Installation

Install ZLS

Note If you only intend to use Visual Studio Code, you don't need to install ZLS or Zig manually

Prebuilt Binaries

Latest nightly

NOTE: The zls master is only compatible with the Zig master. Do not use it with tagged release of Zig and always update Zig and ZLS together.

LINUX: Zls is not executable by default, but that is needed to be functional. Run chmod +x zls to make zls executable.

	x86-64	x86	AArch64
Linux	x86-64 Linux	x86 Linux	AArch64 Linux
Windows	x86-64 Windows	x86 Windows	-
MacOS	x86 MacOS	-	AArch64 Macos

A JSON Index of all recent ZLS versions is also available.

Release

NOTE: A tagged release of zls is only compatible with the same release of Zig.

Head to the Releases tab and select the right executable in the Assets section at the bottom of the latest release.

tar  -x --strip-components=1 -f [archive] [output_path]

From Source

Building zls requires a build of Zig master. The master branch cannot be build with a tagged release of Zig.

git clone https://github.com/zigtools/zls
cd zls
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseSafe

Install Editor Extension

Most extensions expect you to either manually specify the path to ZLS or add ZLS to your PATH

Visual Studio Code

Note You don't need to install ZLS or Zig manually

Using ZLS in Visual Studio Code is as simple as installing the official Zig Language extension (open in VSCode).

Sublime Text

1. install the LSP and sublime-zig-language package (Package Control Usage)
2. place the following snippet in the LSP.sublime-settings (Preferences -> Package Settings -> LSP -> Settings)
3. place the following snippet in the Zig.sublime-settings (Preferences -> Package Settings -> Zig -> Settings)

// Zig.sublime-settings
{
    // ZLS will run format on save
    "zig.fmt.on_save": false,
    // automatically hide the build/fmt output panel 
    "zig.quiet": true,
}

Sublime Text 4

// LSP.sublime-settings
{
    // General settings
    // Keep in mind that these settings apply to any language and not just Zig.

    // ZLS uses `zig fmt` as the formatter.
    // The Zig FAQ answers some questions about `zig fmt`:
    // https://github.com/ziglang/zig/wiki/FAQ
    "lsp_format_on_save": true,
    "lsp_code_actions_on_save": {
      // Enable code actions that currently supports adding and removing discards.
      "source.fixAll": true,
    },
    // Show inlay hints in the editor. Inlay hints are short annotations within the code,
    // which show variable types or parameter names.
    //
    // ZLS provides settings to customize inlay hints:
    // https://github.com/zigtools/zls#configuration-options
    "show_inlay_hints": true,
    "semantic_highlighting": true,

    "clients": {
        "zig": {
            // Enable or disable this client configuration.
            "enabled": true,
            // The command line required to run the server.
            "command": ["/path/to/zls_executable"],
            "selector": "source.zig",
            // There are two ways to set config options:
            //   - edit your `zls.json` that applies to any editor that uses ZLS
            //   - set in-editor config options with the `settings` field below.
            //
            // Further information on ZLS config options:
            // https://github.com/zigtools/zls#configuration-options
            "settings": {
                // // Whether to enable build-on-save diagnostics
                // "enable_build_on_save": true,
                // // Manually specify the Zig executable path if it isn't already in your `PATH`
                // "zig_exe_path": "/path/to/zig_executable"
            }
        }
    }
}

Sublime Text 3

// LSP.sublime-settings
{
    "clients": {
        "zig": {
            "command": ["/path/to/zls_executable"],
            "enabled": true,
            "languageId": "zig",
            "scopes": ["source.zig"],
            "syntaxes": ["Packages/Zig Language/Syntaxes/Zig.tmLanguage"]
        }
    }
}

Neovim / Vim8

CoC

With Extension

Run :CocInstall coc-zls to install coc-zls. This extension supports the same functionality as the VS Code extension.

Manually

{
    "languageserver": {
        "zls" : {
            "command": "/path/to/zls_executable",
            "filetypes": ["zig"]
        }
    }
}

YouCompleteMe

• Install YouCompleteMe from here.
• Add these lines to your vimrc:

"ensure zig is a recognized filetype
autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.zig set filetype=zig
let g:ycm_language_server =
    \\ [
    \\{
    \\     'name': 'zls',
    \\     'filetypes': [ 'zig' ],
    \\     'cmdline': [ '/path/to/zls_executable' ]
    \\    }
    \\ ]

nvim-lspconfig

Requires Nvim 0.5 (HEAD)!

• Install nvim-lspconfig from here.
• Install zig.vim from here.

nvim-lspconfig already ships a configuration for zls. A simple init.vim might look like this:

call plug#begin('~/.config/nvim/plugged')
Plug 'neovim/nvim-lspconfig'
Plug 'nvim-lua/completion-nvim'
Plug 'ziglang/zig.vim'
call plug#end()
:lua << EOF
    local lspconfig = require('lspconfig')
    local on_attach = function(_, bufnr)
        vim.api.nvim_buf_set_option(bufnr, 'omnifunc', 'v:lua.vim.lsp.omnifunc')
        require('completion').on_attach()
    end
    local servers = {'zls'}
    for _, lsp in ipairs(servers) do
        lspconfig[lsp].setup {
            on_attach = on_attach,
        }
    end
EOF
" Set completeopt to have a better completion experience
set completeopt=menuone,noinsert,noselect
" Enable completions as you type
let g:completion_enable_auto_popup = 1

LanguageClient-neovim

• Install the LanguageClient-neovim from here.
• Edit your neovim configuration and add zls for zig filetypes:

let g:LanguageClient_serverCommands = {
        \\ 'zig': ['/path/to/zls_executable'],
        \\ }

Kate

Kate has builtin support for Zig and automatically asks you to enable ZLS if if is found in your $PATH.

You can enable some LSP related settings like "Inlay Hints" or "Format on Save" under Settings -> LSP Client -> Client Settings

If you wish to manually specify the path to the ZLS executable, open Settings -> LSP Client -> User Server Settings and add the following snippet:

{
    "servers": {
        "zig": {
            "command": ["/path/to/zls_executable"],
            "url": "https://github.com/zigtools/zls",
            "highlightingModeRegex": "^Zig$"
        }
    }
}

Emacs

• Install lsp-mode from melpa.
• zig mode is also useful.

;; Setup lsp-mode as desired.
;; See https://emacs-lsp.github.io/lsp-mode/page/installation/ for more information.
(require 'lsp-mode)
;; Either place zls in your PATH or add the following:
(setq lsp-zig-zls-executable "/path/to/zls_executable")

Doom Emacs

• Enable :tools lsp module.
• Enable :lang (zig +lsp) module.
• Run doom sync in a terminal.

Spacemacs

• Add lsp and zig to dotspacemacs-configuration-layers in your .spacemacs file.
• If you don't have zls in your PATH, add the following to dotspacemacs/user-config in your .spacemacs file:

(setq lsp-zig-zls-executable "/path/to/zls_executable")

Helix

Add zls to your PATH or manually specify the path in <config_dir>/helix/languages.toml with the following:

[language-server.zls]
command = "/path/to/zls_executable"

Further information on languages.toml files

Then run hx --health to check if helix found zls.