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)

show Zig.sublime-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

show LSP.sublime-settings

// 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

show LSP.sublime-settings

// 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

The following two configs only contain the necessary ZLS specific configuration. Please refer to nvim-lspconfig on how to setup everything else like keybindings or autocompletion.

Install vim-plug plugin manager from here.

init.lua with vim-plug

show config

local vim = vim
local Plug = vim.fn['plug#']

vim.call('plug#begin')
Plug('neovim/nvim-lspconfig') -- https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig
Plug('ziglang/zig.vim') -- https://github.com/ziglang/zig.vim
vim.call('plug#end')

local lspconfig = require('lspconfig')
lspconfig.zls.setup {
  -- Server-specific settings. See `:help lspconfig-setup`

  -- the following line can be removed if ZLS is in your PATH
  cmd = { '/path/to/zls_executable' },
  -- 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 = {
    zls = {
      -- the following line can be removed if Zig is in your PATH
      zig_exe_path = '/path/to/zig_executable',
    }
  }
}

init.vim with vim-plug

show config

call plug#begin('~/.config/nvim/plugged')
Plug 'neovim/nvim-lspconfig' " https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig
Plug 'ziglang/zig.vim' " https://github.com/ziglang/zig.vim
call plug#end()

:lua << EOF
  local lspconfig = require('lspconfig')
  lspconfig.zls.setup {
    -- Server-specific settings. See `:help lspconfig-setup`

    -- the following line can be removed if ZLS is in your PATH
    cmd = { '/path/to/zls_executable' },
    -- 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 = {
      zls = {
        -- the following line can be removed if Zig is in your PATH
        zig_exe_path = '/path/to/zig_executable',
      }
    }
  }
EOF

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.

CLion / other JetBrains IDEs

• Install the ZigBrains plugin from the marketplace
• Restart the IDE (necessary for the plugin to integrate itself correctly)

If you have both zig and zls on $PATH, then the plugin will automatically detect both.

If not, go to Settings | Languages & Frameworks, and you can manually select the directory where the zig binary is under the Zig category, and the binary for zls under the ZLS category.

If everything is set up correctly, the status indicator in the bottom right corner should turn to green when you open a .zig file in the editor.