Editor support

Install the extension

Install a supported editor and make its command line launcher available on PATH first. On macOS, Visual Studio Code provides Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH in its command palette; open a new terminal afterward. Installing the application alone does not make its launcher available.

The Wax toolchain includes its editor extension. Install it into every supported editor found on PATH:

wax vscode

Wax checks for Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium, and Visual Studio Code Insiders. To install into one editor only, name its command.

wax vscode --editor cursor

Open the project folder, not a loose .wax file. If the editor asks whether you trust the folder, trust your own project to enable the extension. In Restricted Mode, open Workspaces: Manage Workspace Trust from the command palette.

The extension starts the language server for the first local workspace folder and shows its version in the status bar. Diagnostics, completion, hover, navigation, rename, formatting, and semantic highlighting are then available across the project. Standard library definitions open as read only source.

If the server does not start

Open the editor command palette and run Wax: Open Server Log. Use Wax: Restart Language Server after changing the toolchain or project files.

The extension normally finds wax in ~/.wax/bin or on PATH and starts wax lsp. If Wax is installed elsewhere, add its bin directory to PATH. Set wax.trace.server to messages or verbose when the server log alone is not enough.

Other editors

An editor with its own Language Server Protocol client should start this command with the project folder as its workspace root:

wax lsp

The transport is standard input and output. The command waits for protocol messages, so it does not open an interactive prompt.