What is zed?

Zed is a code editor designed to be fast enough that it keeps up with your thinking, rather than making you wait. It is built by the same team that previously created Atom, a popular editor that was widely used before being discontinued. The standout feature is that it supports multiplayer editing, meaning multiple people can work in the same file at the same time, similar to how Google Docs lets people collaborate on a document together. The project runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows, and you can install it either by downloading it directly from the website or by using standard package managers on your system. The README does not go into detail about the specific features or how the collaboration works in practice, but it positions itself as a tool for developers who want a high-performance alternative to slower, heavier editors. The people who would get the most out of Zed are developers who feel bogged down by their current editor and want something more responsive. It is also well-suited for teams who frequently do pair programming, review code together, or need to jump on a call and quickly work through a problem in the same file. Instead of sharing your screen and talking someone through your code, you could both edit the same document live. One notable thing about the project is that it is developed by Zed Industries, a for-profit company rather than a traditional open-source community. The code is available publicly, and you can contribute or even build it yourself from source, but the company finances itself through GitHub sponsorships and general company revenue. There are no special perks tied to sponsoring, it functions as straightforward financial support for the team building the product.