Zed often consumes so much CPU that my fan runs on full blast. It freezes up, the editor features (like Python checking based on pylsp, etc.) often don't even work any more (hover over a red squiggly and the message is about something that was fixed 5 minutes prior). There are countless little bugs that I encounter, especially WRT the search features; bugs so bad that I have to end the app and start over.
How can a software be so good and so fast, with a tremendous UX, and then become hot garbage in a single quarter?
Were they bought or something? Does anyone know, did they maybe hire too many junior devs, etc.?"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["zed","editor"],"value":"Zed (Editor) Has Suddenly Become Terrible, IMHO"}},"_tags":["story","author_gonational","story_43041923","ask_hn"],"author":"gonational","children":[43042006,43042029,43042077,43042215,43042691,43042954,43043625,43043718,43044590,43047244,43054364],"created_at":"2025-02-13T21:58:33Z","created_at_i":1739483913,"num_comments":15,"objectID":"43041923","points":10,"story_id":43041923,"story_text":"The code editor, Zed (https://zed.dev) started out as the best thing since the heyday of Sublime Text. Over the past 3 months, it's become the worst piece of software I've ever used. I'm running a 2019 late MacBook Pro, so not the latest and greatest, but, we're talking about a code editor, not 3D modeling software. And, I don't use any LLM features.
Zed often consumes so much CPU that my fan runs on full blast. It freezes up, the editor features (like Python checking based on pylsp, etc.) often don't even work any more (hover over a red squiggly and the message is about something that was fixed 5 minutes prior). There are countless little bugs that I encounter, especially WRT the search features; bugs so bad that I have to end the app and start over.
How can a software be so good and so fast, with a tremendous UX, and then become hot garbage in a single quarter?
Were they bought or something? Does anyone know, did they maybe hire too many junior devs, etc.?","title":"Zed (Editor) Has Suddenly Become Terrible, IMHO","updated_at":"2026-07-10T17:20:33Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"diggan"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["zed","editor"],"value":"Zed Editor \u2013 The Debugger Is Here"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"partial","matchedWords":["zed"],"value":"https://zed.dev/blog/debugger"}},"_tags":["story","author_diggan","story_44311953"],"author":"diggan","children":[44311957],"created_at":"2025-06-18T17:55:38Z","created_at_i":1750269338,"num_comments":0,"objectID":"44311953","points":8,"story_id":44311953,"title":"Zed Editor \u2013 The Debugger Is Here","updated_at":"2025-06-20T04:47:52Z","url":"https://zed.dev/blog/debugger"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"Vinnl"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["zed","editor"],"value":"Linux when? Linux now. \u2013 Zed Editor"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"partial","matchedWords":["zed"],"value":"https://zed.dev/blog/zed-on-linux"}},"_tags":["story","author_Vinnl","story_40929505"],"author":"Vinnl","children":[40929728],"created_at":"2024-07-10T17:51:45Z","created_at_i":1720633905,"num_comments":1,"objectID":"40929505","points":7,"story_id":40929505,"title":"Linux when? Linux now. \u2013 Zed Editor","updated_at":"2024-09-20T17:24:35Z","url":"https://zed.dev/blog/zed-on-linux"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"znpy"},"story_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["zed","editor"],"value":"I wanted to give Zed (https://zed.dev / https://github.com/zed-industries/zed) a try.
I downloaded a binary release from https://zed.dev/releases/stable and I'm presented with LONG license agreement.
I'm particularly alarmed by this section:
> 2.2. License Limitations\n> \n> You agree that You shall not: (a) exceed the scope of the licenses granted in Section 2.1; (b) make copies of the Editor; (c) distribute, sublicense, assign, delegate, rent, lease, sell, time-share or otherwise transfer the benefits of, use under, or rights to, the license granted in Section 2.1; (d) reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise attempt to learn the source code, structure or algorithms underlying the Editor, except to the extent required to be permitted under applicable law; (e) modify, translate or create derivative works of the Editor; or (f) remove any copyright, trademark, patent or other proprietary notice that appears on the Editor or copies thereof.
This weirded me out because
1. the source seems to be available on github
2. the github pages list three different licenses (GPL, AGPL, Apache)
3. nowhere on the website it is stated that Zed is proprietary software
Needless to say, the "License Limitations" seem to contradict the terms of AGPL and GPL.
Hence the question: is Zed actually Open Source (or even Free Software) ?
