Packages and languages

Inside Skink: Ctrl+E, then help packages.

Built in: Rust, TypeScript/TSX, JavaScript, Python, Go, JSON, TOML, Bash, Markdown and YAML. Everything else is a package: Zig, Dart, HTML, CSS, Lua, Make, INI, diff, XML/SVG, and kits for Kotlin, Java, C/C++, C#, Ruby, PHP, Swift, Elixir, Haskell, Scala, Nix, Svelte and SQL.

Opening a file with no grammar says which package to install: "No grammar for .kt: :install kotlin".

| In Skink | From a shell | Does | |---|---|---| | :install kotlin | skink --install kotlin | a verified package by name | | :install . | skink --install . | what this project needs (asks first; -y yes) | | :uninstall NAME | skink --uninstall NAME | remove everything it placed | | :packages | skink --list | what is installed | | | skink --search TEXT | find packages | | | skink --update-packages | update them |

Other sources: owner/repo[/pkg][@tag] (any GitHub release, unverified) and ./my-package (a folder with a skink-package.toml). A project lists its own in .skink/packages.json: `{"packages": ["kotlin"]}. :packages disable NAME` keeps a package but turns it off.

Grammars and themes apply at once; language servers and scripts at the next start. A package's Lua script asks once per version, like a project's .skink/init.lua.

> [!NOTE] > Short names only install verified packages, and names that look like one (Kotlin, kot1in, font_pack) are refused.

## How it works

A grammar is WebAssembly, loaded the first time a file needs it. A package's language server and tools are downloaded for your platform, checked against the SHA-256 the package pins, and put on the PATH of language servers and terminal tabs only. Code in Markdown fences, HTML <script> and <style> is coloured too.

Files live in <data>/packages, <data>/tools and <data>/installed.json, where <data> is $SKINK_DATA_DIR, else ~/.local/share/skink (%LOCALAPPDATA%\skink\data on Windows). Fonts go to your user font folder. SKINK_INDEX_URL points --search at another index. Builds with --features all-langs have every grammar built in.