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Zed

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Trial

Zed is a high-performance code editor written in Rust, built from scratch for speed and real-time collaboration, with AI features built in natively. In August 2025 it raised a $32M Series B from Sequoia Capital, targeting a 1.0 release in Spring 2026.

Why It's in Trial

Zed is genuinely fast — it renders code using the GPU and starts instantly even on large projects. Its AI integration has matured significantly into a full agentic environment:

  • Inline AI assist: Describe changes and apply them to selected code
  • AI chat panel: Discuss your code with an LLM, with full context of your open files
  • Agent Panel with ACP: Zed's Agent Client Protocol connects to external agents (Claude Code, Gemini CLI), making it a hub for multi-agent workflows
  • Model flexibility: Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, GitHub Copilot (February 2026), and local models via Ollama (BYOK is free; hosted AI features require Zed Pro)
  • Native debugger: Shipped in 2025, closing a long-standing capability gap
  • Zeta model: Zed's own open-source edit prediction model for next-edit suggestions

Tradeoffs

  • Extension ecosystem is smaller than VS Code/JetBrains — many niche language plugins don't exist yet
  • Hosted AI features require Zed Pro (token-based pricing introduced late 2025); BYOK via your own API key is free
  • GPL/AGPL licensing has implications for teams embedding or redistributing Zed

When to Choose Zed

  • You want raw editor performance above all else
  • You work primarily in languages with good Zed support (Rust, TypeScript, Python, Go)
  • You're interested in real-time collaborative editing

Key Characteristics

Property Value
Pricing Free (BYOK) / Zed Pro (token-based, for hosted AI)
Written in Rust
AI models Claude, GPT, Copilot, local via Ollama
Platform macOS, Linux, Windows (launched October 2025)
Provider Zed Industries
Website zed.dev
GitHub zed-industries/zed