Is the binary off the website some blob with stuff I'm not supposed to know about? Is this one of those vs-code/vs-codium situations?"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["zed","editor"],"value":"Ask HN: Is the Zed editor open source?"}},"_tags":["story","author_znpy","story_43133031","ask_hn"],"author":"znpy","children":[43133170,43133796],"created_at":"2025-02-21T21:12:35Z","created_at_i":1740172355,"num_comments":3,"objectID":"43133031","points":6,"story_id":43133031,"story_text":"I wanted to give Zed (https://zed.dev / https://github.com/zed-industries/zed) a try.
I downloaded a binary release from https://zed.dev/releases/stable and I'm presented with LONG license agreement.
I'm particularly alarmed by this section:
> 2.2. License Limitations\n> \n> You agree that You shall not: (a) exceed the scope of the licenses granted in Section 2.1; (b) make copies of the Editor; (c) distribute, sublicense, assign, delegate, rent, lease, sell, time-share or otherwise transfer the benefits of, use under, or rights to, the license granted in Section 2.1; (d) reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise attempt to learn the source code, structure or algorithms underlying the Editor, except to the extent required to be permitted under applicable law; (e) modify, translate or create derivative works of the Editor; or (f) remove any copyright, trademark, patent or other proprietary notice that appears on the Editor or copies thereof.
This weirded me out because
1. the source seems to be available on github
2. the github pages list three different licenses (GPL, AGPL, Apache)
3. nowhere on the website it is stated that Zed is proprietary software
Needless to say, the "License Limitations" seem to contradict the terms of AGPL and GPL.
Hence the question: is Zed actually Open Source (or even Free Software) ?
Is the binary off the website some blob with stuff I'm not supposed to know about? Is this one of those vs-code/vs-codium situations?","title":"Ask HN: Is the Zed editor open source?","updated_at":"2026-01-05T06:52:06Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"ssernikk"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["zed","editor"],"value":"Zed editor adds Helix mode in v0.193"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"partial","matchedWords":["zed"],"value":"https://zed.dev/releases/stable/0.193.3"}},"_tags":["story","author_ssernikk","story_44447941"],"author":"ssernikk","created_at":"2025-07-02T19:39:27Z","created_at_i":1751485167,"num_comments":0,"objectID":"44447941","points":6,"story_id":44447941,"title":"Zed editor adds Helix mode in v0.193","updated_at":"2025-07-16T18:51:01Z","url":"https://zed.dev/releases/stable/0.193.3"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"signa11"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["zed","editor"],"value":"Zed Editor: Out-of-your-face AI"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"partial","matchedWords":["zed"],"value":"https://zed.dev/blog/out-of-your-face-ai"}},"_tags":["story","author_signa11","story_43421891"],"author":"signa11","children":[43422166],"created_at":"2025-03-20T11:49:11Z","created_at_i":1742471351,"num_comments":1,"objectID":"43421891","points":5,"story_id":43421891,"title":"Zed Editor: Out-of-your-face AI","updated_at":"2025-03-27T09:23:40Z","url":"https://zed.dev/blog/out-of-your-face-ai"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"microflash"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["zed","editor"],"value":"Gram \u2013 an opinionated fork of the Zed code editor"},"url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://gram.liten.app"}},"_tags":["story","author_microflash","story_47232441"],"author":"microflash","children":[47234862],"created_at":"2026-03-03T14:01:26Z","created_at_i":1772546486,"num_comments":1,"objectID":"47232441","points":4,"story_id":47232441,"title":"Gram \u2013 an opinionated fork of the Zed code editor","updated_at":"2026-03-05T23:40:35Z","url":"https://gram.liten.app"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"todsacerdoti"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["zed","editor"],"value":"Building the Zed Text 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extensions"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"partial","matchedWords":["zed"],"value":"https://github.com/zed-industries/extensions"}},"_tags":["story","author_nc0","story_39515221"],"author":"nc0","created_at":"2024-02-26T18:44:18Z","created_at_i":1708973058,"num_comments":0,"objectID":"39515221","points":4,"story_id":39515221,"title":"Zed Editor now supports extensions","updated_at":"2024-09-20T16:25:44Z","url":"https://github.com/zed-industries/extensions"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"mikece"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["zed","editor"],"value":"Zed Editor's Newest Feature: Being Able to Disable All AI 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