Dexter for VS Code / Cursor

Dexter is a lightning fast, full-featured Elixir language server optimized for speed on large codebases.

Features

• Go-to-definition, find references, rename, and more!
• Autocompletion with snippet support across aliases, imports, and use injections
• Hover documentation for @doc, @moduledoc, @typedoc, and @spec
• Near-instant format on save, including support for any formatter plugins your project has configured, like Styler
• Syntax highlighting for Elixir, EEx, HEEx, and LiveBook
• Monorepo-aware with automatic reindexing on git branch switches

See the Dexter repo for the full feature list.

Quick start

1. Install Dexter
2. Install this extension from the VS Code or Cursor marketplace
3. Open any Elixir file — the index builds automatically on first startup

Add .dexter.db to your .gitignore:

echo ".dexter.db*" >> .gitignore

Configuration

Setting	Default	Description
dexter.binary	"dexter"	Path to the dexter binary
dexter.followDelegates	true	Follow defdelegate to the target function definition
dexter.stdlibPath	""	Path to the Elixir stdlib lib/ directory. Auto-detected if not set
dexter.debug	false	Enable verbose LSP logging (view with Output → Dexter)

To enable format on save:

{
  "[elixir]": { "editor.formatOnSave": true },
  "[phoenix-heex]": { "editor.formatOnSave": true }
}

Development

git clone https://github.com/remoteoss/dexter-vscode.git
cd dexter-vscode
make install   # installs to Cursor by default, or: make install-vscode

Releasing

1. Create a release branch, bump the version in package.json, and update CHANGELOG.md
2. Merge the branch into main
3. Tag and push:

   make release VERSION=0.2.0
   

CI will pick up the tag and publish the extension automatically.