop Language Server: Manually stop the language server
Restart Language Server: Restart the language server (useful after configuration changes)
Open Logs: View the language server logs for troubleshooting
Status Bar Integration: Shows the current status of the language server and allows quick access to commands by clicking on the status indicator

Based on the LSP implementation in lsp.rs, Roughly’s language server provides:

Diagnostics: Real-time error and warning detection as you type
Formatting: Code formatting through the editor’s format command
Document Symbols: Navigate to functions, classes, and variables in the current file

Completion:
- Code completion for workspace symbols
- Keywords and reserved words (if, else, function, etc.)
- Special values (TRUE, FALSE, NULL, NA, etc.)
- Trigger characters: $, @ (for accessing object fields)

The language server uses the same configuration as the formatter and linter via roughly.toml:

case = "snake_case" # or camelCase
spaces = 2

Future language server improvements will include:

While Roughly is designed as a standard LSP implementation that should work with any editor supporting LSP:

VS Code: Full support via dedicated extension
Other Editors: May be configured to use Roughly’s LSP implementation directly