Zed
Fast, Rust-built open-source code editor with built-in AI agent and collaboration features.
Loved as a fast, native editor123 that runs Claude Code, Codex and other agents through ACP in one UI, often replacing VS Code or Cursor.4567 The most common complaint is that the AI push is pulling focus from the core editor,8910 alongside reports of stale file state and Linux-specific bugs.111213
Why people recommend it
Agent integration · 3
Commenters like running Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and other agents side by side through ACP in one editor UI.
“Zed lets you use Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, etc. all through the same UI”
“ACP integration is very good, IMO. I'm using it with Claude Code.”
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“Juggling between all different models/agents is quite simple with Zed.”
Speed · 3
Described as native and fast, with fewer bugs than JetBrains or VS Code.
“Check out Zed IDE - it's exactly what JetBrains Fleet should've been. Native, fast, and built for "code by hand"”
“I have been using Zed lately and quite liking it.”
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“These days I've switched to Zed, which is good enough (and wicked fast)”
Daily driver · 3
Several long-term users report using it daily with few problems.
“Zed is my daily driver and I'm pretty happy with it.”
“I have been using Zed for about a year now on Debian 12 / Wayland and it works flawlessly.”
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“Using Zed as daily driver since ~4 Months, never had such problems.”
Remote over SSH · 3
Can edit and run agents on a VM or remote box over SSH.
“Zed, as an IDE, can connect to a VM via ssh and both edit and run things like Claude or its built-in agentic harness”
“In my case i use zed and connect into the vm.”
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“I finally switched to Zed + Terminal Thread + Tmux.”
Open standards · 1
Praised for building on LSP, ACP, DAP and tree-sitter so it fits many workflows.
Large files · 1
Handles giant log files that VS Code struggles with.
“I have mostly switched to Zed for those giant-file-don't-need-any-bells-and-whistles tasks.”
Caveats and dissent
AI over editor · 3
Some users worry the AI focus is distracting from the core editor experience.
“ever since Zed AI I've felt more and more frustrated with Zed and it's quality is starting to lack?”
“I love Zed and I hope that it doesn’t start to go flakey.”
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“It’s a good editor, but the AI features are forgettable”
Linux bugs · 3
Linux users report copy-paste issues, freezes after suspend and crashes with large JSON files.
“Don't crash my entire PC when there's a large (100+ MB) JSON file in the working directory”
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“I have been using Zed for about a year now on Debian 12 / Wayland and it works flawlessly.”
Agent glitches · 3
Reports include ACP issues with some agents, an agent editing without permission and broken LLM access in Asia.
“the Read Only drop-down disappeared and while I was doing my code review the AI agent started vibe coding without my permission”
“I have been using zed for almost 2ish years now, great overall”
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“Zed for still having completely broken LLM support in almost entire continent of Asia for over a year now”
File syncing · 3
Some users report stale state after external edits and heavy load on network shares.
“the Zed editor, is unusable for me and others due to it mismanaging file syncs on disk”
“I’ve been meaning to check out zed but that’s a huge problem.”
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“I recently tried zed but it ddos’d my nas over an smb share lol”
Missing features · 3
Users miss line prediction, stronger AI review, more configurability, and better settings and LSP handling.
“So I've switched to zed.dev and use Claude there.”
“I love Zed editor but its AI review features are lacking compared to VSCode.”
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GPU usage · 1
One user says it redraws constantly, causing high GPU usage on a still screen.
“the Zed editor, which spams screen redraws even when nothing changes at all, so it has high GPU usage for still picture”
Often compared with
18 moved from Visual Studio Code to Zed
4 moved from Zed to Visual Studio Code
6 moved from Cursor to Zed
3 moved from Sublime Text to Zed
1 moved from Neovim to Zed
1 moved from Zed to NeovimJetBrains10 comments mention both
3 moved from JetBrains to Zed
Who recommends it in their own words
From the makers not counted in the ranking
“I have added Jupyter support and Panning/Zooming for Zed, waiting for them to merge. But I have a version that I use”
Threads where it came up
- Zed is 1.0 36 mentions
- Zed DeltaDB 21 mentions
- I switched from VSCode to Zed 19 mentions
- Zed is our office 9 mentions
- Software Is Made Between Commits 7 mentions
- Zed: Delta 6 mentions
Data: zed.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 48
“Zed's Delta (which is a very nice design)”
“Eventually I switched to Zed since that was better.”
“I used Zed Agent with Codex as it has native integration with Zed's ACP so it's pretty convenient.”
“am using the UI framework used by the Zed editor.”
“due to agentic stuff, I moved to zed”
“Check out Zed IDE - it's exactly what JetBrains Fleet should've been. Native, fast, and built for "code by hand"”
“support remote development similar to zed[0] using ssh”
“I use Pi in the terminal and with Zed”
“My thinking level selector in Zed has never worked with it”
“I love Zed editor but its AI review features are lacking compared to VSCode.”
“the Zed editor, which spams screen redraws even when nothing changes at all, so it has high GPU usage for still picture”
“I also use Kimi K3 in Zed via OpenRouter quite a bit”
“I also use Kimi K3 in Zed via OpenRouter quite a bit”
“so that I could run agents in it via Zed”
“From a quick test we use a similar amount of memory to Zed.”
“I have mostly switched to Zed for those giant-file-don't-need-any-bells-and-whistles tasks.”
“I use both”
“I’ve been meaning to check out zed but that’s a huge problem.”
“the Zed editor, is unusable for me and others due to it mismanaging file syncs on disk”
“Zed is fast and good at many things but need to focus on basic fix or agentic edits broken”
“Then I can just ask the zed agent to implement the issue and it works pretty well.”
“I am on Zed now, no more VSCode”
“I use Zed (https://zed.dev) as my agent harness”
“Not because I dislike Zed, I'm just addicted to trying out IDEs”
“I keep most of my sessions in Zed”
“the tooling getting better (ie: zed acp / omp)”
“Vscode on my m2 Mac routinely crashed when doing file search. That is why I switched to zed.”
“Can highly recommend Zed as an alternative, it's better than VSCode with the Codex extension”
“the Read Only drop-down disappeared and while I was doing my code review the AI agent started vibe coding without my permission”
“Zed is the new Sublime Text if you will.”
“I’ve been wanting to use zed instead”
“It’s a good editor, but the AI features are forgettable”
“In my case i use zed and connect into the vm.”
“Zed, as an IDE, can connect to a VM via ssh and both edit and run things like Claude or its built-in agentic harness”
“Zed + OpenCode + Mimo/GLM/Kimi models are incredible.”
“I recently tried zed but it ddos’d my nas over an smb share lol”
“although I pay for Zed”
“I have been using Zed lately and quite liking it.”
“If I want to do something advanced, I can use Zed”
“I love zed but i wish they'd focus on the IDE”
“I switched to Zed a few weeks ago and out-of-the-box it does everything Cursor can without charging you their dumbass premium.”
“there have been at least 3 issues before this one”
“ever since Zed AI I've felt more and more frustrated with Zed and it's quality is starting to lack?”
“I love Zed and I hope that it doesn’t start to go flakey.”
“Don't crash my entire PC when there's a large (100+ MB) JSON file in the working directory”
“ACP integration is very good, IMO. I'm using it with Claude Code.”
“These days I've switched to Zed, which is good enough (and wicked fast)”
“Zed lets you use Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, etc. all through the same UI”