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tree-sitter-sdif

The tree-sitter-sdif repository provides a Tree-sitter grammar for SDIF. It lives at github.com/sdif-format/tree-sitter-sdif.

What Tree-sitter Is​

Tree-sitter is a parser generator and incremental parsing library. It produces concrete syntax trees for source files and is designed to run fast enough for use in editors as you type. Many modern editors embed Tree-sitter to power syntax highlighting, code folding, and structural navigation without relying on regular-expression-based tokenizers.

What tree-sitter-sdif Provides​

The grammar teaches Tree-sitter how to parse SDIF documents. Once the grammar is installed in an editor, the editor gains:

  • Syntax highlighting for SDIF source files (.sdif), canonical files (.sdif.canon), and AI projection files (.sdif.ai).
  • Structural understanding of SDIF constructs: the @sdif header, table blocks with their column declarations and HTAB-separated rows, rel: relation blocks with subject-predicate-object triples, and narrative sections.

Editors with Tree-sitter Support​

Any editor that supports Tree-sitter grammars can use tree-sitter-sdif. Editors with built-in or well-supported Tree-sitter integration include:

  • Neovim — supports Tree-sitter grammars through nvim-treesitter.
  • Helix — has Tree-sitter support built in.
  • Zed — uses Tree-sitter as its primary parsing layer.

Other editors may support Tree-sitter through plugins or extensions. Consult your editor's documentation for instructions on adding custom grammars.

Installation​

Installation steps vary by editor. In general, you point your editor's Tree-sitter integration at the grammar repository. For Neovim with nvim-treesitter, this typically involves adding tree-sitter-sdif as a custom parser entry. For Helix and Zed, follow the grammar configuration conventions documented by each editor.

Refer to the tree-sitter-sdif README for up-to-date installation instructions and any editor-specific notes.