Getting Started

This page takes you from a clean machine to a running daslang program, with editor support and AI-assistant tooling wired in.

Build the compiler 

You need git, CMake, and a C++ compiler for your platform (MSVC, clang, or gcc):

git clone https://github.com/GaijinEntertainment/daScript
cd daScript
cmake -B build
cmake --build build --config Release -j

The compiler lands at bin/Release/daslang.exe (Windows / MSVC multi-config), or bin/daslang / build/daslang (Make and Ninja single-config layouts). The rest of this page writes daslang for whichever of those you have; adding it to PATH or a shell alias makes that literal.

Hello, world 

options gen2

[export]
def main() {
    print("hello, world\n")
}

Save as hello_world.das and run:

daslang hello_world.das

The [export] annotation makes main callable from outside the compiled context — entry points need it. options gen2 selects the current syntax generation; all documentation and new code use it.

From here the fastest tour of the language is the tutorial series — start at Tutorials and read in order, or jump straight to the reference manual and the standard library.

Editor support: VSCode 

The best supported editor is VSCode with the daScript language support extension — language server, linting, debugging, and snippets. Install it from the marketplace and point dascript.compiler at your daslang binary. If autocompletion seems unresponsive, raise the dascript.server.connectTimeout setting (10 s, or 20 s for a Debug-build compiler).

AI assistants: MCP server 

The daslang MCP server gives AI coding assistants (Claude Code and any other Model Context Protocol client) compiler-backed tools: compile checks, go-to-definition, find-references, parse-aware grep, AST dumps, test running, live-reload control, and more.

Configure it in .mcp.json at the project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "daslang": {
      "command": "bin/Release/daslang.exe",
      "args": ["utils/mcp/main.das"],
      "defer_loading": false
    }
  }
}

(on Linux/macOS point command at your binary, e.g. bin/daslang), or add it via the CLI:

claude mcp add daslang -- bin/Release/daslang.exe utils/mcp/main.das

The assistant starts and stops the server automatically with each session. The full tool table, C++-side search tools, and Windows/MSVC environment notes are in MCP Server — AI Tool Integration.

AI assistants: LSP server 

The daslang LSP server complements the MCP tools with push diagnostics: after every edit of a .das file the compiler (and the lint passes) report errors and warnings into the assistant’s context automatically — no explicit tool call — plus native definition / references / hover / symbols / call hierarchy / implementation navigation. It needs only the daslang binary and Python 3.

Claude Code sessions started at the repository root (or an installed SDK root) load it automatically via the checked-in .claude/skills/daslang-lsp/ plugin manifest. From any other directory:

claude --plugin-dir /abs/path/to/daScript/utils/lsp/plugin

Any other stdio LSP client can spawn it directly as python3 utils/lsp/lsp_supervisor.py. Configuration options and architecture notes are in LSP Server — Editor & AI Diagnostics.

Next steps 

Tutorials — runnable, self-contained walkthroughs from hello-world to macros and C++ integration.
Reference manual — the language, embedding, and tooling documentation.
Standard library — every builtin and daslib module.

Getting Started

Build the compiler

Hello, world

Editor support: VSCode

AI assistants: MCP server

AI assistants: LSP server

Next steps