Zed AI
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.
Solution
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
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