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+# Adding Rainbow Bracket Queries
+
+Helix uses `rainbows.scm` tree-sitter query files to provide rainbow bracket
+functionality.
+
+Tree-sitter queries are documented in the tree-sitter online documentation.
+If you're writing queries for the first time, be sure to check out the section
+on [syntax highlighting queries] and on [query syntax].
+
+Rainbow queries have two captures: `@rainbow.scope` and `@rainbow.bracket`.
+`@rainbow.scope` should capture any node that increases the nesting level
+while `@rainbow.bracket` should capture any bracket nodes. Put another way:
+`@rainbow.scope` switches to the next rainbow color for all nodes in the tree
+under it while `@rainbow.bracket` paints captured nodes with the current
+rainbow color.
+
+For an example, let's add rainbow queries for the tree-sitter query (TSQ)
+language itself. These queries will go into a
+`runtime/queries/tsq/rainbows.scm` file in the repository root.
+
+First we'll add the `@rainbow.bracket` captures. TSQ only has parentheses and
+square brackets:
+
+```tsq
+["(" ")" "[" "]"] @rainbow.bracket
+```
+
+The ordering of the nodes within the alternation (square brackets) is not
+taken into consideration.
+
+> Note: Why are these nodes quoted? Most syntax highlights capture text
+> surrounded by parentheses. These are _named nodes_ and correspond to the
+> names of rules in the grammar. Brackets are usually written in tree-sitter
+> grammars as literal strings, for example:
+>
+> ```js
+> {
+>   // ...
+>   arguments: seq("(", repeat($.argument), ")"),
+>   // ...
+> }
+> ```
+>
+> Nodes written as literal strings in tree-sitter grammars may be captured
+> in queries with those same literal strings.
+
+Then we'll add `@rainbow.scope` captures. The easiest way to do this is to
+view the `grammar.js` file in the tree-sitter grammar's repository. For TSQ,
+that file is [here][tsq grammar.js]. As we scroll down the `grammar.js`, we
+see that the `(alternation)`, (L36) `(group)` (L57), `(named_node)` (L59),
+`(predicate)` (L87) and  `(wildcard_node)` (L97) nodes all contain literal
+parentheses or square brackets in their definitions. These nodes are all
+direct parents of brackets and happen to also be the nodes we want to change
+to the next rainbow color, so we capture them as `@rainbow.scope`.
+
+```tsq
+[
+  (group)
+  (named_node)
+  (wildcard_node)
+  (predicate)
+  (alternation)
+] @rainbow.scope
+```
+
+This strategy works as a rule of thumb for most programming and configuration
+languages. Markup languages can be trickier and may take additional
+experimentation to find the correct nodes to use for scopes and brackets.
+
+The `:tree-sitter-subtree` command shows the syntax tree under the primary
+selection in S-expression format and can be a useful tool for determining how
+to write a query.
+
+### Properties
+
+The `rainbow.include-children` property may be applied to `@rainbow.scope`
+captures. By default, all `@rainbow.bracket` captures must be direct descendant
+of a node captured with `@rainbow.scope` in a syntax tree in order to be
+highlighted. The `rainbow.include-children` property disables that check and
+allows `@rainbow.bracket` captures to be highlighted if they are direct or
+indirect descendants of some node captured with `@rainbow.scope`.
+
+For example, this property is used in the HTML rainbow queries.
+
+For a document like `<a>link</a>`, the syntax tree is:
+
+```tsq
+(element                   ; <a>link</a>
+  (start_tag               ; <a>
+    (tag_name))            ; a
+  (text)                   ; link
+  (end_tag                 ; </a>
+    (tag_name)))           ; a
+```
+
+If we want to highlight the `<`, `>` and `</` nodes with rainbow colors, we
+capture them as `@rainbow.bracket`:
+
+```tsq
+["<" ">" "</"] @rainbow.bracket
+```
+
+And we capture `(element)` as `@rainbow.scope` because `(element)` nodes nest
+within each other: they increment the nesting level and switch to the next
+color in the rainbow.
+
+```tsq
+(element) @rainbow.scope
+```
+
+But this combination of `@rainbow.scope` and `@rainbow.bracket` will not
+highlight any nodes. `<`, `>` and `</` are children of the `(start_tag)` and
+`(end_tag)` nodes. We can't capture `(start_tag)` and `(end_tag)` as
+`@rainbow.scope` because they don't nest other elements. We can fix this case
+by removing the requirement that `<`, `>` and `</` are direct descendants of
+`(element)` using the `rainbow.include-children` property.
+
+```tsq
+((element) @rainbow.scope
+ (#set! rainbow.include-children))
+```
+
+With this property set, `<`, `>`, and `</` will highlight with rainbow colors
+even though they aren't direct descendents of the `(element)` node.
+
+`rainbow.include-children` is not necessary for the vast majority of programming
+languages. It is only necessary when the node that increments the nesting level
+(changes rainbow color) is not the direct parent of the bracket node.
+
+[syntax highlighting queries]: https://tree-sitter.github.io/tree-sitter/syntax-highlighting#highlights
+[query syntax]: https://tree-sitter.github.io/tree-sitter/using-parsers#pattern-matching-with-queries
+[tsq grammar.js]: https://github.com/the-mikedavis/tree-sitter-tsq/blob/48b5e9f82ae0a4727201626f33a17f69f8e0ff86/grammar.js