Suricata Language Server is an implementation of the Language Server Protocol for Suricata signatures. It adds syntax highlighting, syntax check and hints as well as auto-completion to your preferred editor once it is configured.

Suricata Language Server requires Python and a Suricata binary.

Suricata Language Server currently supports syntax highlighting, auto-completion and advanced syntax checking. Both features are using the capabilities of the Suricata available on the system. This means that the list of keywords (with documentation information) is coming for Suricata itself and it is the same for the syntax checking. This comes at the cost to have Suricata installed on your system (or available in a container) but at the same time, it guarantees a strict checking of signatures with respect to the Suricata version you are running. Pushing signatures to production will not result in bad surprise as the syntax has already been checked by the same engine.

Syntax checking is done when saving the files or after edition is idle for a certain amount of time (3 seconds by default). A configuration test is started using Suricata. This is providing errors to the diagnostic. Warnings and hints are also provided by using a detection engine analysis done by Suricata. This is returning warnings and hints about the potential issues seen of the signatures.

You can use pip to install the Suricata language server :

pip install suricata-language-server

Run this command with sudo if you want to install it globally.

On system where PEP 704 is implemented, the installation via PIP is done by default in a virtualenv which is not convenient for our use case where the editor is running the server. A workaround is to force the installation outside a virtualenv by doing :

pip install --break-system-packages suricata-language-server

If you are a Microsoft Windows user and need to install Suricata, you can use the MSI available on Suricata download page. For Python, the installer from Python website available on their Download page is working well.

After cloning the repository, you need to install first the server by running in the root directory of the project :

pip install .

This will add a suricata-language-server command to the system that will be invoked transparently by the editors that are configured to use it. You can use sudo pip install . to install it system wide if needed.

Suricata Language Server can work in two modes : with a Suricata binary installed on the system or with Suricata running in a container.

To use Suricata commands in a container, you need to start the server with the --container option. You can also specify a custom image with the --image option.

To use Suricata installed on the system, you need to make sure that the Suricata binary is in the PATH or you can specify a custom path to the Suricata binary with the --suricata-binary option.

One simple way is to use nvim-lspconfig and add the following snippet to your configuration:

local suricata_ls_cmd = {vim.fn.expand('$HOME/.local/bin/suricata-language-server')}
vim.lsp.config('Suricata LS',
  {
      cmd = suricata_ls_cmd;
      filetypes = {'suricata', 'hog'};
      single_file_support = true;
      settings = {};
      on_attach = on_attach,
  }
)
vim.lsp.enable('Suricata LS')

If you want to use the container mode and thus skip Suricata installation, you can add the --container option. Following setup assume that suricagta-language-server is in your path:

local suricata_ls_cmd = {'suricata-language-server', '--container'}
vim.lsp.config('Suricata LS',
{
      cmd = suricata_ls_cmd,
      filetypes = {'suricata', 'hog'};
      single_file_support = true;
      settings = {};
      on_attach = on_attach,
}
)
vim.lsp.enable('Suricata LS')

If you want to setup a custom Suricata binary, you can use the following trick: :

local suricata_ls_cmd = {'suricata-language-server', '--suricata-binary=/my/own/suricata'}
vim.lsp.config('Suricata LS',
  {
      cmd = suricata_ls_cmd,
      filetypes = {'suricata', 'hog'};
      single_file_support = true;
      settings = {};
      on_attach = on_attach,
  }
)
vim.lsp.enable('Suricata LS')

If you want to use the container mode with a custom Suricata image, you can use the following:

local suricata_ls_cmd = {'suricata-language-server','--container', '--image=jasonish/suricata:7.0.13'}
vim.lsp.config('Suricata LS',
{
      cmd = suricata_ls_cmd,
      filetypes = {'suricata', 'hog'};
      single_file_support = true;
      settings = {};
      on_attach = on_attach,
}
)
vim.lsp.enable('Suricata LS')

Download the Suricata IntelliSense extension published by Stamus Networks from Visual studio Marketplace and install it into your Visual Studio Code instance. You can also directly install it from Visual Studio Code via the Extensions menu.

