Editors

Iris has a shared TextMate grammar and a JetBrains plugin. The language server supplies diagnostics and editing features beyond highlighting. Marketplace publication and a packaged VS Code extension are planned.

TextMate and VS Code

The grammar is the JSON file editors/textmate/iris.tmLanguage.json, with scope source.iris. It needs no generation or build step. An editor extension or highlighter can load it directly and associate it with .iris files; this site uses the same grammar.

It highlights comments, strings, numbers, types, keywords, names, operators, line-pattern captures and current-value references. TextMate examines one physical line at a time, so contextual names can retain keyword highlighting. Semantic tokens from the language server can correct these classifications.

The repository supplies the grammar, not an installable VS Code package; the extension that combines it with an LSP client is planned. For now, using it in an editor means configuring that editor’s grammar and language-server support yourself. Highlighting alone does not validate a reader spec; use the CLI to check it and read a sample. The grammar README describes its scope and tests.

JetBrains

The plugin registers the .iris file type and icon, loads the shared TextMate grammar, and starts iris lsp through the IntelliJ Platform LSP API. It targets IDE release lines 2025.3, 2026.1 and 2026.2 with the LSP module and bundled TextMate plugin: IntelliJ IDEA, CLion, PyCharm, RustRover and other compatible JetBrains IDEs. Android Studio and open-source IDEA builds lack the required LSP module. Rename needs 2026.1.1; range formatting needs 2026.1.

Build and install

In editors/jetbrains/, run:

./gradlew build verifyPlugin

The Gradle wrapper can run on Java 27 and resolves Java 21 for compilation and tests. Tests need a Unix shell and Python 3.10 or newer. The first build needs network access and several GiB for IDEs and caches.

Install build/distributions/iris-0.1.0-SNAPSHOT.zip through the IDE’s Settings → Plugins → Install Plugin from Disk action. Marketplace publication is planned. The plugin README describes compatibility checks and the sandbox IDE.

Select the server

Build iris. In Settings → Languages & Frameworks → Iris, set Executable path to the absolute path of that binary. Enter only the path, without quotes or arguments; the plugin adds lsp. An empty setting searches the IDE’s console PATH, then a previously downloaded release matching the plugin version and server host.

Applying a changed setting restarts the server. Use Find Action → Restart Iris Language Server to retry discovery. If no usable binary is found, Configure Iris opens the setting and the warning explains how to build the server.

The plugin can also download a matching server release and verify its checksum and version, but no release assets are published yet. Until they are, build the binary locally and point the setting at it.