1# Zed on Linux
  2
  3## Standard Installation
  4
  5For most people we recommend using the script on the [download](https://zed.dev/download) page to install Zed:
  6
  7```sh
  8curl -f https://zed.dev/install.sh | sh
  9```
 10
 11We also offer a preview build of Zed which receives updates about a week ahead of stable. You can install it with:
 12
 13```sh
 14curl -f https://zed.dev/install.sh | ZED_CHANNEL=preview sh
 15```
 16
 17The Zed installed by the script works best on systems that:
 18
 19- have a Vulkan compatible GPU available (for example Linux on an M-series macBook)
 20- have a system-wide glibc (NixOS and Alpine do not by default)
 21  - x86_64 (Intel/AMD): glibc version >= 2.31 (Ubuntu 20 and newer)
 22  - aarch64 (ARM): glibc version >= 2.35 (Ubuntu 22 and newer)
 23
 24Both Nix and Alpine have third-party Zed packages available (though they are currently a few weeks out of date). If you'd like to use our builds they do work if you install a glibc compatibility layer. On NixOS you can try [nix-ld](https://github.com/Mic92/nix-ld), and on Alpine [gcompat](https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Running_glibc_programs).
 25
 26You will need to build from source for:
 27
 28- architectures other than 64-bit Intel or 64-bit ARM (for example a 32-bit or RISC-V machine)
 29- Redhat Enterprise Linux 8.x, Rocky Linux 8, AlmaLinux 8, Amazon Linux 2 on all architectures
 30- Redhat Enterprise Linux 9.x, Rocky Linux 9.3, AlmaLinux 8, Amazon Linux 2023 on aarch64 (x86_x64 OK)
 31
 32## Other ways to install Zed on Linux
 33
 34Zed is open source, and [you can install from source](./development/linux.md).
 35
 36### Installing via a package manager
 37
 38There are several third-party Zed packages for various Linux distributions and package managers, sometimes under `zed-editor`. You may be able to install Zed using these packages:
 39
 40- Flathub: [`dev.zed.Zed`](https://flathub.org/apps/dev.zed.Zed)
 41- Arch: [`zed`](https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/zed/)
 42- Arch (AUR): [`zed-git`](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/zed-git), [`zed-preview`](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/zed-preview), [`zed-preview-bin`](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/zed-preview-bin)
 43- Alpine: `zed` ([aarch64](https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/package/edge/testing/aarch64/zed)) ([x86_64](https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/package/edge/testing/x86_64/zed))
 44- Nix: `zed-editor` ([unstable](https://search.nixos.org/packages?channel=unstable&show=zed-editor))
 45- Fedora/Ultramarine (Terra): [`zed`](https://github.com/terrapkg/packages/tree/frawhide/anda/devs/zed/stable), [`zed-preview`](https://github.com/terrapkg/packages/tree/frawhide/anda/devs/zed/preview), [`zed-nightly`](https://github.com/terrapkg/packages/tree/frawhide/anda/devs/zed/nightly)
 46- Solus: [`zed`](https://github.com/getsolus/packages/tree/main/packages/z/zed)
 47- Parabola: [`zed`](https://www.parabola.nu/packages/extra/x86_64/zed/)
 48- Manjaro: [`zed`](https://packages.manjaro.org/?query=zed)
 49- ALT Linux (Sisyphus): [`zed`](https://packages.altlinux.org/en/sisyphus/srpms/zed/)
 50- AOSC OS: [`zed`](https://packages.aosc.io/packages/zed)
 51
 52See [Repology](https://repology.org/project/zed-editor/versions) for a list of Zed packages in various repositories.
 53
 54### Community
 55
 56When installing a third-party package please be aware that it may not be completely up to date and may be slightly different from the Zed we package (a common change is to rename the binary to `zedit` or `zeditor` to avoid conflicting with other packages).
 57
 58We'd love your help making Zed available for everyone. If Zed is not yet available for your package manager, and you would like to fix that, we have some notes on [how to do it](./development/linux.md#notes-for-packaging-zed).