Then you can configure it via the settings. Main settings are the path to the Suricata Language Server binary and the path to the Suricata binary. But you can also use the container mode by selecting the container option in the settings. This will run Suricata commands in a Docker container so you don't need to have Suricata installed on your system.

For the settings on Microsoft Windows, you will need to escape the backslash in the paths you need to enter. With a standard Suricata msi installation and a standard installation of the server with pip the settings look like:

• Server Path: C:\\Users\\User\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python310\\Scripts\\suricata-language-server.exe
• Suricata Path: C:\\Program Files\\Suricata\\suricata.exe

The Suricata IntelliSense extension is hosted on its own project on GitHub.

You can use the LSP Package to provide support for LSP to Sublime Text 3.

To activate Suricata Language Server on .rules file, you need to create a new syntax for Suricata file by using the content of Suricata Sublime syntax from OzurieXV

To do so you can click on Tools > Developer > New Syntax then paste the content of the file and modify the text text.suricata to source.suricata. This will provide syntax highlighting as well as a source.suricata Sublime selector that can be used to trigger the Suricata Language Server activation.

To do that, you can setup the Suricata Language Server by following the documentation for the LSP package on client configuration. You will need to open Preferences > Package Settings > LSP > Settings and edit the configuration to add the Suricata Language Server.

The following configuration is known to work :

{
  "clients": {
    "suricatals": {
      "enabled": true,
      "command": ["/path/to/suricata-language-server", "--suricata-binary=/path/to/suricata"],
      "selector": "source.suricata",
    },
  },
}

You can use Suricata Language Server in Kate by activating the LSP Client Plugin.

Once activated, you can go to Settings > Configure Kate > LSP Client then open the User Server Settings tab and add the configuration for the Language Server Protocol :

{
  "servers": {
      "suricata": {
          "command": ["/path/to/suricata-language-server", "--suricata-binary=/path/to/suricata"],
          "highlightingModeRegex": "^.*Suricata.*$"
        }
      }
}

The second option giving the path to Suricata binary is only necessary if you have a binary in a custom location.

See suricata-language-server -h for complete and up-to-date help.

• --suricata-binary: path to the Suricata binary used for signatures testing (optional)
• --suricata-config: path to the Suricata config used for signatures testing (optional)
• --container: run Suricata commands in a container (optional)
• --image: image to use when --container is enabled (default: jasonish/suricata:latest)
• --max-lines: don't run Suricata tests if file is bigger than this limit (auto-completion only)
• --max-tracked-files: don't start Suricata analysis if workspace file count is superior to this limit
• --batch-file: batch mode to parse only the file in argument and return result on stdout
• --list-keywords: list all Suricata keywords in CSV format and exit
• --list-app-layer-protos: list all Suricata app-layer protocols and exit

You can pass options to Suricata by adding a specific comment in a rules file. This is done by adding the ## SLS suricata-options: prefix to the comment. What is after this prefix is passed to Suricata as command line options. For example, if you want to use custom address groups and specific options, you can add the following line to your rules file :

## SLS suricata-options: --set vars.address-groups.SCANNERS="127.0.0.3" --set datasets.rules.allow-absolute-filenames: true

As the system were the signature are developed is not the same as the one where they are deployed, settings such as absolute path to files are not working. The directory of dataset files is the main example of this. The Suricata Language Server is allowing to fix analysis by using a specific comment in the rules file. This is done by adding the ## SLS dataset-dir: prefix :

## SLS dataset-dir: /path/to/dataset/

With this line, a signature such as the following one will be correctly parsed and evaluated :

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"test"; file_data; dataset:isset,fi,type string, load /path/to/dataset/dd.lst; sid:1;)

It is possible to modify the rules buffer by using the ## SLS replace: prefix. This is done by adding a comment line with this prefix and the text to replace. For example, if you want to replace the text foo by bar in the rules buffer, you can add the following line to your rules file :

## SLS replace: foo bar

If the container option is used then it is possible to select the version of Suricata to use. By default latest tag is selected but by using a comment in the file, a specific version of Suricata is selected. The syntax follows the double comment plus SLS prefix with the option being suricata-version.

