Ascot

Ties together knowledge from across your ObjectScript code base.

A type checker and code intelligence engine for InterSystems ObjectScript.
Use it as a CLI tool, from AI agents via
MCP or LSP protocols
(including Claude Code plugins), or via the
InterSystems Language Server.

Features

Diagnostics: flow-sensitive type checking — undefined-variable reads,
assigned-but-never-read locals, argument count/mode mismatches, missing
QUIT/RETURN, inconsistent variable declarations across branches, and
more.
Hover: type and signature info, or macro expansion (.mac/.int only) on
hover.
Go to Definition/Find References: for classes, class members, and
same-routine labels/gotos.
Document/Workspace Symbols: navigate classes and class members within a
file or across the workspace.
Inlay Hints: inferred types, argument names, and parameter default
values shown inline.

Installation

GitHub release

Prebuilt ascot binaries are attached to each
GitHub release.

Linux (x86_64 and ARM64) and Windows (x86_64): download the archive
for your platform from the release page.
macOS: one universal binary covers Intel and Apple silicon. Download it
with curl rather than a browser, since Gatekeeper refuses to run an
unsigned binary that a browser download has quarantined:
```
curl -L https://github.com/intersystems-community/ascot/releases/latest/download/ascot-cli-universal-apple-darwin.tar.gz | tar xz
```
If you already downloaded it with a browser, clear the quarantine flag
instead:
```
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ascot
```

Rust

From crates.io/crates/ascot:

cargo install ascot

JavaScript binding

A library for Node 24+ and other JS consumers (the one the InterSystems Language
Server uses); it does not provide an ascot executable. From
npmjs.com/package/@intersystems-community/ascot:

npm install @intersystems-community/ascot

Usage

`ascot` as a CLI tool

ascot analyze ...

Loads every .cls/.mac/.int/.inc file under each PATH into one
workspace and prints diagnostics for all of them. Exits non-zero if any error
or warning was found, or if a PATH doesn’t exist.

ascot analyze-workspace  ...

Loads every .cls/.mac/.int/.inc file under WORKSPACE-ROOT into a single
workspace, so cross-file references resolve, but only prints diagnostics for
files under the given PATH(s). Useful for checking a subset of a large
workspace without losing cross-file context. Each PATH must exist and be
inside WORKSPACE-ROOT; a nonexistent one is an error, and one outside the
root is skipped with a warning.

ascot parse FILE

Only parses FILE (no type checking) and prints the syntax error, if any.
Exits non-zero on a syntax error.

`ascot` as an MCP server

ascot mcp

Starts the MCP server (stdio), exposing workspace analysis as tools an AI agent
calls on demand. Any MCP client that can launch a stdio server works: the
command is ascot (or its full path) and the single argument is mcp.

Claude Code:

claude mcp add ascot -- ascot mcp

OpenAI Codex CLI:

codex mcp add ascot -- ascot mcp

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json), Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json) and
Gemini CLI (~/.gemini/settings.json) share one shape:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ascot": { "command": "ascot", "args": ["mcp"] }
  }
}

VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json):

{
  "servers": {
    "ascot": { "type": "stdio", "command": "ascot", "args": ["mcp"] }
  }
}

`ascot` as an LSP server

ascot lsp

Starts the LSP server (stdio).

Claude Code plugins

This repository is a Claude Code plugin marketplace with two plugins, both
expecting ascot on PATH: ascot-mcp registers the MCP server above, and
ascot-lsp runs the LSP server and feeds its diagnostics back into the
conversation after every edit.

claude plugin marketplace add intersystems-community/ascot
claude plugin install ascot-mcp@ascot-plugins
claude plugin install ascot-lsp@ascot-plugins

Connecting to IRIS

Every command can use a live IRIS instance, reached through the Atelier REST
API, to resolve the system and library classes and routines that aren’t part
of the local workspace. Without a connection, such a class or routine is left
unconfirmed (a hint, not an error) rather than checked against real IRIS
metadata. The commands take the connection differently:

analyze, analyze-workspace and lsp take --iris <url> and
--iris-namespace <namespace> (default %SYS) on the command line. The URL
carries the credentials and, if the instance is served under one, its path
prefix (/iris below):
```
ascot analyze --iris http://user:password@localhost:8080/iris --iris-namespace USER ...
```
The ascot-lsp plugin starts ascot lsp with no flags, so it never connects
to IRIS.
mcp takes no flags. The connection is set per workspace, through the
iris and iris_namespace (default %SYS) arguments of the
create_workspace tool call.

Declaration files

Not every workflow has a live instance at hand, for example CI or analysis of
code exported from another system, and a live connection costs one round of
REST requests per class or routine looked up, every run. A declaration file
holds everything a connection would be asked for, fetched once:

ascot declare --iris http://user:password@localhost:8080/iris --iris-namespace USER user.d.json

Wherever --iris (or the MCP iris argument) takes a URL, it also takes the
path of such a file, and no REST request is made:

ascot analyze --iris user.d.json ...

--iris-namespace is then optional; if given, it must match the namespace the
file declares. The file holds every class’s superclasses, members and their
signatures and types, as a live connection would report them (no method code),
and the full source of every .inc file and routine. Regenerate it after the
instance’s code changes.

Contributing

Please open an issue
before starting a pull request. See https://github.com/intersystems-community/ascot/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md for the
development workflow, https://github.com/intersystems-community/ascot/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md for how the project is
run, and https://github.com/intersystems-community/ascot/blob/main/SECURITY.md for reporting vulnerabilities.

License

This software is provided AS-IS, with no implied warranties, support, or
conditions of any kind.

Licensed under either of Apache License, Version 2.0 or
MIT license at your option.

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted
for inclusion in this work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall
be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.