Language server

ntropy lsp runs a Language Server over stdin and stdout, the machinery that gives an editor autocomplete and go-to-definition. With it, any editor that speaks LSP completes links between notes and tags, follows links, and jumps to a note by title.

Set it up in Neovim#

For a recent Neovim (0.11 or later), start the server for Markdown buffers that live in a vault. Put this in your config:

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("FileType", {
  pattern = "markdown",
  callback = function(args)
    local root = vim.fs.root(args.buf, { ".ntropy", ".ntropy-vault" })
    if not root then
      return -- not inside an ntropy vault
    end
    vim.lsp.start({
      name = "ntropy",
      cmd = { "ntropy", "lsp" },
      root_dir = root,
    })
  end,
})

-- Optional keys: follow a link, and find a note by title.
vim.keymap.set("n", "gd", vim.lsp.buf.definition)
vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>fn", vim.lsp.buf.workspace_symbol)

ntropy must be on your PATH. Open a note under all-notes/, type [, and the completion menu lists your notes. gd follows a link, and the workspace-symbol picker jumps to any note by title.

The server resolves the vault for each open document with the same rules as the CLI, so there is nothing to configure beyond pointing the editor at the binary.

What the server does#

Link completion. Type [ and pick a note; the candidates are fuzzy-matched on title, tags, and file name. ntropy inserts the whole [Title](<ulid>-<slug>.md), so a link between notes never means hand-copying a ULID. Typing inside a hand-written ]( completes just the target. Editors that support snippets get the cursor placed right after the inserted link.

Tag completion. Inside a note's tags: frontmatter, completion offers the tags already in the vault, hierarchy-aware: typing programming/ narrows to its children. Both written forms work, the single-line [a, b] list and the - a block list.

Go to definition and document links. Jump to, or click straight through, a link to the note it points at.

Workspace symbols. Jump to any note in the vault by title.

A control character or bidi override in a title shows escaped, such as \u{1b}, in the completion menu, in the inserted link and in the symbol list. Candidates come from a scan of the saved files: a title or tag you changed in an open buffer shows up in completion after you save.

In an encrypted vault the server decrypts in memory and works the same, as long as the vault is unlocked. Following a link there opens a read-only decrypted copy of the target, good for reading; editing still goes through ntropy search.