So to use version 7.0.13, you can use the following line in the rules file:

## SLS suricata-version: 7.0.13

IF the signature file contains a SLS comment with pcap-file option then the signatures in the file are going to be evaluated against the specified pcap. The pcap file name has to be relative to the signatures file. For example, if the signature file is in in a directory containing a tests directory and if there is a mta.pcap then the following syntax can be used:

## SLS pcap-file: tests/mta.pcap

The preceding syntax will work on Unix operating system, systems using backslash as directory separator will have to use it instead of slash.

In the screenshot below, you can see an example of usage of this feature with Neovim:

It displays the performance metrics of the signatures when evaluated against the pcap file.

The language server can output information about the Suricata version it's using, which is helpful for documentation, tooling integration, or understanding what features are available.

To list all available Suricata keywords in CSV format:

suricata-language-server --list-keywords

This outputs a CSV with columns: name, description, app layer, features, and documentation (URL to docs). Each keyword includes metadata such as whether it supports firewall mode, is a sticky buffer, or is a prefilter keyword.

Example output:

name;description;app layer;features;documentation
sid;set rule ID;Unset;supports firewall;https://docs.suricata.io/en/latest/rules/meta.html#sid-signature-id;
priority;rules with a higher priority will be examined first;Unset;none;https://docs.suricata.io/en/latest/rules/meta.html#priority;

To list all supported app-layer protocols:

suricata-language-server --list-app-layer-protos

This outputs a simple list of protocol names (one per line) such as http, tls, dns, ssh, etc. These protocols can be used with the app-layer-protocol keyword or as second parameter in Suricata rules.

Example output:

http
ftp
smtp
tls
ssh

The package includes a standalone suricata-read command-line tool for analyzing PCAP files with Suricata and outputting the results in EVE JSON format. This tool is useful for:

• Batch processing of PCAP files
• Testing signatures against network traffic
• Generating EVE JSON logs for analysis
• Integration into automated workflows and scripts

Basic usage:

suricata-read pcap_file.pcap

With custom rules file:

suricata-read --rules-file custom.rules pcap_file.pcap

Using container mode:

suricata-read --container pcap_file.pcap

Using a specific Suricata version in container mode:

suricata-read --container --image jasonish/suricata:7.0.13 pcap_file.pcap

With custom Suricata binary:

suricata-read --suricata-binary /path/to/suricata pcap_file.pcap

See suricata-read -h for complete and up-to-date help.

• pcap_file: Path to the PCAP file to analyze (required, positional argument)
• --rules-file: Optional rules file to use with PCAP analysis
• --container: Run Suricata in a container (optional)
• --image: Suricata image to use in container mode (default: jasonish/suricata:latest)
• --suricata-binary: Path to the Suricata binary (default: suricata)
• --suricata-config: Path to the Suricata config file (optional)
• --version: Print version number and exit

The tool outputs EVE JSON format to stdout, which can be redirected to a file or piped to other tools for further processing:

suricata-read --rules-file my.rules traffic.pcap > output.json

suricata-read traffic.pcap | jq '.alert'

By default, the language server communicates over stdio (standard input/output), which is the typical mode used by most editors. However, you can also run the server in TCP socket mode for remote development, debugging, or when multiple clients need to connect to the same server instance.

To start the server in TCP mode:

# Use defaults (127.0.0.1:2087)
suricata-language-server --tcp

# Custom host and port
suricata-language-server --tcp --host 0.0.0.0 --port 9999

# With other options (container mode, custom image, etc.)
suricata-language-server --tcp --port 8080 --container --image jasonish/suricata:7.0.13

TCP mode options:

• --tcp: Enable TCP socket mode instead of stdio
• --host: Host address to bind (default: 127.0.0.1)
• --port: Port number to bind (default: 2087)

When using TCP mode, editors/clients must be configured to connect to the TCP socket instead of launching the server as a subprocess. This is useful for:

• Remote development scenarios
• Debugging the language server
• Sharing a single server instance across multiple editor windows
• Network-based editor integration

You can get help by:

• Opening an issue on GitHub
• Asking on #suricata-language-server on Discord.

Suricata Language Server is open source and contributions are welcome. You can used GitHub pull requests to propose changes.

Suricata Language Server uses pre-commit to manage code formatting and checks. You can install the git hooks by running:

pre-commit install