editor: Support disabling semantic token highlighting via empty rules#52963

lingyaochu · 2026-04-02T06:22:54Z

Self-Review Checklist:

I've reviewed my own diff for quality, security, and reliability
Unsafe blocks (if any) have justifying comments
The content is consistent with the UI/UX checklist
Tests cover the new/changed behavior
Performance impact has been considered and is acceptable

Closes #52882, should help #52723

According to the Zed documentation, users should be able to disable semantic highlighting for a specific token type by adding an empty rule in settings.json.

However, the current implementation fails to respect this because its merging logic allows lower-priority default styles to "leak through" even when a matching high-priority rule is empty. This makes it impossible to selectively disable semantic tokens to reveal the underlying Tree-sitter highlighting when using "semantic_tokens": "combined". This is particularly problematic for extensions that provide specialized Tree-sitter queries which are currently being obscured by less desirable semantic tokens(#52723).

This PR fixes the logic to ensure that a completely empty high-priority rule acts as an opaque override, correctly disabling semantic styling for that token type and allowing Tree-sitter highlighting to show through as intended.

Release Notes:

Fixed a bug where semantic token highlighting could not be disabled via empty rules in settings.json.

Veykril

Silly oversight, thank you!

lingyaochu · 2026-04-02T06:29:37Z

Here is a comparison using Rust code, specifically highlighting the Result type on line 17:

treesitter highlight:

"semantic_tokens" set to "combined", without any user-defined rule:

"semantic_tokens" set to "combined", with an empty rule defined as:

{
  "global_lsp_settings": {
    "semantic_token_rules": [
      {
        "token_type": "enum",
        "token_modifiers": ["library", "defaultLibrary"],
      },
    ],
  },
}

Veykril · 2026-04-02T07:08:39Z

/cherry-pick preview

…#52963) Self-Review Checklist: - [x] I've reviewed my own diff for quality, security, and reliability - [x] Unsafe blocks (if any) have justifying comments - [x] The content is consistent with the [UI/UX checklist](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#uiux-checklist) - [x] Tests cover the new/changed behavior - [x] Performance impact has been considered and is acceptable Closes #52882, should help #52723 According to the [Zed documentation](https://zed.dev/docs/semantic-tokens#example-disabling-a-token-type), users should be able to disable semantic highlighting for a specific token type by adding an empty rule in `settings.json`. However, the current implementation fails to respect this because its merging logic allows lower-priority default styles to "leak through" even when a matching high-priority rule is empty. This makes it impossible to selectively disable semantic tokens to reveal the underlying Tree-sitter highlighting when using "semantic_tokens": "combined". This is particularly problematic for extensions that provide specialized Tree-sitter queries which are currently being obscured by less desirable semantic tokens(#52723). This PR fixes the logic to ensure that a completely empty high-priority rule acts as an opaque override, correctly disabling semantic styling for that token type and allowing Tree-sitter highlighting to show through as intended. Release Notes: - Fixed a bug where semantic token highlighting could not be disabled via empty rules in `settings.json`.

zed-zippy · 2026-04-02T07:09:17Z

🍒💥 Cherry-pick did not succeed
https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/actions/runs/23888590370

…zed-industries#52963) Self-Review Checklist: - [x] I've reviewed my own diff for quality, security, and reliability - [x] Unsafe blocks (if any) have justifying comments - [x] The content is consistent with the [UI/UX checklist](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#uiux-checklist) - [x] Tests cover the new/changed behavior - [x] Performance impact has been considered and is acceptable Closes zed-industries#52882, should help zed-industries#52723 According to the [Zed documentation](https://zed.dev/docs/semantic-tokens#example-disabling-a-token-type), users should be able to disable semantic highlighting for a specific token type by adding an empty rule in `settings.json`. However, the current implementation fails to respect this because its merging logic allows lower-priority default styles to "leak through" even when a matching high-priority rule is empty. This makes it impossible to selectively disable semantic tokens to reveal the underlying Tree-sitter highlighting when using "semantic_tokens": "combined". This is particularly problematic for extensions that provide specialized Tree-sitter queries which are currently being obscured by less desirable semantic tokens(zed-industries#52723). This PR fixes the logic to ensure that a completely empty high-priority rule acts as an opaque override, correctly disabling semantic styling for that token type and allowing Tree-sitter highlighting to show through as intended. Release Notes: - Fixed a bug where semantic token highlighting could not be disabled via empty rules in `settings.json`.

lingyaochu added 4 commits April 2, 2026 10:34

Try to give a fix

913e54f

Add test

45c5dda

package imports

89716f4

Refine test

537a952

cla-bot Bot added the cla-signed The user has signed the Contributor License Agreement label Apr 2, 2026

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zed-codeowner-coordinator Bot requested review from a team, Veykril and dinocosta and removed request for a team April 2, 2026 06:23

zed-codeowner-coordinator Bot assigned dinocosta Apr 2, 2026

Veykril assigned Veykril and unassigned dinocosta Apr 2, 2026

Veykril approved these changes Apr 2, 2026

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Veykril enabled auto-merge (squash) April 2, 2026 06:30

Veykril merged commit de28867 into zed-industries:main Apr 2, 2026
41 checks passed

lingyaochu deleted the semantic_cover branch April 2, 2026 07:40

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editor: Support disabling semantic token highlighting via empty rules#52963