We are thrilled to announce that we (Serokell Company) have finished our third Dfinity grant, which means more improvements to the Motoko ecosystem. This time, we are enhancing the VSCode Extension for the Motoko language.
New features
Autocompletion now works for symbols from imported modules.
Finding references is supported for fields of modules, actors, and classes, along with improving goto-definition.
Syntax errors now have an example of valid code at that point.
The parser of the moc compiler now supports error recovery, allowing you to see all syntax errors at once and use more IDE features while editing. Drawing from our experience with other smart contract compilers, we implemented this with minimal changes (see our fork of ocaml-recovery-parser).
Overall performance has been improved by caching type information from the moc compiler. This enhancement is especially beneficial for large projects. Additionally, the extension repository now includes an automated benchmark for investigating performance issues.
Fixed bugs related to the “go to definition” functionality
How to try
All these features will be available in the next release of the VSCode extension for Motoko.
Hey DFINITY folks noticed the official Motoko VSCode extension is now showing as “no longer available on the Extension Marketplace” in VSCode (still works if already installed, but blocks new installs/discovery). Screenshot attached:
Good news: A simple patch republish (bumping the version in package.json and running vsce publish) cleared it right up for my Colorful Dark+ theme—no code changes needed. It’s back to full installs/discoverability now.
That’s awesome news! These updates sound really useful, especially the improved autocompletion and error recovery. Having better performance and clearer syntax feedback will make coding in Motoko a lot smoother. Great work to the Serokell team for continuing to polish the developer experience!
