Zed
Check out our contribution guide to learn how you can contribute to Zed.
You can obtain the release build via the download page.
We currently don't offer a convenient way for users to log out of GitHub from within Zed. If you'd like to log out, follow these steps:
- Open the
Keychain Accessapplication - In the
loginkeychain, find and delete thehttps://zed.deventry - Restart Zed
When you receive an invite to test a feature in private beta, your user record in our database is registered to a particular feature flag.
During the beta period, you must log in via the Sign in button in the upper right corner of Zed, which authenticates you through GitHub.
A network connection is required when opening Zed during private beta testing, as Zed sends a request to our server to verify your access.
If you are not associated with the feature flag, UI elements related to the feature will be hidden.
For features in private beta, we prioritize updates to the preview channel. During a private beta, we accelerate our preview patch release schedule to roughly a minimum of one update per day, including all the latest additions and fixes since the previous preview patch build.
Some users have noticed that, in certain cases, they can access private beta features on the stable channel. This occurs because private betas are not tied to a particular release channel, but rather scoped to specific users. Depending on the duration of the beta testing period, code related to the feature will gradually make its way into stable builds, as our minor update release cycle remains the same. While we recommend testing private beta features on the preview channel to access the most recent updates and improvements, you can use older preview patch builds, or potentially stable builds, if you don't have access to preview—such as when using third-party packages maintained by developers who don't ship Zed preview. However, be aware that you will be working with outdated versions of the feature.
Some deep-divers have found they can enable feature flags by changing a small snippet of code and compiling Zed from source; we'll leave digging up that code as an exercise for the reader.
Yes! Zed currently supports various types of extensions, with support for deeper extension APIs planned.
Yes! Zed (the editor) is free for all to use, with binaries for macOS and popular Linux distributions readily available for download.
Yes! Zed is open source!
Check out the announcement post for more details.
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Nightly: Built daily from themainbranch with the latest features. It has not gone through any testing and may have stability issues. Nightly isn't public yet. -
Preview: Our weekly release with recent features that have undergone initial internal testing. More stable than Nightly, but potentially less stable than Stable. Preview may contain experimental functionality and might experience reverts of recently-added features. -
Stable: Our most production-ready version that has been tested in Preview for a week. This release is recommended for those relying on Zed for mission-critical work.
On a typical release Wednesday, we follow these steps:
-
Promote last week's preview to stable
- The preview branch from the previous week (e.g.,
v0.180.x) is promoted to stable - A new stable tag is created without the
-presuffix (e.g.,v0.180.1)
- The preview branch from the previous week (e.g.,
-
Create a new preview branch
- A new preview branch is cut from the current
mainbranch - A preview tag with
-presuffix is created (e.g.,v0.181.0-pre)
- A new preview branch is cut from the current
-
Prepare main for the next cycle
- The version number on
mainis bumped to the next minor version
- The version number on
During the week between minor releases, we may cherry-pick important fixes to the preview or stable branches and release new patches. The frequency of preview patch updates will increase during periods where we are conducting private beta testing of new features.
Fun fact: We like to celebrate release Wednesday by calling it "Zednesday." Don't worry, we don't know how to pronounce it either.
While we are committed to building a stable, professional-grade editor, you'll likely run into bugs and pain points throughout the beta phase. Additionally, Zed may not support all languages you use and may not be available for your preferred operating system. What we can confidently say is that we are working hard to bring you the features, support, and stability you need to make Zed your homebase editor for building great software.
As diligent as we try to be with every line of code we write, human error is inevitable, especially during periods of rapid development. Make sure to properly backup any code you are working on in Zed to protect yourself from potential catastrophic events. While we believe Zed to be safe to use, it is always advisable to err on the side of caution in these early stages.
Currently, we officially support macOS and popular Linux distributions. Community efforts are gradually enabling Windows support, which can be compiled from source. We will provide binaries when we are confident the user experience there is good.
Subscribe to our platform-tracking issues to receive updates on our progress with other platforms.
Language servers are stored at ~/Library/Application Support/Zed/languages. See language servers for more information.
The settings.json can be found at ~/.config/zed/settings.json. See configuring Zed for more information.
The keymap.json can be found at ~/.config/zed/keymap.json. See key bindings for more information.
The last 1000 lines of Zed's log file can be opened in a Zed buffer by searching for zed: open log within the command palette. If you need to view more history, you can find the full log file at ~/Library/Logs/Zed/Zed.log.
Workspace data is stored in SQLite databases located at ~/Library/Application Support/Zed/db. There is a database for each release channel of Zed installed:
0-nightly0-preview0-stable
We stopped working on Atom and started on the foundations of Zed when we realized that we couldn't shape Atom into our vision for the ultimate editor. While we respect and appreciate the innovations brought by Visual Studio Code, we never found ourselves loving it enough to give up on the dream. Ultimately, we think we're going to add the most value to the world by creating something new. It's also a lot more fun.
We liked the simplicity of the name "Ed", but we didn't want to shadow ed, the editor in which the Unix was originally developed. We liked how adding the letter "Z" formed the word "Zed", which is also the name for the letter "Z" in some dialects of English. As the last letter of the alphabet, it seemed like an appropriate name for the ultimate editor we are building.
This isn't something we're worrying too much about right now, but we anticipate adding enterprise-focused features eventually.