tree-sitter-cfml

May 5, 2026 · View on GitHub

Tree-sitter grammars for ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML).

There are four grammars: three for CFML in .cfc, .cfm, and .cfs files, and one for SQL inside <cfquery> (embedded dialect).

Grammar	Scope	File types	Description
`cfml`	`source.cfml`	`.cfc`	ColdFusion components - CFScript inside a `component {}` block or tag-based component files
`cfhtml`	`source.cfhtml`	`.cfm`	CFML template files - HTML with embedded CF tags and hash expressions
`cfscript`	`source.cfscript`	`.cfs`	Pure CFScript files
`cfquery`	`source.cfquery`	(embedded)	SQL inside `<cfquery>` bodies (including QueryExecute-style usage), with `#hash#` interpolation and CF tags in the body

Playground

Browser demo: cfmleditor.github.io/tree-sitter-cfml

Installation

Node.js

npm install @cfmleditor/tree-sitter-cfml

const {
  cfml,
  cfhtml,
  cfscript,
  cfquery,
} = require("@cfmleditor/tree-sitter-cfml");
const Parser = require("tree-sitter");

const parser = new Parser();
parser.setLanguage(cfhtml.language);

const tree = parser.parse("<cfif condition>#value#</cfif>");
console.log(tree.rootNode.toString());

Rust

[dependencies]
tree-sitter = "0.25"
tree-sitter-cfml = "0.26.10"

The tree-sitter crate should be 0.25+ so the ABI matches the generated parsers (see LANGUAGE_VERSION in cf*/src/parser.c).

use tree_sitter_cfml::LANGUAGE_CFML;

let mut parser = tree_sitter::Parser::new();
parser.set_language(&LANGUAGE_CFML.into())
    .expect("Error loading CFML grammar");
// LANGUAGE_CFHTML, LANGUAGE_CFSCRIPT, LANGUAGE_CFQUERY load the same way.

Python

pip install tree-sitter-cfml

import tree_sitter_cfml as ts_cfml
from tree_sitter import Language, Parser

# cfhtml for .cfm template files
parser = Parser(Language(ts_cfml.language_cfhtml()))
tree = parser.parse(b'<cfif x GT 0>#x#</cfif>')

# cfml for .cfc component files
parser = Parser(Language(ts_cfml.language_cfml()))

# cfscript for .cfs pure script files
parser = Parser(Language(ts_cfml.language_cfscript()))

# cfquery SQL dialect (embedded)
parser = Parser(Language(ts_cfml.language_cfquery()))

Go

import (
    tree_sitter_cfml "github.com/cfmleditor/tree-sitter-cfml/bindings/go"
    sitter "github.com/tree-sitter/go-tree-sitter"
)

// cfml for .cfc component files
parser := sitter.NewParser()
parser.SetLanguage(sitter.NewLanguage(tree_sitter_cfml.LanguageCfml()))

// cfhtml for .cfm template files
parser.SetLanguage(sitter.NewLanguage(tree_sitter_cfml.LanguageCfhtml()))

// cfscript for .cfs pure script files
parser.SetLanguage(sitter.NewLanguage(tree_sitter_cfml.LanguageCfscript()))

// cfquery SQL dialect (embedded)
parser.SetLanguage(sitter.NewLanguage(tree_sitter_cfml.LanguageCfquery()))

Each dialect has grammar.js, generated C under src/, corpus tests under test/corpus/, and queries under queries/. Shared scanner code is under common/. The multi-grammar CLI and playground config is tree-sitter.json. Upstream docs: Creating parsers, CLI.

Setup

git clone https://github.com/cfmleditor/tree-sitter-cfml.git
cd tree-sitter-cfml

Use Node >=18 and <24 (package.json engines). Optional: .nvmrc with nvm / fnm (nvm use).

npm install

That installs dependencies, builds the Node native addon (node-gyp-build), and runs postinstall, which downloads the tree-sitter CLI binary into node_modules/tree-sitter-cli/ when needed. Repo npm scripts do not require a global tree-sitter on PATH.

npm test          # all four grammars
npm run lint      # ESLint
npm run build     # regenerate parsers + rebuild native addon (after grammar edits)

Windows

Put GCC from MinGW-w64 on your PATH (gcc / g++). This repo uses GCC for npm test (tree-sitter compile), the Node native binding, Python extension builds, and Go CGO — not MSVC.

