TOC File Support

wowlua-ls provides full language server features for WoW .toc files: syntax highlighting, hover documentation, completions, go-to-definition, and diagnostics.

What it does

Every WoW addon has a .toc file that declares metadata (title, dependencies, saved variables) and lists the Lua/XML files to load. Editing these files without tooling means memorizing field names, manually checking file paths, and catching typos only at runtime.

With TOC support enabled, you get:

• Syntax highlighting: Header keys, values, comments, directives, and file paths are colorized
• Hover documentation: Hover any standard field name to see what it does, or hover an Interface version to see which expansion it maps to
• Completions: Type ## and get suggestions for all standard fields; type a value and get context-aware options (game types, boolean values, file paths)
• Go-to-definition: Click a file path to jump directly to that .lua or .xml file
• Diagnostics: Catch common mistakes before you reload your addon

Example

## Interface: 110100
## Title: My Addon
## Notes: Does useful things
## SavedVariables: MyAddonDB
## Dependencies: Ace3
## AllowLoadGameType: mainline, cata
## IconTexture: Interface\Icons\INV_Misc_QuestionMark
## LoadOnDemand: 1

# Core files
Core/Init.lua
Core/Config.lua

# UI
UI/MainFrame.xml
UI/MainFrame.lua

Hovering Interface shows its documentation. Hovering 110100 shows "The War Within 11.1.0". Hovering mainline shows "Retail and Forever".

Completions after ## suggest Title, Notes, Author, SavedVariables, etc., filtered to exclude fields you've already declared.

Supported fields

wowlua-ls recognizes all standard TOC fields:

Field	Description
Interface	WoW client interface version (required)
Title	Addon display name in the addon list
Notes	Short description tooltip
Author	Addon author(s)
Version	Version string
SavedVariables	Account-wide persisted globals
SavedVariablesPerCharacter	Per-character persisted globals
Dependencies	Required addon dependencies (alias: RequiredDeps)
OptionalDeps	Optional load-order dependencies
LoadOnDemand	Load only when explicitly requested (1/0)
DefaultState	Whether enabled by default (enabled/disabled)
LoadWith	Load this addon when any listed addon loads
LoadManagers	Addons that manage loading this addon
IconTexture, IconAtlas	Addon compartment icon (texture path or atlas name)
AddonCompartmentFunc	Compartment click handler
AddonCompartmentFuncOnEnter	Compartment hover-enter handler
AddonCompartmentFuncOnLeave	Compartment hover-leave handler
AllowLoadGameType	Restrict to specific game flavors: mainline, standard, classic, vanilla, cata, wrath, tbc, mists, camelot (or forever), plunderstorm, wowhack
ExcludeLoadGameType	Load on every game flavor except the ones listed (the inverse of AllowLoadGameType)
OnlyBetaAndPTR	Restrict to test realms only
Secure	Blizzard-signed secure code marker
Category	Category the addon is listed under in the addon list
Group	Groups related addons under a shared collapsible header in the addon list
LoadSavedVariablesFirst	Load saved variables before the addon's files run (1/0)

Additionally:

• X-* fields: Custom addon metadata (e.g. X-Website, X-Curse-Project-ID) are recognized and won't trigger unknown-field warnings
• Locale suffixes: Title, Notes, Category, and Group accept locale suffixes (e.g. Title-deDE, Group-enUS) and are recognized as localized variants
• Flavor-specific interface versions: Interface-Classic, Interface-Cata, and other Interface-<Type> lines that addon packagers use to build per-flavor TOC files are recognized and validated like Interface; their versions count toward the addon's flavors

Per-line directives

TOC files support two kinds of bracketed tokens on file lines: load conditions that restrict when a file loads, and path variables that expand inline within the path. Conditions may appear before, after, or between path segments - the WoW client's documented form places them after the path:

Retail/FrameOverrides.lua [AllowLoadGameType mainline]
Classic/Compatibility.lua [AllowLoadGameType classic]
TableBuilder.lua [ExcludeLoadGameType vanilla tbc wrath]
Localized.lua [AllowLoadGameType mainline] [AllowLoadTextLocale enUS]
[Family]Shared/Utils.lua
Locale/[TextLocale].lua

The prefix form ([AllowLoadGameType mainline] File.lua) is also accepted.

Bracket	Kind	Description
[AllowLoadGameType ...]	Condition	Only load this file on specified game flavors (mainline, standard, classic, vanilla, cata, wrath, tbc, mists, camelot (or forever), plunderstorm, wowhack)
[ExcludeLoadGameType ...]	Condition	Load this file on every game flavor except the listed ones
[AllowLoadTextLocale ...]	Condition	Only load on specified client locales (e.g. enUS, frFR)
[AllowLoad ...]	Condition	Restrict to an environment (ingame / glue)
[Family]	Path variable	Expands to the game family subdirectory (Mainline / Classic)
[Game]	Path variable	Expands to the specific game subdirectory
[TextLocale]	Path variable	Expands to the client text locale (e.g. enUS)

Game-type values may be separated by commas or plain whitespace — both forms appear in Blizzard's own TOC files. An [ExcludeLoadGameType ...] removes a flavor once every game type in it is listed, so [ExcludeLoadGameType vanilla tbc wrath] still counts as loading on Cataclysm and Mists.

Only the game-type conditions affect flavor filtering; the other conditions are recognized and stripped but don't change a file's flavor. Hover a bracket to see its documentation.

Diagnostics

TOC files have their own set of diagnostics:

Code	Severity	Description
toc-missing-interface	Warning	Required ## Interface: field is missing
toc-duplicate-header	Warning	Same header key appears more than once
toc-unknown-header	Hint	Header not in the known catalog and not an X-* custom field
toc-invalid-interface	Error	Interface value is not a valid numeric version
toc-nonexistent-file	Warning	Referenced file does not exist on disk
toc-invalid-value	Warning	Unknown game type in AllowLoadGameType / ExcludeLoadGameType (header or per-line), or a header missing its colon

Go-to-definition

Click any file path in a TOC file to navigate directly to that file. This works for both .lua and .xml references. Paths are resolved relative to the TOC file's directory.

Paths that use the [Family], [Game], or [TextLocale] path variables can't be followed, since what they expand to depends on the client loading the addon. They're also skipped by toc-nonexistent-file.

No configuration needed

TOC support is enabled automatically when you open a .toc file. No .wowluarc.json settings are required. The language server activates on .toc files the same way it does for .lua files.