diff --git a/arduino-ide-extension/package.json b/arduino-ide-extension/package.json
index 3850424b..5f33451c 100644
--- a/arduino-ide-extension/package.json
+++ b/arduino-ide-extension/package.json
@@ -33,9 +33,10 @@
     "which": "^1.3.1"
   },
   "scripts": {
-    "prepare": "yarn download-cli && yarn run clean && yarn run build",
+    "prepare": "yarn download-cli && yarn download-ls && yarn run clean && yarn run build",
     "clean": "rimraf lib",
     "download-cli": "node ./scripts/download-cli.js",
+    "download-ls": "node ./scripts/download-ls.js",
     "generate-protocol": "node ./scripts/generate-protocol.js",
     "lint": "tslint -c ./tslint.json --project ./tsconfig.json",
     "build": "tsc && ncp ./src/node/cli-protocol/ ./lib/node/cli-protocol/ && yarn lint",
diff --git a/arduino-ide-extension/scripts/download-cli.js b/arduino-ide-extension/scripts/download-cli.js
index 62506946..d37b1093 100755
--- a/arduino-ide-extension/scripts/download-cli.js
+++ b/arduino-ide-extension/scripts/download-cli.js
@@ -8,29 +8,14 @@
 // [...]
 // redirecting to latest generated builds by replacing latest with the latest available build date, using the format YYYYMMDD (i.e for 2019/Aug/06 latest is replaced with 20190806 
 
-(async () => {
+(() => {
 
     const DEFAULT_VERSION = 'latest'; // require('moment')().format('YYYYMMDD');
 
     const os = require('os');
-    const fs = require('fs');
     const path = require('path');
     const shell = require('shelljs');
-    const download = require('download');
-    const decompress = require('decompress');
-    const unzip = require('decompress-unzip');
-    const untargz = require('decompress-targz');
-
-    process.on('unhandledRejection', (reason, _) => {
-        shell.echo(String(reason));
-        shell.exit(1);
-        throw reason;
-    });
-    process.on('uncaughtException', error => {
-        shell.echo(String(error));
-        shell.exit(1);
-        throw error;
-    });
+    const downloader = require('./downloader');
 
     const yargs = require('yargs')
         .option('cli-version', {
@@ -50,23 +35,8 @@
     const { platform, arch } = process;
 
     const build = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'build');
-    const downloads = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'downloads');
     const cli = path.join(build, `arduino-cli${os.platform() === 'win32' ? '.exe' : ''}`);
 
-    if (fs.existsSync(cli) && !force) {
-        shell.echo(`The 'arduino-cli' already exists at ${cli}. Skipping download.`);
-        shell.exit(0);
-    }
-    if (!fs.existsSync(build)) {
-        if (shell.mkdir('-p', build).code !== 0) {
-            shell.echo('Could not create new directory.');
-            shell.exit(1);
-        }
-    }
-    if (shell.rm('-rf', cli, downloads).code !== 0) {
-        shell.exit(1);
-    }
-
     const suffix = (() => {
         switch (platform) {
             case 'darwin': return 'macOS_64bit.tar.gz';
@@ -87,36 +57,6 @@
     }
 
     const url = `https://downloads.arduino.cc/arduino-cli/nightly/arduino-cli_nightly-${version}_${suffix}`;
-    shell.echo(`>>> Downloading 'arduino-cli' from '${url}'...`);
-    const data = await download(url);
-    shell.echo(`<<< Download succeeded.`);
-    shell.echo('>>> Decompressing CLI...');
-    const files = await decompress(data, downloads, {
-        plugins: [
-            unzip(),
-            untargz()
-        ]
-    });
-    if (files.length === 0) {
-        shell.echo('Error ocurred when decompressing the CLI.');
-        shell.exit(1);
-    }
-    const cliIndex = files.findIndex(f => f.path.startsWith('arduino-cli'));
-    if (cliIndex === -1) {
-        shell.echo('The downloaded artifact does not contains the CLI.');
-        shell.exit(1);
-    }
-    shell.echo('<<< Decompressing succeeded.');
-
-    if (shell.mv('-f', path.join(downloads, files[cliIndex].path), cli).code !== 0) {
-        shell.echo(`Could not move file to ${cli}.`);
-        shell.exit(1);
-    }
-    if (!fs.existsSync(cli)) {
-        shell.echo(`Could not find CLI at ${cli}.`);
-        shell.exit(1);
-    } else {
-        shell.echo('Done.');
-    }
+    downloader.download(url, cli, 'arduino-cli', force);
 