Standalone toolchain (recommended): install WinLibs with winget, then add the extracted mingw64\bin directory (contains gcc.exe) to your user PATH, open a new terminal, and verify:

gcc --version

Example package (UCRT, POSIX threads):

winget install BrechtSanders.WinLibs.POSIX.UCRT

The installer path varies by machine; locate mingw64\bin under the WinLibs folder (or under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Packages\ after install) and add that bin to PATH.

Alternatively: MSYS2 with pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc, then prepend msys64\mingw64\bin to PATH (or develop from an MSYS2 MinGW64 shell).

If node-gyp still picks Visual Studio instead of MinGW, set CC / CXX to your MinGW gcc / g++ for npm install / npm rebuild, or keep MinGW’s bin before MSVC entries on PATH.

macOS

Install the Xcode command-line tools:

xcode-select --install

Homebrew

brew install gcc

Linux

Install a C/C++ toolchain (for example build-essential on Debian/Ubuntu, gcc / clang plus development headers on other distributions).

CI

CI (.github/workflows/ci.yml): npm install, npm test, npm run lint on Ubuntu, macOS, and Windows. It does not run npm run build; generated cf*/src/ files are committed.

Tree-sitter CLI

Scripts use scripts/tree-sitter-cli.cjs (node node_modules/tree-sitter-cli/cli.js). A global tree-sitter-cli install is optional. If the binary is missing after install:

node scripts/ensure-tree-sitter-cli-binary.js

From a dialect directory (after npm install at repo root):

cd cfml
node ../node_modules/tree-sitter-cli/cli.js test
node ../node_modules/tree-sitter-cli/cli.js generate
node ../node_modules/tree-sitter-cli/cli.js parse path/to/file.cfc

Dependency versions

Pinned in package.json / tree-sitter.json; approximate roles:

Role	Package	Version
Native binding (peer / dev)	`tree-sitter`	`0.25.0`
Parser CLI	`tree-sitter-cli`	`0.26.8`
Native addon	`node-addon-api`	`^8.3.0`
Native addon	`node-gyp-build`	`^4.8.4`
Prebuild	`prebuildify`	`^6.0.1`
Runtime	Node.js	`>=18` `<24`

CFML engines

Corpus and behavior are checked mainly against Lucee. Overlapping Adobe ColdFusion syntax should still parse in a reasonable way. Avoid Adobe-only or Lucee-only assumptions in examples or grammar design where portable CFML is enough.

Building

After changing common/define-grammar.js or a grammar.js:

npm run build

On Unix, make generate at the repo root works if tree-sitter is on your PATH; otherwise use npm run build.

tree-sitter generate may warn about “unnecessary conflicts” (expressions vs _property_name, cfscript declaration / primary_expression, cfquery hash rules, etc.). Those come from common/define-grammar.js. If npm run build and npm test succeed, the warnings can be ignored.

Testing and helpers

See Setup for npm test, npm run lint, and npm run build.

npm run testbindings  # Node binding smoke test

One grammar only: run test via the CLI from that dialect’s directory (above), or npm test for all four.

Parse a file: from the dialect folder (e.g. cfml for .cfc), use the parse subcommand with the same node ../node_modules/.../cli.js pattern.

Playground / WebAssembly (WASM)

npm start — playground at repo root (tree-sitter.json). Run npm run prestart first if WASM is stale.
npm run prestart — tree-sitter build --wasm
npm run playground — playground in each of cfml/, cfhtml/, cfscript/, cfquery/
npm run docswasm — writes docs/tree-sitter-{cfml,cfhtml,cfscript,cfquery}.wasm for docs/ (e.g. GitHub Pages)

Grammar structure

Shared rules: common/define-grammar.js. External scanner: common/scanner.h (implicit end tags, CF tag names, hash expressions, raw text).

common/
  define-grammar.js
  scanner.h
  tag.h

cfml/          # .cfc
  grammar.js
  src/         # generated
  queries/

cfhtml/        # .cfm
  grammar.js
  src/
  queries/

cfscript/      # .cfs
  grammar.js
  src/
  queries/

cfquery/       # embedded SQL
  grammar.js
  src/
  queries/

Queries

Grammar	Highlights	Indents	Injections	Tags
`cfml`	yes	yes	yes	yes
`cfhtml`	yes	yes	yes	yes
`cfscript`	yes	no	no	yes
`cfquery`	yes	no	no	yes