Magical Language Support for Zed

A syntax highlighting extension for the Magical card game configuration language in Zed editor.

Features

• Syntax Highlighting: Full syntax highlighting for .mgcl files
• File Association: Automatically recognizes .mgcl files
• Bracket Matching: Auto-closes braces, brackets, parentheses, and quotes
• Comment Support: Line comments with //
• Indentation: Smart indentation with 2-space tabs

Installation

From Zed Extensions (Coming Soon)

1. Open Zed
2. Press Cmd+Shift+P (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+P (Linux/Windows)
3. Type "zed: extensions" and press Enter
4. Search for "Magical"
5. Click Install

Manual Installation (Development)

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/deadbirdi/zed-magical.git

2. Copy to your Zed extensions directory:

   # macOS/Linux
   cp -r zed-magical ~/.config/zed/extensions/magical

3. Restart Zed

Supported Syntax

The extension highlights:

Keywords

• card, game, deck, zone, action, template
• extends, include, mechanic, ability, rules
• let, const, var, function, if, else
• true, false

Data Types

• Strings: "Lightning Bolt", 'red'
• Numbers: 3, 20, 1.5
• Booleans: true, false

Structures

• Objects: { cost: 1, type: "instant" }
• Arrays: ["red", "blue", "green"]
• Comments: // This is a comment

Example

// Simple card definition
card "Lightning Bolt" {
  cost: 1,
  type: "instant",
  damage: 3,
  text: "Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target."
}

// Playing card
card "Ace of Spades" {
  suit: "spades",
  rank: "ace",
  value: 1,
  color: "black"
}

// Game definition with template inheritance
game "Simple Magic" extends trading_card_template {
  players: 2,
  starting_life: 20,
  zones: {
    hand: { max_size: 7 },
    battlefield: { visible: true }
  }
}

// Deck definition
deck "Aggro Red" {
  colors: ["red"],
  strategy: "aggressive",
  creatures: 24,
  spells: 12,
  lands: 24
}

Configuration

Custom Settings

Add to your Zed settings.json:

{
  "languages": {
    "Magical": {
      "tab_size": 4,
      "hard_tabs": true,
      "preferred_line_length": 100
    }
  }
}

Key Bindings

Add to your keymap.json:

[
  {
    "context": "Editor && language == 'Magical'",
    "bindings": {
      "cmd-/": "editor::ToggleComments"
    }
  }
]

Language Features

• File Extension: .mgcl
• Comment Style: // line comments
• Indentation: 2 spaces (configurable)
• Bracket Pairs: {}, [], (), "", ''

Development

This extension uses the tree-sitter-magical grammar for parsing and syntax highlighting.

Building

The extension is ready to use as-is. If you modify the Tree-sitter grammar:

1. Update the grammar repository
2. Update the rev in extension.toml
3. Reinstall the extension

Testing

Test the extension with these sample files:

# Clone the main language repository
git clone https://github.com/deadbirdi/mgcl.git

# Open test files in Zed
zed mgcl/examples/simple_cards.mgcl
zed mgcl/examples/deck_builder.mgcl

File Structure

zed-magical/
├── extension.toml           # Extension manifest
├── languages/
│   └── magical/
│       ├── config.toml      # Language configuration
│       ├── highlights.scm   # Syntax highlighting rules
│       ├── brackets.scm     # Bracket matching rules
│       └── outline.scm      # Code outline rules
├── README.md               # This file
└── LICENSE                 # MIT license

Troubleshooting

Extension Not Loading

1. Check installation path:

   ls ~/.config/zed/extensions/magical

2. Verify required files exist:

   • extension.toml
   • languages/magical/config.toml

3. Restart Zed completely

Syntax Highlighting Not Working

1. Check file extension is .mgcl
2. Manually select language:
   • Click language indicator in status bar
   • Select "Magical" from dropdown
3. Check Zed version (requires Zed with extension support)

Grammar Issues

If syntax highlighting seems wrong, check the Tree-sitter grammar for updates.

Contributing

1. Fork this repository
2. Make your changes
3. Test with sample .mgcl files
4. Submit a pull request

Areas for Contribution

• Code folding support
• Better error highlighting
• Code completion (LSP integration)
• Improved bracket matching
• More sophisticated outline view

Related Projects

• Magical Language - Main language implementation
• Tree-sitter Grammar - Parsing grammar

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Magical Documentation: Main Repository
• Zed Editor: Zed Documentation