Language Server Protocol

The Language Server Protocol (LSP) is an open, JSON-RPC-based protocol for use between source-code editors or integrated development environments (IDEs) and servers that provide "language intelligence tools": programming language-specific features like code completion, syntax highlighting and marking of warnings and errors, as well as refactoring routines. The goal of the protocol is to allow programming language support to be implemented and distributed independently of any given editor or IDE. In the early 2020s, LSP quickly became a "norm" for language intelligence tools providers. In LSP, the editor or IDE acts as a client and communicates with a language server that analyzes code and provides language specific functionality. The client notifies the server about actions, including opening/modifying files. It can additionally request operations such as code completion, navigation, formatting, and refactoring. The server then returns the requested information or edits. This separation lets a single language server provide language support to multiple editors rather than requiring each editor to implement its own language specific tooling. LSP was originally developed for Microsoft Visual Studio Code, and in 2016 Microsoft, Red Hat, and Codenvy announced a collaboration to standardize the specification. It is not limited to programming languages and can be used with other text based languages including domain-specific languages.