VS Code extension hangs

Common symptoms with the VS Code extension for .ccr files:

• No syntax highlighting on an open .ccr file.
• No auto-completion for schema properties.
• Status bar shows "serverPath not found" or an error.
• CodeCharter: Analyze workspace does nothing.

Here is the usual debugging sequence.

1. Open the Output panel

View → Output, select "CodeCharter" from the dropdown. This shows the CLI invocation and all LSP messages.

Look for:

• "Spawning codecharter..." with path and arguments
• Stderr output from the CLI
• "serverPath not found"

2. Check CLI availability

The extension uses the codecharter CLI from the PATH by default. If that does not work:

codecharter --version

If that gives "command not found", set codecharter.serverPath in the VS Code settings to the full path:

{
  "codecharter.serverPath": "/usr/local/bin/codecharter"
}

or on Windows:

{
  "codecharter.serverPath": "C:\\Program Files\\CodeCharter\\codecharter.exe"
}

3. Permissions on Linux and macOS

If you installed the CLI manually, the execute bit is sometimes forgotten:

chmod +x /opt/codecharter/codecharter

The Output panel will typically show a permission-denied message in this case.

4. Restart the language server

In the command palette: CodeCharter: Restart language server.

5. Extension version

code --list-extensions --show-versions | grep -i codecharter

Compare with the current release in the portal. If your version is significantly older: reinstall the VSIX.

6. Enable tracing

For detailed LSP traffic:

{
  "codecharter.trace.server": "verbose"
}

Then open the Output panel and go through the LSP log.

If nothing helps

[email protected] with:

• VS Code version
• CodeCharter extension version
• CodeCharter CLI version (codecharter --version)
• Output panel logs as an attachment
• Operating system and architecture