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VS Code Setup

Language Integration with clangd

clangd is a C++ language server that provides intelligent code completion and errors messages.

Why clangd over other language servers?

clangd is smart. It analyzes our build system to known exactly how all of the files fit together so you never need to manually configure include paths or compiler flags.

Whenever you build a project with the Makefile, clangd will see the new build/compile_commands.json and immediately update your IDE's include paths. When you start developing for a different project or platform, simply rebuild the project and your language server will automatically update.

Installation

  1. Install the official clangd VS Code extension from LLVM https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=llvm-vs-code-extensions.vscode-clangd.
  2. Open the VS Code command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P. Search and run clangd: Download Language Server.
  3. Disable any other C++ language extensions that may conflict with clangd, such at the Microsoft C/C++ extension.
  4. Create an empty file named .clangd in the firmware/ directory. This ensures clangd knows where to find the build/compile_commands.json file.

clangd Configuration

Configure the firmware/.clangd file for your architecture.

CompileFlags:
    Add:
        - --target=x86_64-w64-mingw64

CompileFlags:
    Add:
        - --target=arm64-apple-darwin22.6.0

The --target flag should be #commented out unless you are compiling for the cli platform.

For more configuration options, see the official clangd docs https://clangd.llvm.org/config.

Use clangd as a formatter

You can use clangd to automatically format your code whenever you save your file. This will prevent your commits being rejected by the GitHub action.

  1. Open any .cc file in the repo, such as projects/Demo/Blink/main.cc.
  2. Configure clangd as your default C++ formatter:
    1. Open the VS Code command palette. Run Format Document With...
    2. Select Configure Default Formatter -> clangd

  3. Edit your settings to enable format-on-save:

    1. Open the VS Code command palette. Run Preferences: Open Workspace Settings (JSON)
    2. Edit the [cpp] section (create it if necessary) to add
    "[cpp]": {
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
},

To verify the formatter is working, open any .cc file and type some poorly-formatted code. When you Ctrl+S save, the code should be immediately formatted.

Before
int x      =     100;
for(int i = 0;
    i<10; i++)
{
        x += i;
        }
After
int x = 100;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    x += i;
}