Ghostboard pixel

Creators of Atom Bring Another Open Source Code Editor

Zed is now open-source, with interesting features in the mix.

There are a couple of interesting code editors in the works which might have the potential to challenge Visual Studio Code. Zed, is one of them, built by the creators of Atom, focused on performance and feature-rich at the same time.

It offers features like Vim mode, integrated terminal, real-time collaboration, and more.

While we already listed Zed as one of the most impressive upcoming code editors, it was not open-source, until now.

They finally decided to open source the entire project, with different licenses associated with its editor, server-side, and the UI.

Zed: From the Makers of Atom and Tree-sitter

zed editor official screenshot on macOS

If you are aware of Atom code editor (now defunct) or tree-sitter, you already know that Zed code editor can be your next remarkable code editor.

Unfortunately, it is not available for Linux at the moment. You can download it for macOS. Of course, with its source-code now on GitHub, the community can help make a binary available for Linux as well.

Regarding the open-source licenses, it is GPL for the editor, AGPL for server-side components, and Apache 2 for the UI.

In addition to the announcement to open-source the project, they also unveiled a neat little feature called "Zed Channels". With Zed Channels, you can share a link, and write code together in real time. So, it should make collaboration seamless.

The developers also revealed that they will be monetizing features like Zed Channels and other AI-powered functionalities for a sustainable business model in the near future.

As of now, the new features will be free for everyone.

Moreover, they may continue offering proprietary products for commercial/enterprise use-cases. It could be something like "Zed Pro" for businesses, a generic guess from my side πŸ˜‰

Though, they intend that the proprietary code will be a tiny fraction, if at all.

Zed aims to be a better code editor for everyone and with open-sourcing the project, they believe the community contributions can help them achieve the 1.0 milestone release swiftly.

You can explore all about the code editor on its official website and the documentation.

πŸŽ—οΈ
Here's why you should opt for It's FOSS Plus Membership:

- Even the biggest players in the Linux world don't care about desktop Linux users. We do.
- We don't put informational content behind paywall. Your support keeps it open for everyone. Think of it like 'pay it forward'.
- Don't like ads? With the Plus membership, you get an ad-free reading experience.
- When millions of AI-generated content is being published daily, you read and learn from real human Linux users.
- It costs just $2 a month, less than the cost of your favorite burger.

Become a Plus Member today and join over 300 people in supporting our work.
18 comments
Hide Replies 1
Avatar
Member
Ankush Das
Thanks for sharing it with us, nice one :)
Avatar
Fossd
I am in need of a good code editor to use with Ren’py. Currently the latest Renpy version 8.2 does not give the option of using Atom anymore and is instead replaced by the telemetery infected one by Microsoft.

I use Linux Mint so as my OS.

Can you also update your articles for code editors on the main FOSS page
Avatar Placeholder
L. Duvall
Since they pulled the plug on Atom, why would one expect greater things with their next editor offering? I don’t know the whys of dropping Atom, just β€˜saying’.
Avatar
David Cardoso
You failed to mention it's greatest selling point, it is written in Rust and therefore is not based on Electron
1
Hide Replies 1
Avatar
Plus Member ⭐
Abhishek
Ah! A Rust lover :)
Avatar Placeholder
Mr. Wayne
Only For MAc
Hide Replies 2
Avatar
Plus Member ⭐
Abhishek
For now. It should come to Linux later.
Hide Replies 1
Avatar
Eduardo Bandeira
In Canada the letter Z is pronounced β€œzed”.
Avatar Placeholder
Neil
Being a Canadian myself, and judging by its name Zed, this must have been developed (or at least named) by Canadians eh? πŸ™‚πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦
Hide Replies 3
Avatar
Plus Member ⭐
Abhishek
Wondering how come the name β€˜Zed’ relates to Canada? Unless I am missing something really obvious :)
Hide Replies 2
Avatar
Eduardo Bandeira
The letter Z is pronounced Zed in Canada.
Hide Replies 1
Avatar
Plus Member ⭐
Abhishek
Ah… I guess that’s the case in most part of the world. It’s in the USA that we have Z, pronounced as Zee.
Avatar
Paul
Too bad their editor is made using macOS specific APIs and making it cross platform will take a good while
Hide Replies 1
Avatar
Plus Member ⭐
Abhishek
Let’s hope it comes to other platforms soon
Avatar Placeholder
tom
This is a big WTH - an open source code editor that hopes to will work on Linux later this year. I really like to see what's so special about GPUI rather than using an existing cross-platphorm UI framework.
Hide Replies 2
Avatar
Plus Member ⭐
Abhishek
Well… we need something to challenge the monopoly of Microsoft’s VS Code. This is a good contender.
Hide Replies 1
Avatar Placeholder
tom
Im down but in this case the β€œwe” that needs an FLOSS editor and that find the two MIT VSCode forks are too controlled by MS are using bloody OSX! The juxtaposition would be funny if not sad. It will be interesting to learn more about why a new UI framework that currently limits them to a non-FLOSS OS.
FastComments.com

Great! You’ve successfully signed up.

Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.

You've successfully subscribed to It's FOSS News.

Success! Check your email for magic link to sign-in.

Success! Your billing info has been updated.

Your billing was not updated.