 59
 60The packages in this section provide binary installs for Zed but are not official packages within the associated distributions. These packages are maintained by community members and as such a higher level of caution should be taken when installing them.
 61
 62#### Debian
 63
 64Zed is available in [this community-maintained repository](https://debian.griffo.io/).
 65
 66Instructions for each version are available in the README of the repository where packages are built.
 67Build, packaging and instructions for each version are available in the README of the [repository](https://github.com/dariogriffo/zed-debian)
 68
 69### Downloading manually
 70
 71If you'd prefer, you can install Zed by downloading our pre-built .tar.gz. This is the same artifact that our install script uses, but you can customize the location of your installation by modifying the instructions below:
 72
 73Download the `.tar.gz` file:
 74
 75- [zed-linux-x86_64.tar.gz](https://cloud.zed.dev/releases/stable/latest/download?asset=zed&arch=x86_64&os=linux&source=docs)
 76  ([preview](https://cloud.zed.dev/releases/preview/latest/download?asset=zed&arch=x86_64&os=linux&source=docs))
 77- [zed-linux-aarch64.tar.gz](https://cloud.zed.dev/releases/stable/latest/download?asset=zed&arch=aarch64&os=linux&source=docs)
 78  ([preview](https://cloud.zed.dev/releases/preview/latest/download?asset=zed&arch=aarch64&os=linux&source=docs))
 79
 80Then ensure that the `zed` binary in the tarball is on your path. The easiest way is to unpack the tarball and create a symlink:
 81
 82```sh
 83mkdir -p ~/.local
 84# extract zed to ~/.local/zed.app/
 85tar -xvf <path/to/download>.tar.gz -C ~/.local
 86# link the zed binary to ~/.local/bin (or another directory in your $PATH)
 87ln -sf ~/.local/zed.app/bin/zed ~/.local/bin/zed
 88```
 89
 90If you'd like integration with an XDG-compatible desktop environment, you will also need to install the `.desktop` file:
 91
 92```sh
 93cp ~/.local/zed.app/share/applications/zed.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/dev.zed.Zed.desktop
 94sed -i "s|Icon=zed|Icon=$HOME/.local/zed.app/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/zed.png|g" ~/.local/share/applications/dev.zed.Zed.desktop
 95sed -i "s|Exec=zed|Exec=$HOME/.local/zed.app/libexec/zed-editor|g" ~/.local/share/applications/dev.zed.Zed.desktop
 96```
 97
 98## Uninstalling Zed
 99
100### Standard Uninstall
101
102If Zed was installed using the default installation script, it can be uninstalled by supplying the `--uninstall` flag to the `zed` shell command
103
104```sh
105zed --uninstall
106```
107
108If there are no errors, the shell will then prompt you whether you'd like to keep your preferences or delete them. After making a choice, you should see a message that Zed was successfully uninstalled.
109
110In the case that the `zed` shell command was not found in your PATH, you can try one of the following commands
111
112```sh
113$HOME/.local/bin/zed --uninstall
114```
115
116or
117
118```sh
119$HOME/.local/zed.app/bin.zed --uninstall
120```
121
122The first case might fail if a symlink was not properly established between `$HOME/.local/bin/zed` and `$HOME/.local/zed.app/bin.zed`. But the second case should work as long as Zed was installed to its default location.
123
124If Zed was installed to a different location, you must invoke the `zed` binary stored in that installation directory and pass the `--uninstall` flag to it in the same format as the previous commands.
125
126### Package Manager
127
128If Zed was installed using a package manager, please consult the documentation for that package manager on how to uninstall a package.
129
130## Troubleshooting
131
132Linux works on a large variety of systems configured in many different ways. We primarily test Zed on a vanilla Ubuntu setup, as it is the most common distribution our users use, that said we do expect it to work on a wide variety of machines.
133
134### Zed fails to start
135
136If you see an error like "/lib64/libc.so.6: version 'GLIBC_2.29' not found" it means that your distribution's version of glibc is too old. You can either upgrade your system, or [install Zed from source](./development/linux.md).
