r-languageserver

R Language Server Protocol Integration

The R languageserver provides code intelligence for R files through the LSP tool. Use these capabilities as a "sensor array" for understanding R codebases—retrieving documentation, navigating definitions, and analyzing call graphs without reading entire files.

Reach for the LSP before grep

For any question about where a symbol is defined or used—call sites, callers, definitions, call hierarchies—use the LSP operations below, not Grep. This is the default, not an optimization: text search silently returns wrong answers on real codebases. Grep matches a function's name inside comments, #' roxygen lines, string literals, and unrelated identifiers, and it cannot tell a definition from a call or follow scoping. findReferences / incomingCalls resolve the symbol semantically instead.

Concretely, searching for ProcessData with Grep also matches the name inside a test_that("...") description string and the roxygen comment above its definition; findReferences reports only the real call sites. On a small file the difference may not change your answer, but on a package with reused names, S3 methods, and shadowed variables it does.

Grep remains the right tool for free-text pattern searches—a TODO, a literal string, a regex across non-R files. Use it for text, not for symbols.

Available Operations

Operation	Purpose	Primary Use Case
hover	Get documentation	Understanding function contracts
goToDefinition	Jump to definition	Navigating to function source
findReferences	Find all usages	Impact analysis before changes
documentSymbol	List file symbols	File structure overview
workspaceSymbol	Search all symbols	Finding functions across project
incomingCalls	What calls this?	Understanding dependencies
outgoingCalls	What does this call?	Understanding execution flow
prepareCallHierarchy	Initialize call tree	Preparing for call analysis

Not Supported

goToImplementation is not implemented by R languageserver. Use goToDefinition instead.

Critical Concept: Character Positioning

The most common cause of failed LSP operations is incorrect character positioning.

All operations require precise cursor placement ON the symbol:

# Line 15:   result <- MyFunction(data, config)
#            ^        ^         ^
#            col 3    col 14    col 25

• Position on result (col 3-8): References to this variable
• Position on MyFunction (col 14-23): Definition/references of the function
• Position on data (col 25-28): References to the argument

When an operation returns "no definition found" or "no hover information," adjust the character position before assuming the symbol isn't indexed.

Core Workflows

1. File Structure Before Reading

Instead of reading a 500-line file to find one function, use documentSymbol first:

LSP documentSymbol on large_file.R
→ Returns: FunctionA (Line 45), FunctionB (Line 120), FunctionC (Line 280)
→ Then: Read file with offset=118, limit=50 to see just FunctionB

This retrieves the file's "sitemap" and enables targeted reading.

Note: R languageserver also indexes comment-based section markers (# ====, # ----, # ---- Section Name ----). These appear in documentSymbol output, useful for navigating large files organized with sections.

2. Understanding External Functions

When encountering an unfamiliar function from an external package, use hover:

LSP hover on purrr::map_lgl at line 48, character 20
→ Returns: Full documentation with description, parameters, return value, examples

This retrieves package documentation without web searches or leaving the editor. Hover works for:

• Base R functions (summary, grep, setdiff)
• Tidyverse and other CRAN packages
• Locally defined functions (when called, not at definition site)
• Unexported functions accessed via ::: (shows signature only)

3. Impact Analysis Before Modifying

Before changing a function's signature or behavior, use incomingCalls to find all callers:

LSP incomingCalls on ProcessData at line 50, character 1
→ Returns:
  - targets/pipeline.R: run_analysis (Line 30) [calls at: 45:5]
  - R/helpers.R: batch_process (Line 80) [calls at: 92:12]
  - tests/test-process.R: test cases (Lines 15, 28, 41)

This reveals the blast radius of any change. The output includes:

• File paths of callers
• Function/target names containing the calls
• Exact line and column of each call site

4. Understanding Execution Flow

To understand what a function depends on, use outgoingCalls:

LSP outgoingCalls on FitModel at line 100, character 1
→ Returns:
  - validate_input (local) [called from: 105:3]
  - checkmate::assert_class [called from: 106:3, 107:3]
  - recipes::prep [called from: 115:12]
  - parsnip::fit [called from: 120:12]

This maps the function's dependencies, showing:

• Which functions are called
• Whether they're local or from packages
• Every call site within the function

5. Cross-File Navigation

To find where a symbol is used across the entire project, use findReferences:

LSP findReferences on helper_function at line 25, character 1
→ Returns:
  - R/helpers.R: Line 25:1 (definition)
  - R/main.R: Line 45:12, Line 78:8
  - tests/test-helpers.R: Line 12:5, Line 30:5

References work across:

