lspcontainers/dockerfiles

🚀 Dockerfiles for Language Server Protocol (LSP) servers - Containerized language servers for use with lspcontainers.nvim.

🌟 What is this?

This repository provides production-ready Docker containers for 25+ Language Server Protocol (LSP) servers, designed to work seamlessly with the lspcontainers.nvim Neovim plugin.

🎯 How it works:

1. Docker containers provide isolated, reproducible LSP server environments
2. lspcontainers.nvim plugin automatically manages these containers in Neovim
3. Zero local installation - no need to install language servers on your system

Perfect for:

• Consistent development environments across teams and machines
• Clean system - no language server pollution on your host
• Reproducible builds with pinned package versions
• Easy switching between language server versions

🛠️ Supported Language Servers

Language	Server	Container	Version
Bash	bash-language-server	lspcontainers/bash-language-server
C/C++	clangd	lspcontainers/clangd-language-server
C#	omnisharp	lspcontainers/omnisharp-language-server
CSS/SCSS/Less	vscode-css-languageserver	lspcontainers/css-language-server
Deno	deno-lsp	lspcontainers/deno-language-server
Docker	dockerfile-ls	lspcontainers/docker-language-server
ESLint	eslint-languageserver	lspcontainers/eslint-language-server
Go	gopls	lspcontainers/gopls
GraphQL	graphql-language-service	lspcontainers/graphql-language-server
HTML	html-languageserver	lspcontainers/html-language-server
JavaScript/TypeScript	typescript-language-server	lspcontainers/typescript-language-server
JSON	vscode-json-languageserver	lspcontainers/json-language-server
Lua	lua-language-server	lspcontainers/lua-language-server
PHP	intelephense	lspcontainers/php-language-server
PowerShell	powershell-es	lspcontainers/powershell-language-server
Prisma	prisma-language-server	lspcontainers/prisma-language-server
Python	pylsp	lspcontainers/python-lsp-server
Python	pyright	lspcontainers/pyright-language-server
Ruby	solargraph	lspcontainers/ruby-language-server
Rust	rust-analyzer	lspcontainers/rust-analyzer
Svelte	svelte-language-server	lspcontainers/svelte-language-server
Tailwind CSS	tailwindcss-language-server	lspcontainers/tailwindcss-language-server
Terraform	terraform-ls	lspcontainers/terraform-ls
Vue	volar	lspcontainers/volar-language-server
Vue	vuels (legacy)	lspcontainers/vue-language-server
XML	lemminx	lspcontainers/xml-language-server
YAML	yaml-language-server	lspcontainers/yaml-language-server

🚀 Quick Start

Using with lspcontainers.nvim (Recommended)

These containers are designed to work with the lspcontainers.nvim plugin.

👉 See the plugin documentation for installation and setup instructions.

Building Containers Locally

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/lspcontainers/dockerfiles.git
cd dockerfiles

# Build a specific server
docker-compose build gopls

# Build all servers
docker-compose build

# Build all servers in parallel (faster!)
docker-compose build --parallel

📋 Prerequisites

• Docker Engine (20.10+)
• Docker Compose (2.0+)

🏗️ Architecture & Design

🔒 Reproducible Builds

All containers use pinned package versions for complete reproducibility:

• Base images: Specific Alpine/Debian versions
• System packages: Exact apk/apt package versions
• Language packages: Pinned npm, gem, pip, go module versions

🏔️ Minimal & Secure

• Alpine Linux base for minimal attack surface
• Multi-stage builds where applicable
• Non-root users for security
• Distroless principles - only essential components

🔄 Automated Updates

• Daily builds via GitHub Actions
• Dependency scanning and security updates
• Version tracking of upstream language servers

🤝 Contributing

We're actively looking for contributors! Here's how you can help:

🐛 Report Issues

Found a bug or have a feature request? Open an issue!

🔧 Add New Language Servers

Want to add support for a new language? We'd love your contribution!

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a new directory under servers/your-language-server/
3. Write a Dockerfile following our patterns:

   FROM alpine:3.22.1
   
   ARG VERSION=1.2.3
   LABEL version="${VERSION}"
   
   RUN apk add --no-cache \
     nodejs=22.16.0-r2 \
     npm=11.3.0-r0 \
     && npm install -g \
       your-language-server@${VERSION}
   
   CMD [ "your-language-server", "--stdio" ]
   

4. Add to docker-compose.yaml
5. Test your build: docker-compose build your-server
6. Submit a pull request

🛠️ Improve Existing Containers

• Update language server versions
• Improve Dockerfile efficiency
• Add missing tools or dependencies
• Enhance security

📚 Documentation

• Improve README files
• Add usage examples
• Write integration guides
• Create tutorials

🏷️ Container Versioning

Every container provides two tags:

• latest - Latest build from main branch
• vX.Y.Z - Pinned version of the language server

# Always latest
docker pull lspcontainers/gopls:latest

# Specific version for production
docker pull lspcontainers/gopls:v0.19.1

🔄 Updating Dockerfile Versions

Each Dockerfile includes version information that controls both the language server version and container tagging:

# Version is declared at the top
ARG VERSION=1.2.3
LABEL version="${VERSION}"

# Version variable is used in installation
RUN npm install -g your-language-server@${VERSION}

To update a language server version:

1. Edit the Dockerfile in servers/your-server/Dockerfile
2. Update the VERSION argument to the new version
3. Test the build locally: docker-compose build your-server
4. Submit a pull request with your changes

The CI/CD pipeline automatically:

• Extracts the version from the LABEL version directive
• Tags the image with both latest and the specific version
• Pushes to Docker Hub with proper versioning

Example version update:

# Before
ARG VERSION=1.2.3

# After  
ARG VERSION=1.3.0

This ensures reproducible builds and allows users to pin to specific language server versions.

📊 Project Stats

• 25+ Language Servers supported
• 100% reproducible builds with pinned versions
• Multi-architecture support (amd64, arm64)
• Active community with regular contributions

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Ready to contribute? Check out our Contributing Guide and join our community of developers making language servers more accessible!