PanoramicData.VisualStudio.WgslLanguageSupport

WGSL Language Support for Visual Studio by Panoramic Data Limited

A Visual Studio 2022 extension that provides comprehensive language support for WebGPU Shading Language (WGSL) files.

Features

• Syntax Highlighting - Comprehensive WGSL syntax coloring
• Real-Time Linting - Comprehensive error detection with 8 validation categories:
  • Missing semicolons
  • Unmatched braces ({}, (), [])
  • Invalid attributes (@vertex, @fragment, @compute, etc.)
  • Stage function validation (proper return types)
  • Undefined type detection (validates all WGSL built-in types)
  • Duplicate binding detection
  • Workgroup size validation
  • Variable declaration validation
• File Association - Automatic recognition of .wgsl files
• Fast & Lightweight - In-process extension with minimal overhead
• Comment-Aware - Skips validation inside comments and strings
• Complete Type Coverage - Recognizes all WGSL scalar, vector, matrix, texture, and sampler types

Installation

From Visual Studio Marketplace (Coming Soon)

Once published, you'll be able to install directly:

1. Open Visual Studio 2022
2. Go to Extensions > Manage Extensions
3. Search for "WGSL Language Support"
4. Click Download and restart Visual Studio

From Source

1. Clone this repository
2. Open PanoramicData.VisualStudio.WgslLanguageSupport.slnx in Visual Studio 2022
3. Build the solution (F6)
4. Press F5 to launch the Experimental Instance of Visual Studio
5. Create or open a .wgsl file to test the extension

From VSIX

1. Download the latest .vsix file from the releases page
2. Double-click the .vsix file to install
3. Restart Visual Studio

Development

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022 (17.0 or later)
• Visual Studio extension development workload
• .NET 8 SDK

Project Structure

PanoramicData.VisualStudio.WgslLanguageSupport/
+-- WgslContentDefinition.cs          # Content type registration
+-- WgslClassificationDefinitions.cs  # Syntax highlighting colors
+-- WgslClassifier.cs                 # Syntax classification logic
+-- WgslClassifierProvider.cs         # Classifier provider
+-- WgslErrorTagger.cs                # Linting logic
+-- WgslErrorTaggerProvider.cs        # Tagger provider
+-- WgslLanguagePackage.cs            # VS Package registration
+-- source.extension.vsixmanifest     # Extension manifest

Building

dotnet build

Testing

Press F5 in Visual Studio to launch the Experimental Instance with the extension loaded.

Linting Rules

Currently implemented (prototype):

• Detection of deprecated keyword

Planned WGSL-Specific Rules

• Missing semicolons
• Invalid type usage
• Undefined variables/functions
• Shader entry point validation (@vertex, @fragment, @compute)
• Attribute validation (@binding, @group, @location, etc.)
• Built-in function validation
• Type compatibility checks

Attribution

This extension uses the WGSL TextMate grammar from PolyMeilex/vscode-wgsl (MIT License).

License

MIT License - see LICENSE.txt for details

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.