Zed AI

Type: full-code · Vendor: Zed Industries · Language: Rust · License: AGPL-3.0 / Apache-2.0 / GPL-3.0 (mixed; see repo) · Status: active · Status in practice: mature

Links: homepage docs repo

The AI surface inside Zed - an open-source Rust code editor. Built around an Agent Panel with Ask/Write/Minimal profiles, configurable tool permissions, MCP server tools, Inline Assistant, and the Agent Client Protocol for embedding external agents (Claude Agent, Codex, Gemini CLI).

Description. Zed AI is the AI feature surface in the Zed editor: an Agent Panel hosting threads, Inline Assistant for in-place rewrites, and Edit Prediction for keystroke-level completion. Three built-in profiles ship - Ask (read-only tools), Write (file edits + terminal), and Minimal - with custom profiles available. Tool permissions default to confirm but can be set to allow or deny. MCP servers extend the toolchain (Tools and Prompts supported). External agents like Claude Agent, Codex CLI, and Gemini CLI run inside Zed through the Agent Client Protocol, with billing handled by the external provider.

Agent loop shape. Profile-scoped tool-using loop. User opens a thread in the Agent Panel; the active profile (Ask / Write / Minimal / custom) determines which tools the model may call. Per-tool permission defaults to confirm, prompting before any tool action; allow and deny modes exist. MCP servers contribute additional tools. External agents follow their own loops, surfacing through Zed's UI via the Agent Client Protocol.

Primary use cases

Agent Panel inside Zed for thread-based coding
Inline Assistant for in-place rewrites
Edit Prediction for keystroke completions
MCP server tool extension
embedding external CLI agents via ACP

flowchart TD user[User in Zed] --> ap[Agent Panel thread] ap --> profile{Profile} profile -->|Ask| ro[Read-only tools] profile -->|Write| rw[File edits + terminal] profile -->|Minimal| min[Minimal tools] profile -->|Custom| cust[Custom profile] ro --> perm{Tool permissions} rw --> perm min --> perm cust --> perm perm -->|confirm| ask[Prompt for approval] perm -->|allow| auto[Run] perm -->|deny| block[Block] ask --> run[Tool call] auto --> run run --> mcp[MCP tool] run --> builtin[Built-in tool] mcp --> obs[Observe] builtin --> obs obs --> ap ap --> ext{External agent via ACP?} ext -->|yes| acp[Claude Agent / Codex / Gemini CLI] ext -->|no| done[Done] acp --> done

Key concepts

Agent Panel → agent-computer-interface (docs) — Conversation view for the active thread; the primary UI for agent interaction.
Profiles (Ask / Write / Minimal) → role-typed-subagents (docs) — Built-in tool sets; Ask is read-only, Write has file edits and terminal, Minimal is reduced.
Tool permissions → approval-queue (docs) — agent.tool_permissions.default - confirm (default) / allow / deny.
MCP servers → mcp (docs) — Tools and Prompts capabilities; runtime tool-list changes auto-reload.
Agent Client Protocol (ACP) (docs) — Open protocol Zed uses to embed Claude Agent, Codex, Gemini CLI, Copilot, and custom agents.
Inline Assistant and Edit Prediction (docs) — In-place rewrites and keystroke completions inside the editor.