Is it possible to use regex-based syntax highlighting instead of Tree-sitter?

[Nikita0x]

Is it possible or will require a lot of effort?
Like - to use VSCode's regexp for highlighting instead of Tree sitter for everything.

Thanks

[latent-9]

No, Helix highlights exclusively through Tree-sitter. There is no regex or TextMate grammar engine in it, and it is not a config toggle you can flip.

If a language has no Tree-sitter grammar, you have two realistic options:

1. Point Helix at an existing tree-sitter grammar for it: add a [[grammar]] entry plus a [[language]] block in languages.toml, run hx --grammar fetch and hx --grammar build, and drop a runtime/queries/<lang>/highlights.scm so it knows what to color.
2. Leave it unhighlighted.

Porting a VSCode/TextMate regex grammar over is not supported, so there is no low-effort regex path. The upside is that once a tree-sitter grammar exists, the highlighting is far more accurate than regex could be.

[Nikita0x]

Thank you.

[latent-9]

@Nikita0x ywc bro