 })();
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/arduino-ide-extension/scripts/download-ls.js b/arduino-ide-extension/scripts/download-ls.js
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..930841f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/arduino-ide-extension/scripts/download-ls.js
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+// @ts-check
+// The links to the downloads as of today (28.08.2019) are the following:
+// - https://downloads.arduino.cc/arduino-language-server/nightly/arduino-language-server_${SUFFIX}
+// - https://downloads.arduino.cc/arduino-language-server/clangd/clangd_${VERSION}_${SUFFIX}
+
+(() => {
+
+    const DEFAULT_ALS_VERSION = 'nightly';
+    const DEFAULT_CLANGD_VERSION = '8.0.1';
+
+    const os = require('os');
+    const path = require('path');
+    const shell = require('shelljs');
+    const downloader = require('./downloader');
+
+    const yargs = require('yargs')
+        .option('ls-version', {
+            alias: 'lv',
+            default: DEFAULT_ALS_VERSION,
+            choices: ['nightly'],
+            describe: `The version of the 'arduino-language-server' to download. Defaults to ${DEFAULT_ALS_VERSION}.`
+        })
+        .option('clangd-version', {
+            alias: 'cv',
+            default: DEFAULT_CLANGD_VERSION,
+            choices: ['8.0.1'],
+            describe: `The version of 'clangd' to download. Defaults to ${DEFAULT_CLANGD_VERSION}.`
+        })
+        .option('force-download', {
+            alias: 'fd',
+            default: false,
+            describe: `If set, this script force downloads the 'arduino-language-server' even if it already exists on the file system.`
+        })
+        .version(false).parse();
+
+    const alsVersion = yargs['ls-version'];
+    const clangdVersion = yargs['clangd-version']
+    const force = yargs['force-download'];
+    const { platform, arch } = process;
+
+    const build = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'build');
+    const als = path.join(build, `arduino-language-server${os.platform() === 'win32' ? '.exe' : ''}`);
+    const clangd = path.join(build, `clangd${os.platform() === 'win32' ? '.exe' : ''}`);
+
+    let alsSuffix, clangdSuffix;
+    switch (platform) {
+        case 'darwin':
+            alsSuffix = 'Darwin_amd64.zip';
+            clangdSuffix = 'macos.zip';
+            break;
+        case 'win32':
+            alsSuffix = 'Windows_NT_amd64.zip';
+            clangdSuffix = 'windows.zip';
+            break;
+        case 'linux':
+            alsSuffix = 'Linux_amd64.zip';
+            break;
+    }
+    if (!alsSuffix) {
+        shell.echo(`The arduino-language-server is not available for ${platform} ${arch}.`);
+        shell.exit(1);
+    }
+
+    const alsUrl = `https://downloads.arduino.cc/arduino-language-server/${alsVersion === 'nightly' ? 'nightly/arduino-language-server' : 'arduino-language-server_' + alsVersion}_${alsSuffix}`;
+    downloader.download(alsUrl, als, 'arduino-language-server', force);
+
+    if (clangdSuffix) {
+        const clangdUrl = `https://downloads.arduino.cc/arduino-language-server/clangd/clangd_${clangdVersion}_${clangdSuffix}`;
+        downloader.download(clangdUrl, clangd, 'clangd', force);
+    }
+
+})();
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/arduino-ide-extension/scripts/downloader.js b/arduino-ide-extension/scripts/downloader.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..929404c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/arduino-ide-extension/scripts/downloader.js
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+const shell = require('shelljs');
+const download = require('download');
+const decompress = require('decompress');
+const unzip = require('decompress-unzip');
+const untargz = require('decompress-targz');
+
+process.on('unhandledRejection', (reason, _) => {
+    shell.echo(String(reason));
+    shell.exit(1);
+    throw reason;
+});
+process.on('uncaughtException', error => {
+    shell.echo(String(error));
+    shell.exit(1);
+    throw error;
+});
+
+exports.download = async (url, targetFile, filePrefix, force) => {
+    const { platform, arch } = process;
+
+    if (fs.existsSync(targetFile) && !force) {
+        shell.echo(`Skipping download because file already exists: ${targetFile}`);
+        return;
+    }
+    if (!fs.existsSync(path.dirname(targetFile))) {
+        if (shell.mkdir('-p', path.dirname(targetFile)).code !== 0) {
+            shell.echo('Could not create new directory.');
+            shell.exit(1);
+        }
+    }
+
+    const downloads = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'downloads');
+    if (shell.rm('-rf', targetFile, downloads).code !== 0) {
+        shell.exit(1);
+    }
+
+    shell.echo(`>>> Downloading from '${url}'...`);
+    const data = await download(url);
+    shell.echo(`<<< Download succeeded.`);
+
+    shell.echo('>>> Decompressing...');
+    const files = await decompress(data, downloads, {
+        plugins: [
+            unzip(),
+            untargz()
+        ]
+    });
+    if (files.length === 0) {
+        shell.echo('Error ocurred while decompressing the archive.');
+        shell.exit(1);
+    }
+    const fileIndex = files.findIndex(f => f.path.startsWith(filePrefix));
+    if (fileIndex === -1) {
+        shell.echo(`The downloaded artifact does not contain any file with prefix ${filePrefix}.`);
+        shell.exit(1);
+    }
+    shell.echo('<<< Decompressing succeeded.');
+
+    if (shell.mv('-f', path.join(downloads, files[fileIndex].path), targetFile).code !== 0) {
+        shell.echo(`Could not move file to target path: ${targetFile}`);
+        shell.exit(1);
+    }
+    if (!fs.existsSync(targetFile)) {
+        shell.echo(`Could not find file: ${targetFile}`);
+        shell.exit(1);
+    } else {
+        shell.echo(`Done: ${targetFile}`);
+    }
+}