Use biome as custom formatter

[wcastand]

i tried to use biome as formatter for my typescript project.

i have this config but it doesn't format on save nor when i use the command editor:format:

"format_on_save": "on",
  "formatter": {
    "external": {
      "command": "biome",
      "arguments": ["format", ".", "--write"]
    }
  },

I tried to replace . by {buffer_path} since i was that in an issue but doesn't do anything either.

I saw the ticket, support biome, does that mean we can't use biome as custom formatter and need a special integration?

[wcastand]

i managed to make it work altho it's not perfect.

first the best would be to use lsp since biome support it.

but in the meantime you can get it to work with this config:

  "formatter": {
    "external": {
      "command": "biome",
      "arguments": ["format", "--write", "--stdin-file-path={buffer_path}"]
    }
  },

the only issue is that you need to install biome as a global package, which means it doesn't use the local biome of your project and the potentially not using the right version is the global one is not in sync with local one.

is there anyway to target the command in the local node_modules

./node_modules/.bin/biome doesn't seems to work either.

you offer a bufffer_path, maybe you have a workspace_path or something so i can target the biome executable in my workspace?

[tebuevd]

+1 to this. We need biome to work on Zed :)

[lewisl9029]

Appreciate the clues! I did actually manage to get this working without installing biome globally by creating a local .zed/settings.json with the following contents:

{
  "formatter": {
    "external": {
      "command": "./node_modules/.bin/biome",
      "arguments": [
        "format",
        "--write",
        "--stdin-file-path={buffer_path}"
      ]
    }
  }
}

This is documented here: https://docs.zed.dev/configuration/configuring-zed#folder-specific-settings

[JosephTLyons]

Hey @wcastand, thanks for providing what you've found. We're keeping our eye on Biome - looks really great. Do you happen to know if they are planning on providing features similar to tsserver? Right now, I see that it lints and formats, curious if it will have things like go to def and autocompletions at some point.

[JosephTLyons]

Looks like I got my answer!

[wcastand]

Can't answer for them but the goal at the start was on time to support all of the tool a dev need so replace tsc and stuff but I don't know if that still the case now. Would to check with maintainers of biome

Sorry didn't see you had your answer already on mobile 😅 good then.

[zzzej]

There's an official zed extension by biome, it works but has some bugs

biomejs/biome-zed

[JosephTLyons]

The Zed extension store has a Biome extension now: