Bash Language Server

Bash language server that brings an IDE-like experience for bash scripts to most editors. This is based on the Tree Sitter parser and supports explainshell and shellcheck.

Documentation around configuration variables can be found in the config.ts file.

Features

Jump to declaration
Find references
Code Outline & Show Symbols
Highlight occurrences
Code completion
Simple diagnostics reporting
Documentation for symbols on hover
Workspace symbols
Rename symbol

To be implemented:

Better jump to declaration and find references based on scope

Installation

Dependencies

As a dependency, we recommend that you first install shellcheck shellcheck to enable linting: https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck#installing . If shellcheck is installed, bash-language-server will automatically call it to provide linting and code analysis each time the file is updated (with debounce time or 500ms).

Bash language server

Usually you want to install a client for your editor (see the section below).

But if you want to install the server binary (for examples for editors, like helix, where a generic LSP client is built in), you can install from npm registry as:

npm i -g bash-language-server

Alternatively, bash-language-server may also be distributed directly by your Linux distro, for example on Fedora based distros:

dnf install -y nodejs-bash-language-server

Or on Ubuntu with snap:

sudo snap install bash-language-server --classic

To verify that everything is working:

bash-language-server --help

If you encounter installation errors, ensure you have node version 16 or newer (node --version).

Clients

The following editors and IDEs have available clients:

Atom (ide-bash)
Eclipse (ShellWax)
Emacs (see below)
Helix (built-in support)
JupyterLab (jupyterlab-lsp)
Neovim (see below)
Sublime Text (LSP-bash)
Vim (see below)
Visual Studio Code (Bash IDE)
Oni (see below)

Vim

For Vim 8 or later install the plugin prabirshrestha/vim-lsp and add the following configuration to .vimrc:

if executable('bash-language-server')
  au User lsp_setup call lsp#register_server({
        \ 'name': 'bash-language-server',
        \ 'cmd': {server_info->['bash-language-server', 'start']},
        \ 'allowlist': ['sh', 'bash'],
        \ })
endif

For Vim 8 or Neovim using YouCompleteMe, add the following to .vimrc:

let g:ycm_language_server =
            \ [
            \   {
            \       'name': 'bash',
            \       'cmdline': [ 'bash-language-server', 'start' ],
            \       'filetypes': [ 'sh' ],
            \   }
            \ ]

For Vim 8 or Neovim using neoclide/coc.nvim, according to it's Wiki article, add the following to your coc-settings.json:

  "languageserver": {
    "bash": {
      "command": "bash-language-server",
      "args": ["start"],
      "filetypes": ["sh"],
      "ignoredRootPaths": ["~"]
    }
  }

For Vim 8 or NeoVim using dense-analysis/ale add the following configuration to your .vimrc:

let g:ale_linters = {
    \ 'sh': ['language_server'],
    \ }

Neovim

For Neovim v0.8:

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd('FileType', {
  pattern = 'sh',
  callback = function()
    vim.lsp.start({
      name = 'bash-language-server',
      cmd = { 'bash-language-server', 'start' },
    })
  end,
})

For NeoVim using autozimu/LanguageClient-neovim, add the following configuration to init.vim:

let g:LanguageClient_serverCommands = {
    \ 'sh': ['bash-language-server', 'start']
    \ }

For Vim8/NeoVim v0.5 using jayli/vim-easycomplete. Execute :InstallLspServer sh and config nothing. Maybe it's the easiest way to use bash-language-server in vim/nvim.

Oni

On the config file (File -> Preferences -> Edit Oni config) add the following configuration:

"language.bash.languageServer.command": "bash-language-server",
"language.bash.languageServer.arguments": ["start"],

Emacs

Lsp-mode has a built-in client, can be installed by use-package. Add the configuration to your .emacs.d/init.el

(use-package lsp-mode
  :commands lsp
  :hook
  (sh-mode . lsp))

Logging

The minimum logging level for the server can be adjusted using the BASH_IDE_LOG_LEVEL environment variable and through the general workspace configuration.