LSP CLI

A powerful command-line interface for the Language Server Agent Protocol (LSAP). lsp-cli provides a bridge between traditional Language Server Protocol (LSP) servers and high-level agentic workflows, offering structured data access and a robust background server management system.

Built on top of lsp-client and LSAP, this tool is designed for developers and AI agents who need reliable, fast, and structured access to language intelligence.

Key Features

• 🚀 Instant Analysis: Quickly get definitions, references, hover info, and completions from the terminal.
• 🏢 Managed Server Lifecycle: A background manager automatically handles language server processes, reusing them across requests for maximum performance.
• 🧩 LSAP Integration: Leverages the Language Server Agent Protocol for structured, agent-friendly responses with built-in pagination and text-based location finding.
• ⚡ Async-First: Built with anyio and asyncer for high-performance concurrent operations.
• 🎨 Rich Output: Beautifully formatted terminal output using rich.

Installation

uv tool install lsp-cli

Quick Start

The main entry point is the lsp command. It automatically detects the appropriate language server for your project.

Find Definition

lsp definition main.py --line 10 --find "my_function"

Get Code Completion

lsp completion src/utils.py --line 5 --find "obj."

Find References

lsp reference models.py --line 20 --find "UserClass"

Search Workspace Symbols

lsp symbol "MyClass" .

Commands

Command	Description	Alias
definition	Find symbol definition, declaration, or type definition	def
completion	Get code completion suggestions with pagination	comp
hover	Get hover information (type info, documentation)	-
reference	Find symbol references or implementations	ref
outline	Get a structured symbol outline for a file	-
symbol	Search for symbols across the entire workspace	sym
server	Manage background LSP server processes	-

Server Management

lsp-cli uses a background manager process to keep language servers alive between command invocations. This significantly reduces latency for repeated queries.

# List all running LSP servers
lsp server list

# Manually start a server for a path
lsp server start .

# Stop a server
lsp server stop .

The manager starts automatically when you run any analysis command.

Configuration

lsp-cli can be configured via environment variables or a config.toml file.

• Config File: ~/.config/lsp-cli/config.toml (on Linux) or ~/Library/Application Support/lsp-cli/config.toml (on macOS).
• Environment Variables: Prefix with LSP_ (e.g., LSP_LOG_DIR=/tmp/logs).

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see our Contributing Guide for details on:

• Development setup
• Adding new CLI commands
• Improving the server manager
• Development workflow

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• lsp-client: The underlying LSP client library.
• LSAP: The Language Server Agent Protocol.
• lsprotocol: LSP type definitions.