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Editor Setup

Arden does not yet ship a polished first-party editor extension, but you can still get a workable setup today.

The main thing is to separate what already exists from what is still manual:

  • the compiler exposes arden lsp
  • .arden files can be associated with an existing grammar as a stopgap
  • most of the productive workflow still comes from terminal commands such as arden check, arden fmt, and arden test

Current State

  • the compiler exposes arden lsp
  • basic syntax highlighting can be approximated with existing C-family or Rust grammars
  • .arden file association is usually enough to make editing much less painful

VS Code

Temporary file association:

{
  "files.associations": {
    "*.arden": "rust"
  }
}

This is only a stopgap, but it gives you:

  • comments
  • strings
  • braces / indentation support
  • basic code coloration

LSP

The CLI exposes:

arden lsp

If you are wiring your own editor integration or experimenting with an LSP client, that is the entrypoint to use.

Practical rule: make sure arden --help and arden run hello.arden work first. Editor integration is much easier once the compiler itself is confirmed working.

Useful Terminal Pairing

Right now the best editing experience usually comes from combining a basic editor setup with a nearby terminal:

arden check
arden fmt
arden test

That loop already covers most of what a contributor needs while editor support is still maturing.

Practical Recommendation

Right now the best experience is usually:

  1. file association for .arden
  2. external terminal running arden check, arden fmt, and arden test
  3. optional manual LSP integration if you want to experiment

If You Are Setting Up A Team Editor Workflow

Prefer the conservative setup first:

  • standardize on .arden file association
  • standardize on formatter/test/check terminal commands
  • treat custom LSP integration as optional until it is stable enough for everyone

That keeps the workflow reproducible even if editor-specific integration varies between machines.

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