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Skipping this step results in outdated or incorrect information.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

lsp-management