Zed: A Multiplayer Code Editor Built by the People Behind Atom and Tree-sitter
You've probably noticed that most code editors feel like they're fighting you. They lag when you type, they struggle with large files, and collaboration means screensharing or wrestling with a plugin that half-works. Zed is an attempt to fix that—a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter, built with performance and real-time collaboration as first-class concerns rather than afterthoughts.
What It Does
Zed is a code editor. It runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows, and it's designed from the ground up to be fast and to support multiple people working in the same file at the same time. The project comes from the team behind Atom (the editor that a lot of us used a decade ago) and Tree-sitter (the parsing library that powers syntax highlighting and structural editing in many modern tools). That lineage matters—it means the people building Zed have already spent years thinking about how editors parse code and how developers actually work.
The editor is written primarily in Rust, and the README notes that the source is licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later, with some Apache-2.0 components where marked. It's developed by Zed Industries, Inc., a for-profit company, and the project is actively hiring. There's no web version yet—that's tracked in an open discussion—but desktop builds are available for the three major platforms.
Why It's Cool
The pedigree is real. Atom and Tree-sitter aren't side projects. Atom shaped how a generation of developers thought about extensible editors, and Tree-sitter became the de facto standard for incremental parsing in editors. The team behind those tools turning their attention to a new editor means they're bringing hard-won lessons about performance and architecture.
Multiplayer isn't bolted on. Most editors treat collaboration as a plugin or a separate mode. Zed lists multiplayer as part of its core identity. If you've ever tried to pair program by sharing your screen and watching your colleague's cursor lag half a second behind, you know why that matters.
Performance is the point. The project describes itself as "high-performance," and given that it's built in Rust by people who care deeply about parsing and editor internals, that's not just marketing. A fast editor changes how you work—you notice it most when you switch back to something slower.
It's open source, with a clear license structure. The GPL-3.0-or-later licensing means the community can inspect, modify, and redistribute the code. The Apache-2.0 components are marked, and the project uses cargo-about to automate license compliance, which tells you they're thinking about this seriously rather than treating it as an afterthought.
You can actually contribute. The README links to building instructions for macOS, Linux, and Windows, plus a CONTRIBUTING.md. If you're a Rust developer who cares about editors, there's a path to getting involved beyond just filing issues.
How to Try It
Getting started is straightforward:
- Head to the download page for macOS, Linux, or Windows.
- Or install via your local package manager:
If you want to build it yourself, there are platform-specific guides in the repo:
The repository lives at github.com/zed-industries/zed. If you're interested in contributing, check out CONTRIBUTING.md and note that the team is hiring.
Final Thoughts
Zed is worth your attention if you care about editor performance, if you collaborate with other developers regularly, or if you're curious what the people who built Atom and Tree-sitter would do differently given another shot. It's not trying to be everything to everyone—there's no web version yet, and it's a for-profit project, which means the incentives aren't purely communal. But the technical foundation is serious, the licensing is open, and the team has a track record. If you've been looking for an editor that feels fast and treats collaboration as a core feature rather than a plugin, this is one to watch and try.
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