Editor support

Ecko ships a language server inside the one binary (ecko lsp). Editors that speak LSP get live diagnostics, completion, hover, go-to-definition, and document symbols. VS Code (and Cursor) also get a first-party extension with highlighting and snippets.

Install the binary first: Download.

VS Code and Cursor

The Ecko Language extension packages the TextMate grammar, snippets, and a language client that launches ecko lsp. It is one extension, published to two registries because VS Code and its forks install from different places.

The identifier is the same on both, and so is the build.

From the Visual Studio Marketplace

Search for Ecko Language in the Extensions view, open the Marketplace listing, or install from a terminal:

code --install-extension ecko.vscode-ecko

From Open VSX

Cursor and the other VS Code forks cannot install from the Microsoft Marketplace, so the extension is published to Open VSX as well. Searching the Extensions view works the same way, because that is the registry those editors already point at.

cursor --install-extension ecko.vscode-ecko

If your editor has no CLI, download the .vsix from the Open VSX listing and use Extensions: Install from VSIX... from the command palette.

Reload the window after installing, either way (Developer: Reload Window).

Requirements

ecko must be on your PATH. If it lives elsewhere, set ecko.server.path in settings to the full path. Without the binary, highlighting and snippets still work; smart editing waits until the server is available.

Building from source

You only need this for a change that has not been released yet. Package it from the editors repo:

git clone https://github.com/ecko-lang/editors
cd editors/vscode-ecko
npm install
npx @vscode/vsce package
code --install-extension vscode-ecko-*.vsix

Substitute cursor for code on a fork.

Zed

Zed has no separate Ecko plugin - point it at the binary.

Add to your Zed settings (settings.json):

{
  "lsp": {
    "ecko": {
      "binary": {
        "path": "ecko",
        "arguments": ["lsp"]
      }
    }
  },
  "languages": {
    "Ecko": {
      "language_servers": ["ecko"]
    }
  }
}

Open a .ecko file and confirm the language server attaches in the status bar. Syntax highlighting in Zed improves when a community grammar lands; diagnostics and completion do not wait on that.

JetBrains IDEs

IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, PyCharm, GoLand, CLion, Rider and the rest of the family have a first-party plugin, including the free Community editions.

The plugin

Install Ecko from the plugin marketplace, or build it from ecko-lang/editors's jetbrains-ecko and install the zip through Settings → Plugins → the gear icon → Install Plugin from Disk....

It gives you syntax highlighting from the same grammar the VS Code extension uses, plus diagnostics, completion, hover, go-to-definition and symbols through ecko lsp.

The IDE will offer to install LSP4IJ alongside it. That is deliberate: the JetBrains platform's own LSP API ships only in the paid IDEs, and going through LSP4IJ means Community users get the same features.

Without the plugin

Any IntelliJ-based IDE can run the server directly. Install LSP4IJ, add a server with command ecko and argument lsp, and associate it with *.ecko files.

ecko must be on your PATH, or use an absolute path to the binary.