LSP

Get started with Vale's Language Server.

The Vale Language Server (vale-ls) implements the Language Server Protocol around a local installation of Vale, giving any editor that speaks LSP autocomplete, diagnostics, hover popups, and quick fixes.

Most people don't run it directly—an editor plugin does. See Editors below.

Configuration

The server reads its settings from the initializationOptions your client sends when it connects:

{
  "initializationOptions": {
    "installVale": true,
    "syncOnStartup": true,
    "filter": "",
    "configPath": ""
  }
}

Option	Type	Default	Description
installVale	boolean	false	Install and update Vale into a vale_bin folder beside vale-ls. When false, vale must be on your $PATH.
syncOnStartup	boolean	false	Run vale sync when the server starts.
filter	string	""	An output filter to apply, e.g. .Level in ['warning', 'error'].
configPath	string	""	An absolute path to a .vale.ini. Usually best left empty so Vale's own search process applies.
valeBinaryPath	string	""	An absolute path to the vale binary to use. Set this when you need your own installation rather than a managed or $PATH copy.
lintOnChange	boolean	true	Report diagnostics as you type. When false, they're only updated when you save.
debounceMs	number	300	How long typing has to settle before lintOnChange runs Vale.
showMetrics	boolean	true	Show a code lens with the document's word and sentence counts.

installVale and syncOnStartup are off unless your client asks for them. Editor plugins generally do—LSP-vale-ls turns both on by default—but if you're wiring the server up yourself, set them explicitly.

A configured valeBinaryPath is never substituted: if nothing is there, the server reports it rather than falling back to another copy of Vale. You can also pass it on the command line as --vale-binary, which the setting overrides.

Clients that push settings after connecting—workspace/didChangeConfiguration—can change any of these without a restart. The server accepts the settings object either as-is or scoped under a vale key.

In a workspace with more than one folder, each document is linted against the innermost folder containing it, so projects with different .vale.ini files can be open at the same time. Setting configPath overrides that for every document.

Quick fixes

Where Vale can suggest a correction, the server offers it as a code action: a replacement for a substitution rule, or a deletion for a repeated word.

Spelling alerts also offer to add the flagged word to a vocabulary, which writes it to that vocabulary's accept.txt and re-lints the file. A project with several active vocabularies gets one action per vocabulary, so you choose where the word lands.

Code lenses

Prose files carry a lens with the document's word and sentence counts. Selecting it reports the rest of Vale's metrics—characters, paragraphs, syllables, and the counts the readability formulas are built on. Turn it off with showMetrics.

Commands

The server registers these for workspace/executeCommand:

Command	Arguments	Description
cli.sync	none	Run vale sync.
cli.install	none	Install or update the managed copy of Vale.
cli.compile	[uri]	Compile a rule and open it on Regex101.
vocab.add	[{uri, vocab, term}]	Add a term to a vocabulary's accept.txt.
vocab.reject	[{uri, vocab, term}]	Add a term to a vocabulary's reject.txt.
doc.metrics	[{uri}]	Report a document's metrics.

Editors

These connect to vale-ls:

• Sublime Text
• VS Code
• Neovim (as vale_ls)
• Zed
• Emacs

Other editors integrate with the Vale CLI directly rather than through the server: ALE, JetBrains, Obsidian, Oxygen XML, and Qt Creator.

Running it yourself

Download a build from releases and point your client at the binary. LSP-vale-ls is a small, readable example of a client configuration.

The binary takes no arguments beyond --vale-binary, --version, and --help; everything else comes from your client.