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--- Thread: [Tool] Open Pawn — Cross-platform Pawn compiler & tools for VS Code (/showthread.php?tid=4268)
Open Pawn — Cross-platform Pawn compiler & tools for VS Code - Xyranaut - 2026-05-30
Open Pawn — Cross-platform Pawn compiler & tools for VS Code (no Wine on macOS)
Open Pawn is a VS Code extension for SA-MP / open.mp Pawn development that bundles a native pawncc compiler for all three desktop platforms, allowing gamemodes to be compiled directly from the editor with no extra setup and no Wine/CrossOver on macOS.
Background
On Apple Silicon Macs there was no clean way to compile: the official pawn-lang macOS release ships a 32-bit i386 binary that cannot run on modern macOS, so the common workaround was running the Windows pawncc.exe under Wine. Wine is not actually required — building pawncc natively (with the default 32-bit cells) produces output the open.mp server accepts (AMX magic 0xF1E0). This extension bundles that native compiler for each OS.
Features
- Native pawncc bundled — Windows x64, macOS (Apple Silicon), and Linux x64. All verified producing open.mp-compatible AMX.
- Compile workflow — compile command, Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+B build task, compile-on-save, errors/warnings in the Problems panel.
- IntelliSense — autocomplete, hovers, signature help, go-to-definition, document/workspace symbols (indexed live from .inc / .pwn files).
- Syntax highlighting — Pawno-equivalent colours, including format placeholders and tags.
- Snippets — common callbacks and constructs (OnPlayerConnect, command handlers, dialogs, enum+data arrays, timers, etc.).
- Folding & a dependency-free formatter — no astyle WASM, so none of the extension-host crashes that affected other formatters.
- Smart compiler discovery — finds pawncc in qawno/, pawno/, on PATH, or uses the bundled one; legacy SA-MP layouts work out of the box. Falls back to a Wine wrapper only if desired.
How it compares
vs the existing Pawn Development Tool extension:
| Feature | Pawn Development Tool | Open Pawn |
| Syntax highlighting | Yes | Yes |
| Snippets | Yes | Yes |
| Autocomplete / IntelliSense | Yes | Yes |
| Hover / Go-to-definition | Yes | Yes |
| Document / workspace symbols | Yes | Yes |
| Code folding | Yes | Yes |
| Document formatter | Yes (astyle WASM) | Yes (dependency-free, no host crashes) |
| Build task → pawncc | Yes | Yes |
| Problems-panel diagnostics | Partial | Yes |
| Bundles a compiler | No (bring your own) | Yes — Windows / macOS / Linux |
| Native macOS (no Wine) | No | Yes |
Both can coexist, but running them together may produce duplicate autocomplete/hovers — Open Pawn will offer to help disable the other.
Platform support
- Windows 10/11 (x64) — pawncc.exe runs natively, works out of the box.
- macOS Apple Silicon — native pawncc bundled, no Wine.
- Linux x64 — native pawncc bundled.
- Intel Mac — build once with the included script.
Install
- Microsoft Marketplace
- Search "Open Pawn" in the VS Code Extensions panel
- or:
Code:
code --install-extension Mac-Andreas.open-pawnSource & issues
github.com/Mac-Andreas/vscode-open-pawn — MIT licensed. Bug reports and pull requests welcome.
This is an early (0.1) release. The compiler pipeline is tested on all three platforms and verified against a real open.mp server; feedback is welcome, particularly from Windows and Linux users.