OpenFastTrace (OFT) is a requirement tracing suite. It keeps track of whether you actually implemented everything you planned to in your specifications.
This project brings that into the editor through the Language Server Protocol. One server process understands OFT specification items and coverage tags, and any LSP-capable editor can connect to it. Two clients ship here: an IntelliJ IDEA plugin and a VS Code extension.
New to the OFT format? The OFT user guide explains items, coverage and artifact types.
| Feature | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Syntax highlighting | Item IDs, section keywords and coverage tags in their own colors |
| Hover documentation | Title and description of the item an ID refers to |
| Go to definition | From a tag to the item, from an item to everything covering it |
| Find references | Every coverage tag in the workspace that covers an item |
| Symbol search | Items through the editor's workspace symbol search |
| Trace diagnostics | Defects of every file, by severity, in the problems view |
| Quick fix | Outdated references lifted to the current revision, one or all |
| Coverage code lens | What an item still needs, shown above its ID |
| Coverage hierarchy | The full chain from feature down to the tags in source |
| Code completion | Item IDs in Covers: and tags, plus tag skeletons |
| Rename | An item and every reference to it, in one step |
| Trace report | The full OFT report as HTML or plain text |
| Ignore file | Glob patterns in .oftignore keep paths out of the trace |
| Trace decisions | An architecture decision record traced like any other item |
The feature guide shows each of them with a screenshot and the shortcut for both editors.
Both clients start the server automatically when a supported file is opened. No configuration needed.
Requires IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate 2026.1 or later.
- Download the plugin ZIP from the releases page.
- Settings → Plugins → ⚙ → Install Plugin from Disk…, pick the ZIP.
- Restart when prompted.
Requires VS Code 1.82 or later.
Install from the Open VSX Registry, or from a downloaded package:
- Download the
.vsixfor your platform from the releases page. - Open the Extensions view, click the
···menu and choose Install from VSIX…, pick the file.
Each package carries its own Java runtime, so the file name ends in the platform,
for example -win32-x64 or -darwin-arm64.
doc/demo/ holds a small coffee maker project that visits every feature
in order. Open doc/demo/example as the project and follow the
demo walkthrough. A few defects in it are intentional, so the
diagnostics, the quick fix and the report have something to show.
This language server is the subject of a bachelor's thesis. Taking part is two steps: first work through the demo walkthrough, then answer the survey right afterwards. The survey builds on the walkthrough, so please do that one first. Answers are evaluated pseudonymously and used only for the thesis.
| Topic | Details |
|---|---|
| Status | Bachelor thesis project, work in progress |
| Built on | Java 17, LSP4J 1.0.0 (LSP 3.18), OFT 4.9.0 |
| License | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Specification | requirements · features |
| Decisions | architecture decision records |
Server, plugin and extension
- Java 17 or later, Maven 3.6 or later
- Node.js and npm for the VS Code extension
- Gradle comes as a wrapper in
intellij-plugin/
git clone https://github.com/fgorke/openfasttrace-language-server.git
cd openfasttrace-language-server
mvn verifyThe build produces a standalone fat JAR at
target/openfasttrace-language-server-*-standalone.jar. It speaks LSP over stdio,
so any editor with an LSP client can launch it directly:
java -jar target/openfasttrace-language-server-*-standalone.jarmvn package
cd intellij-plugin
./gradlew runIde # sandbox IDE with the plugin
./gradlew buildPlugin # installable ZIP in build/distributions/mvn package
cd vscode-extension
npm install
npm run watch # then press F5 in VS Code to launch an extension host
npm run package # .vsix for the current platformjlink only builds a runtime for the platform it runs on, so a package built here
carries a runtime for this machine only. The releases are built per platform in CI.
- OpenFastTrace: the requirement tracing suite this server builds on
- OpenFastTrace IntelliJ Plugin: the native PSI-based IntelliJ integration by the itsallcode team
- LSP4J: the Java binding for the Language Server Protocol
GPL-3.0-or-later. OpenFastTrace is licensed under GPL-3.0 without a classpath exception and this project links against it, so the license propagates.