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Direct-wrapper convention

Specification for all <lang>-direct wrappers in this repo and any future contributions. If you're adding a new language, follow every invariant here.

Primary path

Each supported language has a bash wrapper in bin/ that proxies its LSP over persistent HTTP. This is the primary semantic-search path — roughly 100× faster perceived latency than tool-call-based LSP clients (HTTP round-trip sub-100ms vs ~8-9s per tool turn).

language wrapper backend workspace markers
scala metals-direct metals-mcp build.sbt > build.sc > build.mill
vue vue-direct Vue Language Server v3 + tsserver w/ @vue/typescript-plugin package.json
python py-direct pyright-langserver pyrightconfig.json > pyproject.toml > setup.cfg > setup.py
typescript ts-direct typescript-language-server tsconfig.json > package.json
csharp cs-direct csharp-ls .slnx > .sln > .csproj
java java-direct jdtls (Eclipse JDT.LS) pom.xml > build.gradle.kts > build.gradle > settings.gradle.kts > settings.gradle > .project

Opt-in wrappers (non-LSP)

Same CLI contract, different call method surface (named methods, not LSP methods).

tool wrapper backend workspace markers
sbt sbt-direct sbt CLI (one-shot) + sbt --client (persistent-JVM, see adapter) build.sbt > build.sc > build.mill > project/build.properties
dotnet dotnet-direct dotnet CLI (per-call; MSBuild build-server handles warm persistence) global.json > *.sln > *.slnx > *.csproj > *.fsproj > *.vbproj
prettier prettier-direct in-process require('prettier') .prettierrc* > prettier.config.* > package.json
eslint eslint-direct in-process require('eslint') eslint.config.* > .eslintrc* > package.json
scalafmt scalafmt-direct scalafmt native/JVM CLI .scalafmt.conf > build.sbt > build.sc > build.mill

Invariants

Location

  • bin/<name>-direct — bash wrapper, user-scope, project-agnostic
  • bin/tool-harness.js — shared primitives (resolveWorkspace, stateDir, serveHttp, invalidationLoop, callLog, framing)
  • bin/tool-server-proxy.js — external-process coordinator (LSPs, sbt, dotnet, scalafmt)
  • bin/node-formatter-daemon.js — in-process Node-library coordinator (prettier, eslint)
  • bin/adapters/<tool>.js — per-tool behavior (spawn children, init, onChildMessage, call, triggers)
  • bin/lsp-stdio-proxy.js, bin/vue-direct-coordinator.js — back-compat shim entrypoints composing harness + proxy + adapter

CLI surface

All wrappers expose the same subcommands:

<name>-direct start|call|stop|status|tools [workspace]
<name>-direct call <method> '<json-params>' [workspace]
  • start — spawn coordinator for workspace
  • call — auto-starts if needed, issues LSP method, returns JSON
  • stop — kill coordinator
  • status — show all tracked servers
  • tools — list LSP method surface

textDocument/* params MUST include textDocument.uri as file://<abs-path>.

Op surface

Raw LSP method names, unmodified from the underlying server. No custom abstraction: textDocument/documentSymbol, textDocument/hover, textDocument/definition, textDocument/references, textDocument/implementation, textDocument/typeDefinition, textDocument/completion, textDocument/signatureHelp, textDocument/prepareCallHierarchy, callHierarchy/incomingCalls, callHierarchy/outgoingCalls, workspace/symbol

Exception: metals-direct exposes 17 metals-mcp tools (list-modules, inspect, get-docs, glob-search, etc.) because the backend is not pure LSP.

Transport

HTTP over dynamic loopback port. Per-workspace state lives in:

~/.cache/<name>-direct/<workspace-hash>/{pid,port,workspace,log}

Workspace resolution

Walk up from cwd for the language-specific markers (table above). First match wins. Explicit workspace arg overrides walk-up.

Alive probe

Use curl -fsS GET /health for liveness. NEVER kill -0 <pid> or /dev/tcp/host/port — some sandboxed environments (Claude Code's macOS sandbox, for example) deny both.

Verification

Functional probe only — one valid LSP response on a real target file. No timing gate for acceptance. Record cold/warm timings as observations, not blockers.

Why direct wrappers

Standard LSP clients pay a fixed per-call overhead that dominates server speed (typically 2-10s per tool turn in agentic environments). Direct wrappers let a client issue many LSP calls inside a single shell invocation, amortizing the overhead to near-zero. Per-workspace HTTP servers also fix language servers that bind rootUri at init (e.g. csharp-ls) — each workspace gets its own instance, so switching between projects in one session works without restart.

Adding a new language

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full template. Summary:

  1. Copy bin/py-direct as a template
  2. Swap LSP_BIN, LSP_ARGS, LANG_ID, WORKSPACE_MARKERS
  3. Update STATE_ROOT env-var name
  4. Add install prereq message in the command -v check
  5. Add a fixture under fixtures/<lang>/
  6. Add a doc page under docs/per-language/<lang>.md
  7. Extend hooks/enforce-lsp-over-grep.py LANG_DIRECT_WRAPPER map (if using the hook)
  8. Add a CI matrix entry

Fallback discipline

grep/rg/find on source extensions is acceptable ONLY when:

  • The direct wrapper cannot resolve (symbol in comment/string literal, file not indexed)
  • The target is a config/data/doc file that happens to share an extension
  • You explicitly state which wrapper op was tried and why it failed before falling back