rlsp-yaml

A YAML language server implementing the Language Server Protocol using tower-lsp and rlsp-yaml-parser for YAML parsing.

Installation

cargo install rlsp-yaml

Prebuilt binaries for Linux, macOS, and Windows are available on GitHub Releases.

Editor Setup

The server communicates over stdio using the LSP protocol. Point your editor's LSP client at the binary:

cargo build --release
# binary at target/release/rlsp-yaml

Neovim (nvim-lspconfig)

vim.lsp.start({
  name = "rlsp-yaml",
  cmd = { "/path/to/rlsp-yaml" },
  filetypes = { "yaml", "yml" },
  init_options = {
    customTags = { "!include", "!ref" },
    keyOrdering = false,
    kubernetesVersion = "master",
    schemaStore = true,
    formatValidation = true,
    schemas = {
      ["https://json.schemastore.org/github-workflow"] = ".github/workflows/*.yml",
    },
    formatPrintWidth = 80,
    formatSingleQuote = false,
    formatPreserveQuotes = false,
    httpProxy = "http://proxy.corp:8080",
  },
})

VS Code

A dedicated extension is available at integrations/vscode/. It bundles the compiled rlsp-yaml binary and configures itself automatically — no manual setup required. Platform-specific VSIX packages are built by CI and attached to each release.

Helix

Add to ~/.config/helix/languages.toml:

[language-server.rlsp-yaml]
command = "/path/to/rlsp-yaml"

[language-server.rlsp-yaml.config]
customTags = ["!include", "!ref"]
keyOrdering = false
kubernetesVersion = "master"
schemaStore = true
formatValidation = true
formatPrintWidth = 80
formatSingleQuote = false
formatPreserveQuotes = false
# httpProxy = "http://proxy.corp:8080"

[language-server.rlsp-yaml.config.schemas]
"https://json.schemastore.org/github-workflow" = ".github/workflows/*.yml"

[[language]]
name = "yaml"
language-servers = ["rlsp-yaml"]

Zed

A dedicated Zed extension is available in the Zed marketplace. Search for rlsp-yaml and install — no manual server configuration required.

Coexistence with other YAML language servers

If the Red Hat yaml-language-server (or another YAML LSP) is also installed, tell Zed to use rlsp-yaml and disable the other one:

{
  "languages": {
    "YAML": {
      "language_servers": ["rlsp-yaml", "!yaml-language-server"]
    }
  }
}

The leading ! disables a language server that would otherwise activate by default. List any other YAML LSP names you want to suppress the same way.

Alternative: manual LSP configuration

If you prefer to point Zed at a locally installed binary, add to Zed settings (~/.config/zed/settings.json or project .zed/settings.json):

{
  "lsp": {
    "rlsp-yaml": {
      "binary": {
        "path": "/path/to/rlsp-yaml"
      },
      "initialization_options": {
        "customTags": ["!include scalar", "!ref mapping"],
        "keyOrdering": false,
        "kubernetesVersion": "master",
        "schemaStore": true,
        "formatValidation": true,
        "formatPrintWidth": 80,
        "formatSingleQuote": false,
        "formatPreserveQuotes": false,
        "schemas": {
          "https://json.schemastore.org/github-workflow": ".github/workflows/*.yml"
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "languages": {
    "YAML": {
      "language_servers": ["rlsp-yaml"]
    }
  }
}

Features

Core editing support:

• Hover information (with schema-aware descriptions and formatted examples)
• Completion (structural + schema-driven, with snippet support)
• Document symbols (outline view)
• Folding ranges
• Selection ranges (AST-based expand/shrink)
• On-type formatting (auto-indent after colons and block scalars)
• Rename symbol (anchors/aliases)
• Go-to-definition and find references (anchors/aliases)
• Document links (URL detection + !include file paths)
• Code actions (flow/block conversion, tab fix, unused anchor delete, quoted bool, block scalar, YAML 1.1 value quoting/conversion)
• Code lens (schema title/URL at top of document)
• Semantic highlighting (keys, values, anchors, aliases, tags, comments)

Validation:

• YAML syntax errors
• Duplicate key detection
• Unused anchor warnings
• Flow style warnings
• Key ordering enforcement (opt-in)
• Custom tag validation (workspace settings + modeline)
• JSON Schema validation (required properties, type checking, enum constraints)
• YAML 1.1 compatibility diagnostics (warns when values like yes/no/0777 would be interpreted differently by 1.1 parsers; quick fixes to quote or convert; suppressed when yamlVersion: "1.1")

Schema support:

• Schema association via modeline (# yaml-language-server: $schema=<url>)
• Schema association via workspace settings (glob-based schemas mapping)
• Schema disable via $schema=none modeline
• HTTP schema fetching with caching and SSRF guards
• Deprecated property tagging in completions
• Multi-required snippet completion (inserts all missing required properties)
• Expected properties listed in diagnostic messages

Infrastructure:

• File watcher registration (reacts to external file changes)
• Workspace settings (customTags, keyOrdering, schemas)

Configuration

Settings are configured through three mechanisms: modelines (per-document comments), workspace settings (passed via initializationOptions or workspace/didChangeConfiguration), and built-in defaults.

See docs/configuration.md for the full reference — workspace settings, modelines, validators, formatting, and schema fetching details.

Architecture

Pure-function design: each feature module exports a function that takes text (and optionally parsed YAML or schema) and returns LSP types. The server layer (server.rs) handles document storage, schema caching, and delegates to these pure functions.

src/
├── main.rs              # Binary entry point
├── lib.rs               # Module declarations
├── server.rs            # LSP Backend + LanguageServer trait impl
├── parser.rs            # YAML parsing (rlsp-yaml-parser)
├── document_store.rs    # In-memory document cache
├── schema.rs            # JSON Schema types, fetching, caching
├── schema_validation.rs # Schema-driven diagnostics
├── validators.rs        # Non-schema diagnostics (anchors, flow, keys)
├── completion.rs        # Completion provider
├── hover.rs             # Hover provider
├── symbols.rs           # Document symbols
├── references.rs        # Go-to-definition + find references
├── rename.rs            # Rename symbol
├── folding.rs           # Folding ranges
├── selection.rs         # Selection ranges
├── code_actions.rs      # Code actions
├── code_lens.rs         # Code lens
├── document_links.rs    # Document links / URL detection
├── on_type_formatting.rs # On-type formatting
└── semantic_tokens.rs   # Semantic highlighting

Building

cargo build            # build
cargo test             # run all tests
cargo clippy           # lint (pedantic + nursery, zero warnings)
cargo fmt              # format

License

MIT — Christoph Dalski

AI Note

Every line of source in this crate was authored, reviewed, and committed by AI agents working through a multi-agent pipeline (planning, implementation, independent review, and test/security advisors for high-risk tasks). The human role is designing the architecture, rules, and review process; agents execute them. Conformance against the YAML Test Suite is a measured acceptance criterion — not an aspiration — and any change touching parser behaviour or untrusted input passes through formal test and security advisor review before being merged.