Apps

Zed ships several deployable binaries from this monorepo. They share crates but each has its own entry point and lifecycle.

App	Crate	What it is
zed	crates/zed	The desktop editor — the main product
cli	crates/cli	The zed command-line shim that finds and forwards to GUI
collab	crates/collab	Backend service for multiplayer editing and channels
remote_server	crates/remote_server	Headless server-side editor for remote development
eval_cli	crates/eval_cli	Headless CLI for evaluating agent / edit-prediction quality
extension_cli	crates/extension_cli	CLI for packaging and validating extensions
auto_update_helper	crates/auto_update_helper	Small helper that finishes auto-updates

Other binary-shaped crates worth knowing exist as headless or developer-facing tools:

• crates/edit_prediction_cli — debug the edit-prediction stack from the CLI.
• crates/debugger_tools — DAP message inspector and dev helpers.
• crates/component_preview — gallery for crates/ui design-system components.
• crates/docs_preprocessor — preprocesses the mdbook in docs/ (callouts, includes, etc.).
• crates/explorer_command_injector — Windows-only context-menu integration helper.

Process relationships

graph TD
    user[User] -->|terminal| cli
    user -->|GUI launch| zed
    cli --> zed
    zed -->|spawn child| auh[auto_update_helper]
    zed -->|child processes| ls[Language servers]
    zed -->|child processes| dap[Debug adapters]
    zed -->|HTTPS / WS| collab
    zed -->|SSH transport| rs[remote_server]
    rs -->|child processes| rls[Language servers on remote]
    extc[extension_cli] -.->|build/test| ext[Extension WASM]
    zed -->|loads| ext
    eval[eval_cli] -.->|drives| llm[LLM providers]

Bundling and distribution

The desktop app is bundled by script/bundle-{mac,linux,windows.ps1,freebsd} together with assets and resources from crates/zed/contents/ and crates/zed/resources/. The CLI is bundled alongside the GUI app. The collab and remote_server binaries are deployed independently.

See the per-app pages for details on each binary's responsibilities, entry points, and where to start when modifying it.