Language Server Navigation

Use this skill when the codebase already has a relevant language server, or when the task should check that first. The goal is to use the current Language Servers tool surface deliberately instead of falling back to grep-driven workflows too early.

For a compact tool-selection cheat sheet, read references/tool-selection.md.

Workflow

1. Check language-servers://profiles for a matching profile.

• If there is no suitable profile, use the install-language-server skill.

1. Start with the narrowest LSP-backed tool that answers the question.

• outline for file structure and symbol locations
• inspect for symbol details and docs
• references for usages
• rename for semantic renames
• diagnostics for compile or type errors
• completion for API discovery at a point
• search when the server supports language-aware search

1. Use a real file path and precise line and character coordinates.

• If the user did not provide coordinates, use outline first to find them.

1. Treat file-backed tool calls as stateful.

• They can lazily start a dormant session.
• They can change the runtime state you see in the resources.

1. If results look wrong, inspect:

• language-servers://profiles/{name}
• language-servers://profiles/{name}/logs
• then use reload only if the config changed

Tool Choice Rules

• Prefer rename over grep-based renames when a matching LSP exists.
• Prefer references over text search for call sites or symbol usage.
• Prefer inspect over opening arbitrary files when you need docs, types, or declaration context.
• Use search only when the server and current indexing state can support it.
• Use plain text tools only when there is no working LSP profile or when the task is explicitly text-based.

Known Runtime Behaviors

• not_started after reload is normal. The first matching file-backed tool call should start the profile.
• Search quality varies by server. TypeScript often needs a preload anchor to keep enough index state alive, and glob-based preload_files entries are usually easier to reuse than exact paths.
• Logs are best-effort. A running server may still have no window-log messages.
• Resources are the read surface. Use them for state and log inspection before guessing.

Output Expectations

• Name the Language Servers tool you chose and why.
• Mention the file and coordinates used for the call.
• If you fall back to plain text search or manual edits, state why the LSP path was not suitable.