• Package R/ source files
• Test files
• targets/ pipeline definitions
• Any .R file in the workspace

6. Finding Functions Project-Wide

To locate a function without knowing which file contains it, use workspaceSymbol:

LSP workspaceSymbol (from any R file)
→ Returns all indexed symbols:
  - R/data.R: ProcessData (Function) - Line 15
  - R/models.R: FitModel (Function) - Line 42
  - R/utils.R: validate_input (Function) - Line 8
  - targets/pipeline.R: data_tar (Field) - Line 5

Use this sparingly. The R languageserver ignores the query string and returns every indexed symbol in the workspace — on a large package that is one enormous dump of output for a single lookup. Prefer, in order:

1. documentSymbol on the file you suspect (a per-file sitemap, always cheap)
2. goToDefinition from a call site you already know about
3. workspaceSymbol only on small projects, or when you genuinely have no lead

If you need a name search on a large package, a targeted Grep for the definition pattern (e.g. FitModel <- function) costs less context than an unfiltered symbol dump.

Behavior Notes

Installed vs. Non-Installed Packages

The LSP reads source from the workspace, not from installed packages. Both installed local packages and non-installed packages in the workspace work identically for all operations.

External Package Definitions

When goToDefinition resolves to an external package (CRAN, tidyverse, etc.), the definition points to a temporary file:

/var/folders/.../RtmpXXXXX/function_name.R

This is extracted source code from the installed package. The content is readable and accurate but the path is ephemeral.

Diagnostics: Correctness-Only by Design

Editing or accessing R files makes the languageserver publish lintr diagnostics, which appear in tool output as <new-diagnostics> blocks. This cannot be explicitly requested—diagnostics arrive as a push channel after edits and indexing.

When the project has no .lintr/.lintr.R of its own, the plugin applies a correctness-only lint profile: syntax errors plus linters that catch real bugs (object_usage_linter, missing_package_linter, equals_na_linter, missing_argument_linter, T_and_F_symbol_linter, and similar). Treat every diagnostic you receive as a genuine problem worth fixing.

What you will NOT see, and must not chase:

• No style lints (line length, spacing, indentation, implicit integers). The air formatting hook rewrites every file after each Write/Edit — style is handled for you, for free. Never spend edits on formatting.
• If the project ships its own .lintr, that config always wins and you see whatever the project's CI sees, style lints included. Even then, formatting-class complaints usually resolve themselves at the next edit via the hook.

Stale Positions After the Format Hook

The air hook reformats the file on disk after your edit, but that rewrite is not replayed to the language server — the server's view of the file lags disk by exactly one formatting pass, until your next edit resyncs it. If the reformat changed line counts, LSP answers (definition/reference/diagnostic line numbers) can be off for positions below your edit.

Rule of thumb: after an edit that the hook may have reformatted, re-Read the file before trusting LSP line numbers in that file. Any subsequent edit heals the skew automatically.

Workspace Indexing

Some operations require files to be "seen" by the LSP before they're fully indexed. If findReferences or workspaceSymbol returns incomplete results, access the relevant files first (via any LSP operation) to trigger indexing.

When to Use LSP vs Other Tools

Task	Preferred Approach
Find function definition (external package)	goToDefinition
Find function definition (local)	goToDefinition; Read only if you already know the file and line
Get function documentation	hover
List functions in a file	documentSymbol
Find all usages of a function	findReferences
Search for a function by name	documentSymbol on likely files first; workspaceSymbol only on small projects (it dumps every symbol, unfiltered)
Understand what calls a function	incomingCalls
Understand what a function calls	outgoingCalls
Read function implementation	Read with offset/limit
Search for free-text patterns (not a symbol)	Grep

Quick Reference

Operation Parameters

All operations require:

• filePath: Absolute path to an R file
• line: 1-based line number
• character: 1-based character offset

Successful Output Patterns

hover: Returns markdown-formatted documentation with signature, description, parameters, and examples.

goToDefinition: Returns Defined in path/to/file.R:line:column

findReferences: Returns Found N references across M files: followed by file paths and line numbers.

documentSymbol: Returns Found N symbols in workspace: followed by function names, types, and line numbers.

incomingCalls/outgoingCalls: Returns Found N calls: with caller/callee information and call site locations.

Failure Patterns

• "No definition found" → Check character position; ensure cursor is ON the symbol
• "No hover information" → Symbol may be at definition site (hover works on calls, not definitions for local functions)
• "No references found" → File may not be indexed; try accessing it first
• "LSP request failed" → Operation not supported (e.g., goToImplementation)