2025-07-25 calva | Clojure Slack Archive

calva

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T10:00:32.508969Z

Hi everyone I'm running into a persistent formatting issue with Calva on VSCode (macOS) that I haven't been able to resolve, despite trying multiple configurations. I’m hoping someone can spot what I’m missing or confirm a working setup. I want Calva to apply the same formatting as the cljfmt CLI, using a custom cljfmt.edn file in my project root — especially for :extra-indents used with some custom macros (like m/sp, m/via, etc.). # Currently: Running clojure -M:cljfmt fix works as expected. Pressing TAB or CMD+S in Calva update well default formating but not custom macros. it seems to ignore my cljfmt.edn. This is my cljfmt.edn:

clojure
{:remove-multiple-non-indenting-spaces? true
 :indent-line-comments? true
 :remove-trailing-whitespace? true
 :sort-ns-references? true
 :extra-indents {>defn [[:inner 0]]
                 loop-iter! [[:inner 0]]
                 sp-let [[:inner 0]]
                 missionary.core/via [[:block 1]]
                 missionary.core/sp [[:block 0]]}}

My deps.edn includes:

:cljfmt {:extra-deps {dev.weavejester/cljfmt {:mvn/version "0.13.1"}}
         :main-opts ["-m" "cljfmt.main"]}

Running clojure -M:cljfmt --config cljfmt.edn fix src/test_calva_format/core.clj gives the correct formatting. # What I’ve tried in VSCode: I tried those configurations in .vscode/settings.json: ## Specify config path, with newIndentEngine:

{
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "calva.fmt.configPath": "cljfmt.edn",
  "calva.fmt.newIndentEngine": true
}

## Via clojure-lsp, last version: First I created .lsp/config.edn with:

{:cljfmt-config-path "cljfmt.edn"}

Then tested:

{
  "[clojure]": {
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    "editor.formatOnType": true
  },
  "calva.clojureLspVersion": "nightly",
  "calva.fmt.configPath": "CLOJURE-LSP"
}

And:

{
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "calva.fmt.configPath": "CLOJURE-LSP",
  "calva.enableClojureLspOnStart": "always"
}

I tested also without option, as Calva is supposed to detect cljfmt.edn:

{
  "editor.formatOnSave": true
}

cljfmt.edn is in the root. For each config, I confirmed that CMD+S or TAB triggers Calva formatting, but it doesn't follow :extra-indents while CLI is doing it well. # Folder structure

test-calva-format/
├── .lsp/
│   └── config.edn
├── .vscode/
│   └── settings.json
├── cljfmt.edn
├── deps.edn
├── src/
│   └── test_calva_format/
│       └── core.clj
└── README.md

# What else I’ve tested • Applied same user settings than workspace ones. • Explicit absolute path for calva.fmt.configPath → no change. • Verified that Calva version is 2.0.523. • Tried enabling/disabling calva.fmt.newIndentEngine (doesn’t seem to affect). Can you help me to find a configuration ensuring Calva uses my custom cljfmt.edn, and applies the same formatting as the CLI? I would prefer using clojure-lsp way to be iso in usage with Emacs users. The test repository is here: https://github.com/patinside/clojure-format-calva-test

pez 2025-07-25T10:19:51.971929Z

It could be that Calva doesn’t handle some of the symbols in the extra-indents map. Try with something really simple there and see if you can get Calva to honor that.

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T10:29:14.177159Z

Hum, interesting. when specifying m/via instead of missionary.core/via , I get what I expect regarding the via macro. What do you recommend? to only use the aliases in the cljfmt.edn? or both? Also I noticed a difference of behaviour between CMD-S and TAB : CMD-S

(defn via-fn
  [req]
  (m/via m/blk
    (let [deps (req :deps)]
    (+ 1 1))))

TAB:

(defn via-fn
  [req]
  (m/via m/blk
    (let [deps (req :deps)]
      (+ 1 1))))

And last question: what is the minimal settings.json vscodeconfiguration recommended to work with clojure-lsp?

pez 2025-07-25T10:43:30.011049Z

I don’t understand that last question. No settings.json is needed to work with clojure-lsp. It’s only needed if you are not happy with some default.

pez 2025-07-25T10:44:17.660579Z

As for the difference between saving and formatting the current form. Do you have format-on-save enabled?

