VSCode and Calva quick start

Run the command code . from the root of a Clojure project.

Alternatively, run VS Code and use Ctrl+k Ctrl+o or the File > Open Folder menu to open the Folder that contains your Clojure project. Select the top level of the folder, e.g. playground and click OK

MacOSX Keys - Option or Alt

Depending on the version of Mac computer you use, your Alt key may be called Option So Ctrl+Alt+c e would be Ctrl+Option+c e

Start a REPL for basic projects

ctrl+alt+c ctrl+alt+j to start a REPL click on the nrepl name in the bottom left of VSCode UI.

Select either Clojure CLI or Leiningen when prompted for the project type

VS Code - Calva - Start REPL - nREPL button

Wait a few moments for the REPL to start.

A new CLJ REPL tab will open when the Clojure REPL is ready

VS Code - Calva - Start REPL - nREPL button

Troubleshooting

If the REPL did not start, the nREPL link in the bottom blue bar will show the word "Disconnected".

VS Code - Calva - Start REPL - nREPL button

Open the Output tab to see the progress of the REPL starting. Ask your coach for help if you see output other than that below.

VS Code - Calva - Start REPL - nREPL button

Try running a REPL in the command line and connecting to it (details at bottom of this page).

Start a REPL on the command line

Ctrl+` toggles open the VSCode Integrated terminal. Or open your operating system terminal.

Windows GitBash users

Configure the VS Code internal terminal to use the GitBash shell.

In the terminal, change to the folder than contains your project, e.g. cd projects/clojure/playground

To use Leiningen, type the command lein repl in the terminal.

VS Code Terminal - Clojure REPL running

To use Clojure CLI tools, us the practicalli/clojure-deps-edn aliases and run a REPL that also starts an nREPL server

clojure -M:middleware/cider-clj

If you also wish to have an interactive terminal REPL, include rebel readline when starting the REPL

clojure -M:repl/rebel-nrepl

Connecting to an external REPL from Calva

Ctrl+Alt+c Ctrl+Alt+c will open a command pop-up asking you to enter host and port. These details were shown when the REPL was run in the terminal.

Calva - connect to running REPL

In the bottom left of the VS Code window, check the status of the nrepl connection. If you are connected, then the disconnected status should disappear

Calva - nrepl disconnected

Developing your project

Once you have a running REPL, use these commands to help you develop your code.

MacOSX Keys - Option or Alt

Depending on the version of Mac computer you use, your Alt key may be called Option So Ctrl+Alt+c e would be Ctrl+Option+c e

Evaluate code Keybinding Description
Namespace/file Ctrl+Alt+c ENTER Load current file/namespace and all required namespaces
Top level expression Ctrl+Alt+c SPACE Show the result of the top level expression
Expression Ctrl+Alt+c e Show the result of the current expression
Expression (send to REPL) Ctrl+Alt+c alt+e Evaluate current expression in the REPL Window
Expression to comment Ctrl+Alt+c c Evaluate current expression and paste as comment
Replace expression Ctrl+Alt+c r Replace the expression with its result
In the REPL ALt+Enter Evaluates the current line REPL window

You can run tests from Calva too...

Tests to run Keybinding Description
All tests Ctrl+Alt+c Shift+t Run all tests in the project
Current Namespace tests Ctrl+Alt+c t Run all tests for the current namespace
Re-run failing tests Ctrl+Alt+c Ctrl+t Run all tests for the current namespace

REPL history

The REPL window maintains a history of the code typed in and can be navigated by pressing Alt+Up and Alt+Down.

Commenting / uncommenting code

Use ;; at the start of a line, which comments it out.

Line comments keybindings ?

The Add Line Comment command to place line comment command is broken in Calva, it only produces a single semi-colon

Increase / decrease font size

Ctrl + and Ctrl - will increase and decrease the size of the whole editor.

Ctrl Shift P and type the command Preference: Open Settings (JSON) to open the settings.json configuration file. Update the value for editor.fontSize and save the file. The font should update immediately in the VS Code UI.

Other useful options that can be added to the settings.json configuration

"workbench.colorTheme": "Solarized Light",
    "editor.fontSize": 14,
    "editor.fontFamily": "'Fira Code', 'Ubuntu Mono', 'Droid Sans Mono', 'monospace', monospace, 'Droid Sans Fallback'",
    "window.zoomLevel": 1,
    "calva.paredit.defaultKeyMap": "strict"

Structured editing - Paredit

Once you get the basics of Clojure development, you can try structural editing which is a way to edit your code without breaking the structure of Clojure. Structural editing ensures you dont have uneven parentheses, (), [], {}, etc.

The Calva visual Guide to Paredit includes lots of examples of using Structural editing.

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