Code Completion & Snippets

Status: Current Last updated: 2026-03-30 13:40 EDT

The extension provides context-aware autocompletion and snippet templates to speed up CHAT editing. Completions are triggered by specific characters at the start of a line or within an utterance, and snippets expand common CHAT structures with a single Tab press.

Code Completion

Completion suggestions appear automatically as you type certain trigger characters. You can also invoke the completion menu manually with Ctrl+Space.

Speaker Codes (trigger: *)

When you type * at the start of a line, the extension offers all speakers declared in the file’s @Participants header. Each suggestion includes the speaker’s role and auto-inserts the colon and tab separator:

*|  <-- cursor here

Suggestions:
  CHI   target child     --> inserts "*CHI:\t"
  MOT   mother           --> inserts "*MOT:\t"
  FAT   father           --> inserts "*FAT:\t"

This ensures you never mistype a speaker code or use a code that is not declared in the file.

Tier Types (trigger: %)

When you type % at the start of a line after a main tier, the extension offers all standard dependent tier types:

%|  <-- cursor here

Suggestions:
  mor   Morphological analysis       --> inserts "%mor:\t"
  gra   Grammatical relations        --> inserts "%gra:\t"
  pho   Phonological transcription   --> inserts "%pho:\t"
  mod   Model phonology              --> inserts "%mod:\t"
  sin   Gesture/sign annotations     --> inserts "%sin:\t"
  act   Action coding                --> inserts "%act:\t"
  cod   General coding               --> inserts "%cod:\t"
  com   Comments                     --> inserts "%com:\t"
  ...and more

Headers (trigger: @)

When you type @ at the start of a line, the extension offers all 28 standard CHAT headers with descriptions. Each suggestion auto-inserts the header name, colon, and tab separator:

(SCREENSHOT: Completion menu showing @ header options) Capture this: in a .cha file, place cursor at the beginning of a blank line in the header section and type @. The completion menu should appear showing headers like @Languages, @Participants, @ID, @Media, @Date, @Location, etc.

Standard headers include @Begin, @End, @UTF8, @Languages, @Participants, @ID, @Media, @Date, @Location, @Situation, @Activities, @Comment, @Bg, @Eg, @New Episode, @Birth of, @Birthplace of, @Education of, @Group of, @SES of, @Sex of, @Warning, @Transcriber, @Coder, @Options, @Font, @ColorWords, and @Window.

Brackets (trigger: [)

When you type [ inside an utterance, the extension offers 17 standard bracket annotations with descriptions:

• [//] – retracing with correction
• [/] – retracing without correction
• [//?] – uncertain retracing
• [*] – error marking
• [= text] – explanation
• [: alt] – replacement
• [=! text] – paralinguistic material
• [+ post] – postcode
• [- pre] – precode
• [%act: text] – inline action
• [%com: text] – inline comment
• And others

This eliminates the need to memorize all bracket codes and ensures correct formatting.

Postcodes (trigger: +)

When you type + in an utterance context, the extension offers valid CHAT postcodes:

+|  <-- cursor here

Suggestions:
  +"     Quotation follows
  +,.    Self-completion
  +/.    Interruption
  +/?    Interruption question
  +//.   Self-interruption
  +...   Trailing off

Code Lens

Above the @Participants header, a code lens annotation displays the utterance count for each speaker in the file. For example:

CHI: 42 utterances | MOT: 38 utterances
@Participants:	CHI Target_Child, MOT Mother

This provides an at-a-glance summary of speaker activity without running an analysis command. The counts update automatically as you edit the document.

Code Folding

The extension provides CHAT-aware code folding via the language server:

• Utterance blocks: Each main tier line (*SPEAKER:) together with its dependent tiers (%mor:, %gra:, etc.) folds as a single unit. Collapsing an utterance hides all its annotation tiers while keeping the main tier visible.
• Header block: The header section (@Begin through the first utterance) folds as one unit, letting you hide metadata to focus on the transcript body.

Use the fold/unfold controls in the gutter, or the keyboard shortcuts:

• Fold: Cmd+Shift+[ (macOS) / Ctrl+Shift+[ (Windows/Linux)
• Unfold: Cmd+Shift+] (macOS) / Ctrl+Shift+] (Windows/Linux)
• Fold All: Cmd+K Cmd+0
• Unfold All: Cmd+K Cmd+J

Snippets

The extension includes 8 CHAT snippets for common file structures. Type the prefix and press Tab to expand. Tab stops (shown as $1, $2, etc. in the template) let you fill in values sequentially by pressing Tab.

Example: Using the Header Block Snippet

1. Open a new .cha file
2. Type newfile and press Tab
3. The full file skeleton expands with cursor positioned at the language code
4. Press Tab to move through each placeholder: language, participant names, ID fields, first utterance content

Snippets are defined in snippets/chat.json and are available in any .cha file.

Related Chapters

• Quick Fixes – automatic corrections for errors
• Syntax Highlighting – visual feedback while editing
• Special Characters – inserting CA and CHAT Unicode symbols
• Participant Editor – visual table editor for @ID headers