Hey there people

Just wanted to share a very quick and easy setup for editing Elixir in KDE’s Kate editor. This is a very nice and simple editor. It starts real fast and is quite easy on memory and cpu.

Here is a screenshot of it working with elixir-ls and syntax highlighting:

Screenshot_20200503_1540262560×1440 297 KB

To configure it is very easy:

• Open up settings → Configure Kate
• Plugins → enable LSP Client plugin apply and restart Kate
• Open up settings once again → Configure Kate → LSP Client
• Under the tab of User Server Settings add this snippet (you need to have cloned elixir-ls and ran its build first):

{
    "servers": {
        "elixir-ls": {
            "command": ["FULL PATH TO YOUR language_server.sh FILE"],
            "rootIndicationFileNames": ["mix.exs"],            
            "url": "https://github.com/elixir-lsp/elixir-ls",
            "highlightingModeRegex": "^(Elixir)$"
        }
    }
}

• Restart kate
• Open any Elixir project (should start the LSP automatically)
• Make sure you configure your project going to: Tools → Mode → Sources → Elixir

That’s it

What I’ve tested:

• Auto-complete
• Code formatting (although couldn’t find a way to trigger format on save)
• Go to definition

I don’t use it on a daily basis, but it is an awesome fully open source alternative to add in the mix. Auto-completion, code formatting and all working fine with just these settings. I am an Emacs user but its nice to have an alternative that is native to my DE.

For those interested, here are some links:

• Kate’s website: https://kate-editor.org
• Kate’s Elixir syntax highlighting source: https://kate-editor.org/syntax/data/syntax/elixir.xml (really concise if you compare it with other editors)
• Kate’s GIT repo: Utilities / Kate · GitLab

Anyway, just wanted to share this little snippet. I’ve seen some other KDE fans around here so that might make em happy too.