Zed Editor UPDATE: NEW Agentic AI IDE - Cursor + Windsurf Alternative! FULLY FREE! (Open source)

Key Concepts

• Zed: A high-performance, lightweight, AI code editor built with Rust.
• Agentic AI Code Editor: An editor designed for high-performance collaboration between humans and AI.
• Rust: A programming language known for its speed and safety, used to build Zed.
• Cloud Code: An integration within Zed that allows for real-time code generation, refactoring, and review.
• Gemini CLI: A command-line interface integrated into Zed for orchestrating workflows, running tools, and collaborating with AI at high speeds.
• Native Debugger: A built-in debugging tool within Zed that supports multi-language debugging.
• Agent Client Protocol: The protocol that enables Zed to integrate external agents.
• Extension Store: A marketplace within Zed to add external extensions and enhance functionality.
• Version Control: Features like viewing diffs for stashed work are integrated.
• Markdown Preview: Enhanced support for HTML tables with column and row spans.
• Remote Browser Debugger: Allows debugging web apps running in SSH or WSL directly on the local machine.
• Codex: An AI agent now live within Zed, performing fast due to Zed's lightweight environment.

Zed for Windows: A Lightning-Fast Agentic AI Code Editor

This video announces the official release of Zed, a high-performance, lightweight, AI code editor, for Windows. Zed is described as the "next generation Agentic AI code editor" built with Rust, emphasizing its extreme speed and responsiveness, surpassing many other IDEs.

Key Features and Integrations

Zed offers a suite of powerful features designed for efficient coding and AI collaboration:

• High-Performance Rendering: Capable of rendering at "1 million pixels per millisecond," allowing users to build from scratch within Zed.
• Enhanced Version Control: The ability to view diffs for stashed work is now available, streamlining version control processes.
• Markdown Preview Improvements: Zed now supports column and row spans for HTML tables within the markdown preview, ensuring accurate table rendering.
• Remote Browser Debugger: This feature facilitates debugging web applications running on SSH or WSL directly on the local machine, simplifying remote deployment.
• Codex Integration: The highly requested Codex AI agent is now fully integrated and performs rapidly within Zed's lightweight environment.
• Cloud Code Integration: This integration allows for real-time code generation, refactoring, and review directly within the Zed editor, acting as a "pair programmer."
• Gemini CLI Integration: Enables users to orchestrate workflows, run tools, pull extensions, and feed live documentation context while collaborating with AI at "terminal speed." Gemini CLI offers a free tier for users to try.
• Native Debugger: Zed includes a native debugger supporting multi-language debugging, allowing users to set breakpoints, step through code, inspect variables, and track execution flows within the editor.
• Other Agentic AI Features: Includes smart autocompletion, an AI chat panel, Git integration, edit predictions, remote deployment, multibuffer editing, and an interactive programmer.

Installation and Setup

The video demonstrates the installation process for Zed on Windows:

1. Download the Zed installer from the provided link.
2. Run the .exe file to initiate the installation.
3. Zed is also available for Linux and macOS.
4. Upon first launch, users can set up their theme and import settings from VS Code.
5. Users need to sign up or log in with a Zed account, which is free.
6. Users can start with a new file or open an existing folder.

User Interface and Core Functionality

The Zed interface is organized with key features on the bottom left and AI features on the right:

• Project Panel: For opening projects or cloning them from GitHub URLs.
• Git Panel: For managing Git repositories, tracked, and untracked files.
• Outline: Provides an overview of the codebase.
• Collab Panel: Enables real-time collaboration with teams via GitHub sign-in, including voice and shared notes.
• Project-wide Search: A powerful search feature for finding specific content across all files, with options for path inclusion and find/replace.
• Language Servers: Tools for tracking errors and managing server states (restart, stop).
• Project Diagnostics: Provides diagnostic information for the project.
• Agent Panel (Right Side): Access to Zed's AI agent for autonomous tasks or collaborative development. Users can select models, integrate tools, and add external agents.

AI Agent Workflow Example: Cloud Code

The video showcases an example of using Cloud Code within Zed:

1. Add a new thread for Cloud Code and install it.
2. A task is given to Cloud Code: "create an interactive data dashboard that visualizes and summarizes the content of my uploaded Excel sheet with key metrics, charts, and filters."
3. Zed prompts for permission to run a command, which can be "always allowed" or rejected.
4. The agent executes the terminal command.
5. A live preview of the dashboard generation is shown.
6. The "Follow Cloud Code" button tracks the agent's file editing activity.
7. In approximately 2 minutes, a functional data dashboard is created, capable of loading sample data, processing user-uploaded Excel files, displaying metrics (total rows, columns, numeric/text columns), and allowing filtering by ID, name, or category.
8. Users can create bar charts, line charts, or pie charts based on the filtered data.

Extending Zed

• External Agents: Zed supports integrating external agents through the Agent Client Protocol by adding custom servers via a JSON file.
• Extension Store: Users can enhance Zed's functionality by adding extensions from the built-in extension store.

Debugging with Zed

The native debugger is highlighted as a significant upgrade:

• Breakpoints: Users can set breakpoints in their code.
• Debugging Panel: Breakpoints are managed in a dedicated panel.
• New Process: A new process can be started for debugging.
• AI-Assisted Resolution: AI agents can be deployed to resolve identified errors.
• Live Preview: A feature allows visualizing the AI agent's code writing process in real-time within the editor.

Conclusion and Call to Action

The video concludes by reiterating that Zed is a "lightning fast Rust-built AI code editor" that is "agentic" and offers numerous features beneficial for prototyping and general coding. The creator encourages viewers to subscribe to the "world of AI newsletter" for weekly updates on the AI space, join their private Discord for AI tool subscriptions and exclusive content, and check out previous videos. Links to Zed and other resources are provided in the description.