Configuring Zed

Zed is designed to be configured: we want to fit your workflow and preferences exactly. We provide default settings that are designed to be a comfortable starting point for as many people as possible, but we hope you will enjoy tweaking it to make it feel incredible.

In addition to the settings described here, you may also want to change your theme, configure your key bindings, set up tasks or install extensions.

Settings files

Your settings file can be opened with cmd-,|ctrl-,. By default it is located at ~/.config/zed/settings.json, though if you have XDG_CONFIG_HOME in your environment on Linux it will be at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/zed/settings.json instead.

This configuration is merged with any local configuration inside your projects. You can open the project settings by running zed: Open Local Settings from the command palette. This will create a .zed directory containing.zed/settings.json.

Although most projects will only need one settings file at the root, you can add more local settings files for subdirectories as needed. Not all settings can be set in local files, just those that impact the behavior of the editor and language tooling. For example you can set tab_size, formatter etc. but not theme, vim_mode and similar.

The syntax for configuration files is a super-set of JSON that allows // comments.

Default settings

You can find the default settings for your current Zed by running zed: Open Default Settings from the command palette.

Extensions that provide language servers may also provide default settings for those language servers.

Settings

Active Pane Magnification

• Description: Scale by which to zoom the active pane. When set to 1.0, the active pane has the same size as others, but when set to a larger value, the active pane takes up more space.
• Setting: active_pane_magnification
• Default: 1.0

Options

float values

Autosave

• Description: When to automatically save edited buffers.
• Setting: autosave
• Default: off

Options

1. To disable autosave, set it to off:

{
  "autosave": "off"
}

2. To autosave when focus changes, use on_focus_change:

{
  "autosave": "on_focus_change"
}

3. To autosave when the active window changes, use on_window_change:

{
  "autosave": "on_window_change"
}

4. To autosave after an inactivity period, use after_delay:

{
  "autosave": {
    "after_delay": {
      "milliseconds": 1000
    }
  }
}

Auto Update

• Description: Whether or not to automatically check for updates.
• Setting: auto_update
• Default: true

Options

boolean values

Buffer Font Family

• Description: The name of a font to use for rendering text in the editor.
• Setting: buffer_font_family
• Default: Zed Plex Mono

Options

The name of any font family installed on the user's system

Buffer Font Features

• Description: The OpenType features to enable for text in the editor.
• Setting: buffer_font_features
• Default: null

Options

Zed supports all OpenType features that can be enabled or disabled for a given buffer or terminal font, as well as setting values for font features.

For example, to disable font ligatures, add the following to your settings:

{
  "buffer_font_features": {
    "calt": false
  }
}

You can also set other OpenType features, like setting cv01 to 7:

{
  "buffer_font_features": {
    "cv01": 7
  }
}

Buffer Font Size

• Description: The default font size for text in the editor.
• Setting: buffer_font_size
• Default: 15

Options

integer values

Buffer Font Weight

• Description: The default font weight for text in the editor.
• Setting: buffer_font_weight
• Default: 400

Options

integer values between 100 and 900

Buffer Line Height

• Description: The default line height for text in the editor.
• Setting: buffer_line_height
• Default: "comfortable"

Options

"standard", "comfortable" or {"custom": float} (1 is very compact, 2 very loose)

Confirm Quit

• Description: Whether or not to prompt the user to confirm before closing the application.
• Setting: confirm_quit
• Default: false

Options

boolean values

Centered Layout

• Description: Configuration for the centered layout mode.
• Setting: centered_layout
• Default:

"centered_layout": {
  "left_padding": 0.2,
  "right_padding": 0.2,
}

Options

The left_padding and right_padding options define the relative width of the left and right padding of the central pane from the workspace when the centered layout mode is activated. Valid values range is from 0 to 0.4.

Direnv Integration

• Description: Settings for direnv integration. Requires direnv to be installed. direnv integration currently only means that the environment variables set by a direnv configuration can be used to detect some language servers in $PATH instead of installing them.
• Setting: load_direnv
• Default:

"load_direnv": "shell_hook"

Options There are two options to choose from:

1. shell_hook: Use the shell hook to load direnv. This relies on direnv to activate upon entering the directory. Supports POSIX shells and fish.
2. direct: Use direnv export json to load direnv. This will load direnv directly without relying on the shell hook and might cause some inconsistencies. This allows direnv to work with any shell.

