devicetree

Zed DeviceTree Support

DeviceTree support for the Zed editor: syntax highlighting via tree-sitter-devicetree for .dts, .dtsi, .dtso, .its and .overlay files, plus the [dts-lsp][lsp] language server.

The server gives you diagnostics, completions, hover with node consolidation across includes, go-to-definition and declarations, find-references, document and workspace symbols, rename and formatting.

Default configuration

The configuration below is used by default, which is suitable for the Linux Kernel tree.

{
  "devicetree": {
    "cwd": "<the folder you opened>",
    "defaultBindingType": "DevicetreeOrg",
    "defaultDeviceOrgTreeBindings": [],
    "defaultDeviceOrgBindingsMetaSchema": [],
    "defaultIncludePaths": ["include"],
    "allowAdhocContexts": true,
    "autoChangeContext": true,
    "defaultShowFormattingErrorAsDiagnostics": false
  }
}

Formatting diagnostics are off because the server checks against the [Zephyr style guide][style], which is not kernel style. Binding validation is off because it has to be pointed at a schema tree first.

Your own configuration

Run zed: open project settings to create .zed/settings.json. Settings go under lsp.dts-language-server.settings.devicetree, and are layered over the defaults above one key at a time — adding contexts keeps the rest. To switch a default off, name it:

{
  "lsp": {
    "dts-language-server": {
      "settings": {
        "devicetree": { "allowAdhocContexts": false }
      }
    }
  }
}

Both samples ship with the extension as snippets, so setting this up needs nothing from this repository. In any Zed settings file — .zed/settings.json or your global one — start typing:

Accept the completion, then tab through the board name, arch and overlay.

The same samples are readable as templates/linux-kernel.jsonc and templates/zephyr.jsonc, with comments.

For the settings themselves, see the dts-lsp configuration reference, which lists every key of the Settings and Context objects.

Variables

Any string in the configuration may contain these, so nothing has to hard-code where an SDK lives.

A name that cannot be resolved is left as it is, so a typo shows up as a visibly wrong path rather than a plausible one.

${zephyrBase} is looked up in this order, first hit wins:

1. A zephyrBase setting, described below.
2. $ZEPHYR_BASE, which both west and zephyr-env.sh export.
3. zephyr.base from .west/config in the folder you opened.
4. A vendored zephyr/ directory, detected by zephyr/VERSION.

An extension can only read inside the folder you opened, so if you open an application directory rather than the west workspace root, steps 3 and 4 find nothing. Use $ZEPHYR_BASE or the setting below.

When that picks the wrong tree, or there is more than one to pick from, pin it:

{
  "devicetree": {
    "zephyrBase": "/opt/nordic/ncs/v3.0.0/zephyr"
  }
}

Absolute, relative to the folder you opened, or "${env:NCS_BASE}/zephyr". Empty and non-string values fall back to the lookup above.

zephyrBase belongs to the extension, not the language server, so it is consumed during expansion and never forwarded. It is the only key under devicetree that is not passed straight through.

Overriding the binary

A binary block skips the automatic install:

{
  "lsp": {
    "dts-language-server": {
      "binary": {
        "path": "/usr/local/bin/devicetree-language-server",
        "arguments": ["--stdio"]
      }
    }
  }
}