zed-mlir-suite

MLIR, TableGen, and PDLL support for the Zed editor.

Features

• Tree-sitter grammars for MLIR (.mlir), TableGen (.td), and PDLL (.pdll) — the pinned MLIR parser parses a corpus of 566 official MLIR test files across 24 dialect directories without ERROR nodes; MLIR Suite's Zed queries provide highlighting on top of those syntax trees.
• MLIR inside C++ raw strings — when Zed's bundled C++ grammar injects raw_string_content by delimiter, MLIR inside R"mlir(…)mlir" strings is highlighted using this extension's MLIR grammar.
• First-class custom dialect support — user-defined or out-of-tree dialect.op forms are recognized and highlighted correctly, so your project's own dialects just work.
• Symbol outline — navigate symbols in MLIR, TableGen, and PDLL from the outline panel.
• Language Server integration for all three upstream LLVM servers:
  • mlir-lsp-server for .mlir
  • mlir-pdll-lsp-server for .pdll
  • tblgen-lsp-server for .td
• Rich completion labels — completion items from the MLIR and PDLL language servers are classified by their LSP kind and detail, so values, blocks, dialects, operations, types, attributes, constraints, and include paths are colored consistently.
• Editing ergonomics — bracket matching, auto-close pairs, and indentation tuned for each language.

Prerequisites

• Zed editor
• (Optional) LLVM language servers for LSP features — see Language Server Setup.

Installation

This extension is installed as a Zed dev extension: clone the repository, then point Zed at the directory. Zed compiles the extension to WebAssembly on first install, so a local Rust toolchain is required.

1. Install the Rust toolchain

Install Rust via rustup (stable). On macOS / Linux:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

On Windows, download and run rustup-init.exe from rustup.rs.

Rust must be installed through rustup; Zed handles the required WebAssembly target automatically when it builds the dev extension.

2. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/felixtensor/zed-mlir-suite.git

3. Install as a dev extension

In Zed, open the command palette (Cmd+Shift+P on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+P on Linux/Windows) and run zed: install dev extension — or open Extensions (Cmd+Shift+X / Ctrl+Shift+X) and click Install Dev Extension. Select the cloned directory.

Zed builds the extension on install; the first build fetches dependencies and may take a minute or two. If the build fails, run zed: open log to inspect Zed.log for details.

Language Server Setup

Building the servers

The three servers live in the llvm-project monorepo under mlir/tools/. Follow the official MLIR Getting Started guide to build them; a typical Unix-like flow is:

git clone https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project.git
mkdir llvm-project/build && cd llvm-project/build

cmake -G Ninja ../llvm \
  -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS=mlir \
  -DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD="Native" \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -DLLVM_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS=ON

cmake --build . --target mlir-lsp-server mlir-pdll-lsp-server tblgen-lsp-server

After a successful build, the binaries land in llvm-project/build/bin/. Either add that directory to your $PATH, or point each server at its absolute path via settings.json (see below).

Tip: if mlir is listed in LLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS and you build the default all target, the three LSP servers are produced along with the rest of MLIR — no separate invocation needed.

Configuration

Each server is configured under lsp.<server-id>.settings in Zed's settings.json. The extension looks for the server binary via settings.path, then falls back to $PATH.

Language	Server id
MLIR	mlir-lsp-server
PDLL	mlir-pdll-lsp-server
TableGen	tblgen-lsp-server

Available settings

Field	Type	Applies to	Description
path	string	all	Path to the server binary
compilation_database	string	tblgen, pdll	Path to the compilation-database YAML
extra_dirs	string[]	tblgen, pdll	Extra include directories
log	string	all	Log verbosity: "error", "info", or "verbose"
pretty	bool	all	Pretty-print JSON output

All fields are optional. The extension auto-detects compilation-database files in your workspace; if detection succeeds, no manual configuration is needed.

SSH remote development

When using Zed's SSH remote development, language servers run on the remote server. Configure MLIR Suite server binary paths with zed: open server settings, not zed: open settings file; the latter edits the local machine's settings. See SSH remote development for the recommended settings layout.

Example

{
  "lsp": {
    "mlir-lsp-server": {
      "settings": {
        "path": "/path/to/mlir-lsp-server",
        "log": "verbose"
      }
    },
    "tblgen-lsp-server": {
      "settings": {
        "path": "/path/to/tblgen-lsp-server",
        "compilation_database": "/path/to/build/tablegen_compile_commands.yml",
        "extra_dirs": [
          "/path/to/llvm-project/llvm/include",
          "/path/to/llvm-project/mlir/include"
        ]
      }
    },
    "mlir-pdll-lsp-server": {
      "settings": {
        "path": "/path/to/mlir-pdll-lsp-server",
        "compilation_database": "/path/to/build/pdll_compile_commands.yml",
        "extra_dirs": [
          "/path/to/llvm-project/mlir/include"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Zed's native binary.path and binary.arguments fields still work and take precedence when set.

After changing settings, open the command palette (Cmd+Shift+P on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+P on Linux/Windows) and run zed: restart language server to apply them.

Screenshots

Out-of-Tree Dialect Highlighting

MLIR in C++ Raw Strings

Go to Definition

Find References

Hover / Signature

Completion

Diagnostics

Symbol Outline

Acknowledgements

This extension builds on:

• MLIR — the multi-level intermediate representation framework from the LLVM project.
• tree-sitter-mlir — Tree-sitter grammar for MLIR.
• tree-sitter-tablegen — Tree-sitter grammar for TableGen.
• tree-sitter-pdll — Tree-sitter grammar for PDLL.
• The three LSP servers (mlir-lsp-server, mlir-pdll-lsp-server, tblgen-lsp-server) are part of the LLVM project.

The out-of-tree dialect screenshot uses a TritonGPU test file from Triton.

For MLIR tooling in other editors, see:

• vscode-mlir — official VS Code extension for MLIR, PDLL, and TableGen.
• mlir-mode — Emacs major mode and LSP client, shipped in the LLVM monorepo.

Feedback & Contributions

MLIR Suite is actively developed. See the roadmap for planned work and CONTRIBUTING.md for issue reporting, development, and validation guidance. Participation is governed by the Code of Conduct.

• Use the issue chooser to report a bug, request a feature, or ask a setup question.
• Follow the pull request guidance when submitting a change.

License

Apache License 2.0 with LLVM Exceptions.