Zed
Open source code editor built for speed and for working with agents
1/3Zed is an open source code editor built around speed, with AI agents treated as first-class collaborators rather than a bolted-on panel: agentic editing works inside the buffer, and several agent threads can run in parallel across projects. It carries the things a full editor is expected to have, including a debugger on the Debug Adapter Protocol, native Git staging and diffs, Language Server Protocol support and a complete vim mode, plus multibuffer editing that composes excerpts from many files into one view. Remote development keeps the interface local while the codebase runs elsewhere, and the whole codebase is on GitHub.
- Agentic editing, with AI agents working in the buffer
- Parallel agent threads running across several projects
- Edit prediction powered by the open-weight Zeta2 model
- Debugger built on the Debug Adapter Protocol
- Native Git staging, committing, pushing and diff viewing
- Multibuffer editing composes excerpts across many files
- Remote development runs the UI locally, the code remotely
- Full vim mode and Language Server Protocol support
Based on what people have said
Every answer links back to the mentions it came fromHow does Zed's performance compare to VS Code?
Several users report that Zed feels significantly snappier and more lightweight than VS Code, with some noting it consumes substantially less memory. Conversely, some users find that while Zed is fast, it lacks the polish and reliability of VS Code, describing it as having clunky UX and various bugs.
10 mentions · r/foss · r/cursor · r/Ubuntu · r/NewMaxx · @TechSpot · Hacker News · and 3 more · Aug 2026 – Sep 2026
What are the common complaints regarding Zed's features and extensibility?
Users frequently mention that Zed is less configurable than other editors and lacks a robust extension ecosystem. Some developers have expressed frustration that their pull requests for new extensions or features remain unaddressed, and others note that the current plugin system provides limited access to the editor's core functionality.
7 mentions · r/cursor · Hacker News · Hacker News · Hacker News · r/AskProgrammers · r/ZedEditor · and 1 more · Aug 2026 – Sep 2026
How well does Zed handle AI and agentic workflows?
Zed is often praised for its AI-native approach, allowing users to integrate various agents and models. However, users report mixed experiences: some find the agentic features powerful and well-integrated, while others note that specific AI-related tools or extensions feel undercooked, buggy, or prone to crashing.
7 mentions · r/cursor · @wagslane · r/google_antigravity · Hacker News · Hacker News · r/ZedEditor · Aug 2026 – Sep 2026
What are the limitations of Zed's markdown and documentation rendering?
Users have noted that Zed's markdown rendering can be inconsistent, particularly with Mermaid diagrams, which may not match the appearance of other platforms. Additionally, some users find the lack of features like internal zooming or the inability to copy rendered text from previews to be significant drawbacks compared to other tools.
8 mentions · r/ZedEditor · r/ZedEditor · Aug 2026 – Sep 2026
Are there concerns regarding Zed's pricing and subscription model?
Some users have expressed concern over the inclusion of a subscription model and the removal of certain features, such as edit predictions, from the free plan. There is also frustration among some users regarding the limited credit allocations for AI services.
5 mentions · r/LocalLLaMA · r/ZedEditor · Aug 2026 – Sep 2026
These summarise counts and dates only. Read the quotes themselves under what people are saying.
What people are saying about Zed
34% negative“gpui a.k.a zed editor”
“Another framework i considered was gpui as I also use zed daily. People here also seem to suggest slint.”
“I like Zed to just be as close to VSCode as possible but with actually good performance”
“huh, Zed comes with more features than VS Code out-of-the-box in my perception...”
“Sucks so bad ! This wasn't happening before though.”
“Navigation to other files using the breadcrumbs area would be really nice (similar to VS Code). Currently, clicking on the breadcrumbs just opens the "search buffer symbols" menu.”
“Sadly, zed devs are focusing too much on AI IMO”
“Zed is using AI to implement their non AI features, so I'm not sure how removing the AI features changes the feeling. Odd”
“As long as it’s fast, responsive and no memory bloat, I’ll keep using it - biggest reason why I moved away from vs code.”
“You can disable them but still zed is slower than gram”
“I love everything about Zed except for search results and git diff in one long page.”
“I think that this is a really hard problem for any product like zed. How does it not turn into something unwieldy unless they decide to call it good and move on?”
“Did you pay for Zed?”
“Zed is great but keeps getting more and more stuff slapped onto it that I simply don’t want or need.”
“You can also turn off all ai features In Zed.”
“The reason I moved to zed because it's a stripped down version of VS code. Please dont JAM it with unwanted features. I liked it the way it was.”
“Zed is so good, its UI seems has something missing... I think its contrast is low or something.”
“There is always a Node process running when Zed is open. I would like to set it up to use Bun. I don't even have Node installed.”
“I'm trying out Zed again after a while away. One thing I use a lot in a code editor is column selection using only the keyboard. Google says alt-shift-up and -down should move extend the current cursor position by column, but I checked the keymap bindings and they're bound to editor:duplicate line up and down respectively.”
“I don’t even full time zed but when I tried it changing the scale was the first thing I did lol”
“The other day I wanted to merge a branch. Is that not possible in Zed?”
“My experience testing Zed was great overall, but I ran into recurring issues with the global search (Ctrl+Shift+F) that made me stop using it.”
“Zed Agent panel - Claude Agent remote control”
“I'm not familiar with the issue with zed myself, but it looked like it downloads the tools automatically and executes them, with no way of turning them off. Where in vscode, auto update is turned off for all my extensions (I suppose it's the default?), so nothing is downloaded without me explicitly hitting that install or update button.”
“I stopped using Zed, and I'm now back in "observe" mode”