Written on: March 4, 2025
As a developer, choosing the right editor makes a huge difference in productivity and overall coding experience. After trying various editors including VSCode, I've found Zed to be an excellent choice due to its speed, smooth user experience, and impressive customization options.
Zed is specifically designed for speed and efficiency. Typing feels remarkably smooth and responsive, delivering a seamless coding experience. Unlike many other editors, there's practically no noticeable lag, even when switching contexts or handling multiple tasks simultaneously.
One aspect I love most about Zed is its deep customizability. It comes with built-in support for Vim, which gives you the best of both worlds: Vim's powerful navigation and flexibility along with Zed's rich features and user-friendly interface.
Zed also has numerous intuitive keyboard shortcuts that significantly streamline my workflow. Quickly accessing key panels such as the Assistant Panel (AI chat), Terminal, Outline, or File Explorer through simple keyboard commands makes my workflow incredibly efficient. One personal favorite: simply pressing Shift + Esc instantly puts the editor into full-screen mode.
Imagine you're chatting with the AI Assistant panel: you can effortlessly jump into full-screen AI chat by pressing Shift + Esc, then easily switch back to your main editor to reference files or code snippets, all without ever leaving the keyboard. This seamless transition feels intuitive and boosts productivity immensely.
Zed simplifies navigation with practical shortcuts that immediately enhance productivity. Commands like gd (jump to definition) and gh (show hover documentation) make it effortless to explore and understand the code—no mouse required.
Additionally, I appreciate how Zed treats Terminals and AI Chats similar to regular files. By pressing Ctrl + Tab, you can quickly cycle through your open terminals or AI chats based on the context you're currently working in. This context-sensitive navigation makes multitasking feel smoother and more coherent.
I have created a list of Zed's Shortcuts to help you get started.
Perhaps one of Zed's most unique and beneficial aspects is how it treats AI conversations as editable files. Unlike typical chat interfaces, you can directly modify the AI's responses within the editor itself. This flexibility is particularly handy when refining AI-generated suggestions or correcting minor mistakes before proceeding to the next prompt. It’s innovative, powerful, and genuinely helpful.
Zed was completely missing the GitHub integration feature. However, it has been released today.
I have given it a try and I like that they have shortcuts for navigating through the codebase.
In summary, Zed provides a refreshingly streamlined and customizable editing environment designed with productivity in mind. Its superior Vim integration, intelligent shortcuts, seamless interface navigation, and editable AI chat responses put it well ahead of other editors such as VSCode. Give it a try—you won't regret it!
