Rails navigation and completion

Published Nov 5, 2026 by x_ror

The language server reads your Rails app, so navigation and completion in templates point at real files: partials, ViewComponents, controllers, routes, locale files, helpers, db/schema.rb and Stimulus controllers. Go to definition is F12; hover, completion and find all references work as everywhere else in VS Code.

Where	What you get
render "users/card", render @user	Go to the partial, hover shows the file, completion of partial names, find all renders
render ButtonComponent.new	Completion of ViewComponents, go to class and template, with_* slot completion
@user	Completion, hover and go to definition from the action and its before_actions
users_path, edit_user_url	Completion, hover with the URL and controller#action, go to config/routes.rb
t(".title")	Completion, hover with each locale’s value, go to the locale file, find references
format_price(…)	Go to the helper’s def in app/helpers or helper_method, hover with its signature and comment
f.text_field :	Form builder methods and model columns from db/schema.rb
data-controller, data-action	Stimulus controller names, actions, targets, and the element’s -target/-value/-class attributes
link_to, turbo_frame_tag, …	Rails helpers with snippet arguments and hover docs
def show in a controller	Go to the action’s templates
user in @users.each do |user|	Go to the block parameter or the assignment that declares it
user, item (locals)	Semantic colours for uses of strict locals (parameter) and block variables (variable) over the grammar’s
report.title	Column type, null: and default: on hover, go to db/schema.rb

The sections below go through each one.

Partials and render

app/views/users/show.html.erb

<%= render "users/card", user: @user %>
<%= render @user %>

• F12 on the render name opens the partial.
• Hover shows the file.
• Inside render "…", completion offers your partial names.
• Find all references on a partial lists every render of it.

A dir/name render missing from app/views is also looked up in the app’s engines, packs and components, then in installed gems’ views; Compatibility has the details. Jbuilder and Builder views get partial navigation too.

Rename or move a partial

Rename or move a partial in the Explorer and every render that points to it is updated.

Rename a strict local

F2 on a partial’s strict local renames it in the partial and in every render that passes it.

app/views/users/_card.html.erb

<%# locals: (user:) %>
<p><%= user.name %></p>

Renaming user here also renames the user: key in render "users/card", user: @user.

ViewComponents

<%= render ButtonComponent.new(label: "Save") %>

Completion offers your ViewComponents. Go to definition opens the component class or its template, and with_* slots are completed. Switch to Related File moves between a component’s class, template and preview; see Commands.

Instance variables

@user gets completion, hover and go to definition from the controller action and its before_actions.

app/views/users/show.html.slim

h1 = @user.name

Views in a folder without a controller (shared/, layouts/) get the instance variables that ApplicationController sets in before_actions that run for every action; mailer layouts and *_mailer folders get ApplicationMailer’s.

Routes

users_path, edit_user_url and the other route helpers get completion, hover with the URL and controller#action, and go to definition in config/routes.rb.

= link_to "Edit", edit_user_path(@user)

Routes are read with bin/rails runner, in trusted workspaces only. Turn this off with rubyTemplates.routes.enabled.

Translations

t(".title") gets completion, hover with each locale’s value, go to the locale file, and find references.

app/views/users/index.html.erb

<h1><%= t(".title") %></h1>

Helpers

Your own helpers, such as format_price(…), go to their def in app/helpers or to a controller’s helper_method. Hover shows the signature and the comment above it.

Rails helpers (link_to, turbo_frame_tag, …) complete with snippet arguments and have hover docs. In Haml files, succeed, precede, surround, preserve and find_and_preserve get completion and hover too.

Form builder

In a form builder block, completion at f.text_field : offers the form builder methods and the model’s columns from db/schema.rb.

app/views/users/_form.html.erb

<%= form_with model: @user do |f| %>
  <%= f.text_field :email %>
<% end %>

Stimulus

In data-controller and data-action, completion offers your Stimulus controller names, actions and targets. Once an element has a data-controller, its -target, -value and -class attributes are completed too.

<div data-controller="search">
  <input data-search-target="query" data-action="input->search#filter">
</div>

Controller actions

Go to definition on def show in a controller opens the action’s templates.

Block parameters and locals

Go to definition on user in @users.each do |user| jumps to the block parameter; on a local the template assigns, it jumps to the assignment.

Uses of strict locals get the parameter semantic colour and block variables the variable colour, over the grammar’s colours.

Model columns

Hover on report.title shows the column type, null: and default:. Go to definition opens its line in db/schema.rb.

app/views/reports/index.html.erb

<% @reports.each do |report| %>
  <h2><%= report.title %></h2>
<% end %>

This works when the controller makes the record plain to see, for example @reports = Report.order(:title) or @report = Report.find(params[:id]).

Find templates by name

Ctrl+T (Cmd+T on macOS) finds templates by render name: uscard finds users/card.

Outline and breadcrumbs

Every template has an outline and breadcrumbs.