SuperCollider Extension for Zed

Early Release - This extension is under active development. Core features work well, but expect some rough edges. Feedback welcome!

Zed extension for SuperCollider with LSP support and HTTP-based code evaluation.

Features

• Language Server Protocol: Go-to-definition, find references, hover documentation, completions
• Code Evaluation: Play buttons, keyboard shortcuts, and CodeActions menu
• Server Control: Boot, stop, recompile, quit via tasks or CodeActions
• Syntax Highlighting: Tree-sitter grammar with SuperCollider-specific queries

Prerequisites

• macOS only (Windows/Linux not yet supported)
• SuperCollider installed (download)
• Zed editor (download)
• Rust via rustup
  • Homebrew Rust won't work — Zed compiles extensions to WebAssembly, which requires the wasm32-wasip1 target that only rustup can easily provide
• just command runner (brew install just)
• emscripten for grammar compilation (brew install emscripten)
• tree-sitter-cli (npm install -g tree-sitter-cli or cargo install tree-sitter-cli)

Installation

This extension isn't in the Zed extension gallery yet, so you'll build it from source.

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/flowerornament/zed-supercollider.git
cd zed-supercollider

2. Build everything

just build

This compiles the tree-sitter grammar, builds the launcher binary, builds the extension WASM, and runs tests. It will automatically install the wasm32-wasip1 Rust target if needed.

3. Load the extension in Zed

1. Open Zed
2. Open the command palette (Cmd+Shift+P)
3. Run zed: install dev extension
4. Select the zed-supercollider directory

The extension will compile and load. You'll see "SuperCollider" in your extensions list.

4. Configure Zed settings

Open Zed settings (Cmd+,) and add:

{
  "lsp": {
    "supercollider": {
      "binary": {
        "path": "/absolute/path/to/zed-supercollider/server/launcher/target/release/sc_launcher",
        "arguments": ["--mode", "lsp", "--http-port", "57130"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace /absolute/path/to/zed-supercollider with your actual clone location.

5. Verify installation

1. Open any .sc or .scd file in the cloned repo (e.g., examples/ if present, or create a test file)
2. Run SC: Check Setup from tasks (Cmd+Shift+R → search "check")
3. You should see a play button (▶) appear on parenthesized blocks like (1 + 1)

Usage

Working from the repo

Important: Work on SuperCollider files from within the cloned zed-supercollider directory. The tasks and keymaps are already configured there.

To use SuperCollider in other projects, copy .zed/tasks.json and optionally .zed/keymap.json to that project's .zed/ folder. The LSP settings (with the absolute path to sc_launcher) are in your global Zed config, so they'll work anywhere.

Post Window

SuperCollider output (print statements, errors, server messages) goes to the Post Window. Open it with:

• Task: SC: Post Window (runs tail -f on the log file)
• Or directly: tail -f /tmp/sclang_post.log

Tasks menu

Most SuperCollider commands are available in the tasks menu:

• Cmd+Shift+R (or Cmd+Shift+P → "task: spawn")

This is separate from the CodeActions menu (Cmd+.), which shows context-sensitive actions for the code under your cursor.

Code evaluation

Multiple ways to evaluate code:

Method	How
Play button	Click ▶ on parenthesized blocks (...)
Keyboard	Cmd+Return or Shift+Return (SC IDE style)
Tasks menu	Cmd+Shift+R → SC: Evaluate Selection/Line/Block
CodeActions	Cmd+. → SC: Evaluate Selection/Line/Block

Play buttons appear on parenthesized code blocks detected by the tree-sitter grammar.

Server control

Available via tasks (Cmd+Shift+R) or CodeActions (Cmd+.):

• SC: Boot Server - Start the audio server
• SC: Stop (CmdPeriod) - Stop all sounds
• SC: Recompile - Recompile the class library
• SC: Quit Server - Quit the audio server
• SC: Post Window - View output log
• SC: Check Setup - Diagnose configuration issues

CodeActions menu

Press Cmd+. (or right-click) for context-sensitive actions:

• Evaluate Selection/Line/Block
• Server control (Boot, Stop, Recompile, Quit)
• Help for the class under cursor

Key bindings

Three keymap files are provided in .zed/. Copy your preferred one to ~/.config/zed/keymap.json.

SC IDE Style (.zed/keymap.json)

Best for users coming from SuperCollider IDE. Matches SC IDE defaults.

Function	Shortcut
Evaluate	Cmd+Return, Shift+Return
Stop	Cmd+.
Boot Server	Cmd+B
Recompile	Cmd+K
Help	Cmd+D

Note: Overrides some Zed defaults (Cmd+., Cmd+D, Cmd+B).

Zed-Native (.zed/keymap-zed-native.json) — Recommended

Uses Ctrl prefix to avoid ALL conflicts with Zed defaults. Best for users who want SC alongside normal Zed shortcuts.

Function	Shortcut
Evaluate	Ctrl+Return
Stop	Ctrl+.
Boot Server	Ctrl+B
Quit Server	Ctrl+Q
Recompile	Ctrl+R
Help	Ctrl+H

VS Code Compatible (.zed/keymap-vscode-compatible.json)

Uses Cmd+Shift prefix to avoid conflicts with standard editor shortcuts.

Function	Shortcut
Evaluate	Cmd+Shift+Return
Stop	Escape
Boot Server	Cmd+Shift+B
Quit Server	Cmd+Shift+Q
Recompile	Cmd+Shift+R
Help	Cmd+Shift+D

LSP features

• Hover over symbols for documentation
• Go to Definition (Cmd+Click or F12)
• Find References (Shift+F12)
• Completions as you type

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
SC_HTTP_PORT	HTTP port for eval/control	57130
SC_TMP_DIR	Log file directory	$TMPDIR or /tmp
RUST_LOG	Log level (e.g. sc_launcher=debug)	sc_launcher=info

Troubleshooting

Run the setup checker

scripts/check-setup.sh

This validates your configuration and shows diagnostic info.

Validate extension config

scripts/validate-config.sh

Common issues

• Extension won't compile: Ensure Rust is installed via rustup, not Homebrew. Zed needs the wasm32-wasip1 target.
• LSP not starting: Check that the launcher path in Zed settings is correct and absolute.
• Play buttons appear but don't work: The tasks aren't loaded. Make sure you're working from the cloned repo, or copy .zed/tasks.json to your project.
• No output visible: Open the Post Window (SC: Post Window task) to see SuperCollider output.

Check logs

Post window output:

tail -f /tmp/sclang_post.log

Test the HTTP API

curl -X POST -d "1 + 1" http://127.0.0.1:57130/eval
curl http://127.0.0.1:57130/health

Future

Distribution will simplify — the goal is direct installation from Zed's extension gallery without building from source.

Contributing

Developer documentation lives in .agents/ (start with .agents/architecture.md).

License

MIT