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T10:44:30.868379Z

I mean for the formating: Is "calva.fmt.configPath": "CLOJURE-LSP" enough?

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T10:45:16.436979Z

> As for the difference between saving and formatting the current form. Do you have format-on-save enabled? Yes

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T10:46:14.294849Z

I noticed format-on-save formating is not working well.

pez 2025-07-25T10:46:25.924829Z

> Is "calva.fmt.configPath": "CLOJURE-LSP" enough? It’s enough for telling Calva to ask clojure-lsp to provide the config.

👍 1

pez 2025-07-25T10:47:18.516199Z

Do you have any special reason for going via clojure-lsp for this?

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T10:48:11.857269Z

Just want to be as close as possible to team members using emacs.

pez 2025-07-25T10:52:59.846509Z

It adds layers to the configuration. Anyway, with that setting, to see what Calva is fed use the command for printing out the clojure-lsp config and check the cljfmt entry.

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T10:54:41.833439Z

Seems good:

"cljfmt-raw": "{:remove-multiple-non-indenting-spaces? true, :indent-line-comments? true, :remove-trailing-whitespace? true, :sort-ns-references? true, :extra-indents {>defn [[:inner 0]], loop-iter! [[:inner 0]], sp-let [[:inner 0]], missionary.core/via [[:block 1]], missionary.core/sp [[:block 0]], m/via [[:block 1]], m/sp [[:block 0]]}}"
}

pez 2025-07-25T10:55:45.346479Z

Yeah, but also seems like it doesn’t bring anything to the table. 😃

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T10:56:32.205919Z

What do you mean? 😅

pez 2025-07-25T10:57:27.677689Z

While figuring things out, at least, it is much more convenient to let Calva use the file directly. Then you can experiment in the cljfmt.edn file directlty, relying on Calva to hot reload it.

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T10:59:40.636089Z

ok, I will try access directly to cljfmt.edn. And what about "calva.fmt.newIndentEngine" ?

pez 2025-07-25T11:05:46.219609Z

Indenting and formatting are different things in Calva. (And generally different things in VS Code too.) So indenting is only happening when you insert a new line in the editor, generally informing VS Code where the cursor should go. The legacy indent engine used cljfmt for this. The new engine is custom Calva code, but we use the cljfmt config.

👍 1

pez 2025-07-25T11:07:02.015459Z

As far as troubleshooting formatting goes, it doesn’t matter what indent engine you use. But generally the new engine is the default for reasons.

pez 2025-07-25T11:09:11.963659Z

I’m a bit confused why format on save misbehaves. In theory it should work better with aliases since then cljfmt has the full file.

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T11:09:46.533119Z

{:remove-multiple-non-indenting-spaces? true
 :indent-line-comments? true
 :remove-trailing-whitespace? true
 :sort-ns-references? true
 :extra-indents {>defn [[:inner 0]]
                 loop-iter! [[:inner 0]]
                 sp-let [[:inner 0]]
missionary.core/via [[:block 1]]
                 missionary.core/sp [[:block 0]]
  m/via [[:block 1]]
  m/sp [[:block 0]]}}

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T11:10:02.960639Z

this is after format-on-save

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T11:10:24.699339Z

and when TAB, everything is great.

pez 2025-07-25T11:10:43.330669Z

I’m starting to think that you are running into bugs in Calva. I will try to look at it later with your config examples.

🙏 1

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T11:11:19.798159Z

rpatrelle 2025-07-25T11:12:09.963169Z

I will use tab for the moment. Thanks for you help.

🙏 1

pez 2025-07-25T11:14:03.651529Z

I have never used format-on-save so may have dropped some balls there…

Clojurians Log v2

calva