LSP Management Skill Skill

LSP Management Skill

🚨 MANDATORY: Invoke docs-management First

STOP - Before providing ANY response about LSP configuration:

INVOKE docs-management skill for Claude Code LSP documentation

QUERY for the user's specific LSP topic

BASE all responses on official documentation + this skill's knowledge base

Skipping this step results in outdated or incorrect information.

⚠️ EXPERIMENTAL: Claude Code LSP Status

LSP support in Claude Code is experimental and has known issues. Key points:

| Requirement | Details | |-------------|---------| | Environment Variable | ENABLE_LSP_TOOL=1 (singular) required to expose LSP tool | | Current Version | v2.1.0+ has partial support (regression #17468) | | Stable Version | v2.0.67 is last known stable LSP version | | Configuration | .lsp.json at project root or lspServers in plugin.json |

See troubleshooting.md for version-specific issues and workarounds.

Overview

Central authority for Language Server Protocol (LSP) configuration in Claude Code. This skill provides:

LSP server recommendations by language/technology
Configuration patterns for .lsp.json files
Installation guides for each recommended server
Troubleshooting for common LSP issues

Architecture: Keyword registry + curated knowledge base. Delegates to docs-management for official Claude Code LSP documentation.

When to Use This Skill

Keywords: LSP, language server, language-server-protocol, code intelligence, hover, go-to-definition, find-references, diagnostics, pyright, typescript-language-server, gopls, rust-analyzer, csharp-ls, .lsp.json, LSP configuration, LSP setup, LSP troubleshooting

Use this skill when:

Setting up LSP servers for a project
Choosing between LSP server options for a language
Configuring .lsp.json files
Troubleshooting LSP issues (hover not working, diagnostics missing, etc.)
Understanding LSP server installation requirements
Auto-detecting needed LSPs based on project file types

Keyword Registry for docs-management Queries

Use these keywords when querying docs-management skill for official documentation:

Core Concepts

| Topic | Keywords | | --- | --- | | LSP Overview | "LSP", "language server protocol", "code intelligence" | | Configuration File | ".lsp.json", "LSP configuration", "language server config" | | Features | "hover", "go-to-definition", "find-references", "diagnostics", "document symbols" |

Server-Specific

| Topic | Keywords | | --- | --- | | Python | "pyright", "pylsp", "python language server" | | TypeScript/JavaScript | "typescript-language-server", "vtsls", "tsserver" | | Go | "gopls", "go language server" | | Rust | "rust-analyzer", "rust language server" | | C# | "csharp-ls", "OmniSharp", "C# language server" | | C/C++ | "clangd", "ccls", "C++ language server" |

Troubleshooting

| Topic | Keywords | | --- | --- | | Server Issues | "LSP not working", "language server crash", "LSP restart" | | Feature Issues | "hover not working", "diagnostics missing", "go-to-definition failing" | | Configuration Issues | "LSP config invalid", ".lsp.json error", "extension mapping" |

Quick Decision Tree

What do you need?

Set up LSP for a new project → See server-database.md for recommended servers
Configure .lsp.json → See configuration-patterns.md for patterns
Install a specific LSP server → See installation-guide.md for per-server commands
Fix LSP issues → See troubleshooting.md for common problems
Understand Claude Code LSP support → Query docs-management: "LSP configuration Claude Code"

LSP Server Recommendations (Quick Reference)

| Language | Recommended Server | Why | | --- | --- | --- | | Python | Pyright | Fast, accurate type checking, broad ecosystem support | | TypeScript/JavaScript | typescript-language-server | Official TypeScript support, widely used | | Go | gopls | Official Go team server, comprehensive | | Rust | rust-analyzer | De facto standard, excellent performance | | C# | csharp-ls | Lightweight, cross-platform, dotnet tool | | C/C++ | clangd | LLVM-backed, fast, accurate | | Java | Eclipse JDTLS | Full-featured, widely supported | | Ruby | solargraph | Type inference, documentation support | | PHP | intelephense | Premium features, fast | | Lua | lua-language-server | Official, well-maintained | | YAML | yaml-language-server | Schema validation, completion | | JSON | vscode-json-languageserver | Schema validation, formatting |

For detailed recommendations with alternatives and trade-offs, see server-database.md.

.lsp.json Configuration Format

Claude Code reads LSP configuration from .lsp.json in the project root.

Basic Structure:

{
  "server-name": {
    "command": "server-executable",
    "args": ["--stdio"],
    "extensionToLanguage": {
      ".ext": "language-id"
    },
    "restartOnCrash": true,
    "maxRestarts": 3
  }
}

Required Fields:

| Field | Type | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | command | string | Executable command for the server | | args | string[] | Command-line arguments (typically ["--stdio"]) | | extensionToLanguage | object | Maps file extensions to language IDs |

Optional Fields:

| Field | Type | Default | Description | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | restartOnCrash | boolean | true | Auto-restart server on crash | | maxRestarts | number | 3 | Maximum restart attempts |

For complete patterns and examples, see configuration-patterns.md.

Auto-Detection Strategy

When auto-detecting needed LSPs for a project:

Scan for file extensions using Glob patterns
Match extensions to languages using the mapping table below
Recommend servers from server-database.md

Extension to Language Mapping

| Extensions | Language | Recommended Server | | --- | --- | --- | | .py, .pyi | Python | pyright | | .ts, .tsx, .js, .jsx | TypeScript/JavaScript | typescript-language-server | | .go | Go | gopls | | .rs | Rust | rust-analyzer | | .cs, .csx | C# | csharp-ls | | .c, .h, .cpp, .hpp, .cc | C/C++ | clangd | | .java | Java | jdtls | | .rb | Ruby | solargraph | | .php | PHP | intelephense | | .lua | Lua | lua-language-server | | .yaml, .yml | YAML | yaml-language-server | | .json | JSON | vscode-json-languageserver |

Integration with Existing Infrastructure

Relationship to audit-lsp

The audit-lsp command validates existing .lsp.json configurations. This skill provides:

Server recommendations that audit-lsp can validate against
Configuration patterns that audit-lsp checks for compliance
Troubleshooting guidance when audit-lsp finds issues

Relationship to setup-lsp

The setup-lsp command creates/updates .lsp.json configurations. This skill provides:

Server database for recommendations
Installation guides for chosen servers
Configuration templates for generation

Test Scenarios

These scenarios should activate this skill:

Direct activation: "Use the lsp-management skill to recommend a Python LSP"
Setup question: "How do I set up LSP for my TypeScript project?"
Configuration question: "What should my .lsp.json look like for Go?"
Troubleshooting: "My hover tooltips aren't working in Python files"
Comparison: "Should I use pyright or pylsp for Python?"

Related Skills

| Skill | Relationship | | --- | --- | | docs-management | Delegates to for official Claude Code LSP documentation | | plugin-development | Plugins can provide LSP configurations via lspServers field |

References

Detailed guides (load on-demand):

Server Database - Curated recommendations by language
Configuration Patterns - Common .lsp.json patterns
Installation Guide - Per-server installation commands
Troubleshooting - Common issues and fixes

Official Documentation (via docs-management):

Query: "LSP configuration Claude Code"
Query: ".lsp.json format"

Version History

v1.0.0 (2026-01-11): Initial release
- LSP server recommendations for 12+ languages
- Configuration pattern documentation
- Installation guides per server
- Troubleshooting guide
- Integration with audit-lsp and setup-lsp

Last Updated

Date: 2026-01-11 Model: claude-opus-4-5-20251101

Agent Skills: LSP Management Skill

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