Inline Completions

• Description: Settings for inline completions.
• Setting: inline_completions
• Default:

"inline_completions": {
  "disabled_globs": [
    ".env"
  ]
}

Options

Disabled Globs

• Description: A list of globs representing files that inline completions should be disabled for.
• Setting: disabled_globs
• Default: [".env"]

Options

List of string values

Current Line Highlight

• Description: How to highlight the current line in the editor.
• Setting: current_line_highlight
• Default: all

Options

1. Don't highlight the current line:

"current_line_highlight": "none"

2. Highlight the gutter area:

"current_line_highlight": "gutter"

3. Highlight the editor area:

"current_line_highlight": "line"

4. Highlight the full line:

"current_line_highlight": "all"

Cursor Blink

• Description: Whether or not the cursor blinks.
• Setting: cursor_blink
• Default: true

Options

boolean values

Default Dock Anchor

• Description: The default anchor for new docks.
• Setting: default_dock_anchor
• Default: bottom

Options

1. Position the dock attached to the bottom of the workspace: bottom
2. Position the dock to the right of the workspace like a side panel: right
3. Position the dock full screen over the entire workspace: expanded

Editor Scrollbar

• Description: Whether or not to show the editor scrollbar and various elements in it.
• Setting: scrollbar
• Default:

"scrollbar": {
  "show": "auto",
  "cursors": true,
  "git_diff": true,
  "search_results": true,
  "selected_symbol": true,
  "diagnostics": true
},

Show Mode

• Description: When to show the editor scrollbar.
• Setting: show
• Default: auto

Options

1. Show the scrollbar if there's important information or follow the system's configured behavior:

"scrollbar": {
  "show": "auto"
}

2. Match the system's configured behavior:

"scrollbar": {
  "show": "system"
}

3. Always show the scrollbar:

"scrollbar": {
  "show": "always"
}

4. Never show the scrollbar:

"scrollbar": {
  "show": "never"
}

Cursor Indicators

• Description: Whether to show cursor positions in the scrollbar.
• Setting: cursors
• Default: true

Options

boolean values

Git Diff Indicators

• Description: Whether to show git diff indicators in the scrollbar.
• Setting: git_diff
• Default: true

Options

boolean values

Search Results Indicators

• Description: Whether to show buffer search results in the scrollbar.
• Setting: search_results
• Default: true

Options

boolean values

Selected Symbols Indicators

• Description: Whether to show selected symbol occurrences in the scrollbar.
• Setting: selected_symbol
• Default: true

Options

boolean values

Diagnostics

• Description: Whether to show diagnostic indicators in the scrollbar.
• Setting: diagnostics
• Default: true

Options

boolean values

Editor Tab Bar

• Description: Settings related to the editor's tab bar.
• Settings: tab_bar
• Default:

"tab_bar": {
  "show": true,
  "show_nav_history_buttons": true
}

Show

• Description: Whether or not to show the tab bar in the editor.
• Setting: show
• Default: true

Options

boolean values

Navigation History Buttons

• Description: Whether or not to show the navigation history buttons.
• Setting: show_nav_history_buttons
• Default: true

Options

boolean values

Editor Tabs

• Description: Configuration for the editor tabs.
• Setting: tabs
• Default:

"tabs": {
  "close_position": "right",
  "file_icons": false,
  "git_status": false
},

Close Position

• Description: Where to display close button within a tab.
• Setting: close_position
• Default: right

Options

1. Display the close button on the right:

{
  "close_position": "right"
}

2. Display the close button on the left:

{
  "close_position": "left"
}

File Icons

• Description: Whether to show the file icon for a tab.
• Setting: file_icons
• Default: false

Git Status

• Description: Whether or not to show Git file status in tab.
• Setting: git_status
• Default: false

Editor Toolbar

• Description: Whether or not to show various elements in the editor toolbar.
• Setting: toolbar
• Default:

"toolbar": {
  "breadcrumbs": true,
  "quick_actions": true
},

Options

Each option controls displaying of a particular toolbar element. If all elements are hidden, the editor toolbar is not displayed.

Enable Language Server

• Description: Whether or not to use language servers to provide code intelligence.
• Setting: enable_language_server