137
138### Graphics issues
139
140#### Zed fails to open windows
141
142Zed requires a GPU to run effectively. Under the hood, we use [Vulkan](https://www.vulkan.org/) to communicate with your GPU. If you are seeing problems with performance, or Zed fails to load, it is possible that Vulkan is the culprit.
143
144If you see a notification saying `Zed failed to open a window: NoSupportedDeviceFound` this means that Vulkan cannot find a compatible GPU. you can try running [vkcube](https://github.com/krh/vkcube) (usually available as part of the `vulkaninfo` or `vulkan-tools` package on various distributions) to try to troubleshoot where the issue is coming from like so:
145
146```
147vkcube
148```
149
150> **_Note_**: Try running in both X11 and wayland modes by running `vkcube -m [x11|wayland]`. Some versions of `vkcube` use `vkcube` to run in X11 and `vkcube-wayland` to run in wayland.
151
152This should output a line describing your current graphics setup and show a rotating cube. If this does not work, you should be able to fix it by installing Vulkan compatible GPU drivers, however in some cases there is no Vulkan support yet.
153
154You can find out which graphics card Zed is using by looking in the Zed log (`~/.local/share/zed/logs/Zed.log`) for `Using GPU: ...`.
155
156If you see errors like `ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED` or `GPU Crashed` or `ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR` then you may be able to work around this by installing different drivers for your GPU, or by selecting a different GPU to run on. (See [#14225](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/14225))
157
158On some systems the file `/etc/prime-discrete` can be used to enforce the use of a discrete GPU using [PRIME](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PRIME). Depending on the details of your setup, you may need to change the contents of this file to "on" (to force discrete graphics) or "off" (to force integrated graphics).
159
160On others, you may be able to the environment variable `DRI_PRIME=1` when running Zed to force the use of the discrete GPU.
161
162If you're using an AMD GPU and Zed crashes when selecting long lines, try setting the `ZED_PATH_SAMPLE_COUNT=0` environment variable. (See [#26143](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/26143))
163
164If you're using an AMD GPU, you might get a 'Broken Pipe' error. Try using the RADV or Mesa drivers. (See [#13880](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/13880))
165
166If you are using `amdvlk`, the default open-source AMD graphics driver, you may find that Zed consistently fails to launch. This is a known issue for some users, for example on Omarchy (see issue [#28851](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/28851)). To fix this, you will need to use a different driver. We recommend removing the `amdvlk` and `lib32-amdvlk` packages and installing `vulkan-radeon` instead (see issue [#14141](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/14141)).
167
168For more information, the [Arch guide to Vulkan](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Vulkan) has some good steps that translate well to most distributions.
169
170#### Forcing Zed to use a specific GPU
171
172There are a few different ways to force Zed to use a specific GPU:
173
174##### Option A
175
176You can use the `ZED_DEVICE_ID={device_id}` environment variable to specify the device ID of the GPU you wish to have Zed use.
177
178You can obtain the device ID of your GPU by running `lspci -nn | grep VGA` which will output each GPU on one line like:
179
180```
18108:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GA104 [GeForce RTX 3070] [10de:2484] (rev a1)
182```
183
184where the device ID here is `2484`. This value is in hexadecimal, so to force Zed to use this specific GPU you would set the environment variable like so:
185
186```
187ZED_DEVICE_ID=0x2484 zed
188```
189
190Make sure to export the variable if you choose to define it globally in a `.bashrc` or similar.
191
192##### Option B
193
194If you are using Mesa, you can run `MESA_VK_DEVICE_SELECT=list zed --foreground` to get a list of available GPUs and then export `MESA_VK_DEVICE_SELECT=xxxx:yyyy` to choose a specific device. Furthermore, you can fallback to xwayland with an additional export of `WAYLAND_DISPLAY=""`.
195
196##### Option C
197
198Using [vkdevicechooser](https://github.com/jiriks74/vkdevicechooser).
199
200#### Reporting graphics issues
201
202If Vulkan is configured correctly, and Zed is still not working for you, please [file an issue](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed) with as much information as possible.
203
204When reporting issues where Zed fails to start due to graphics initialization errors on GitHub, it can be impossible to run the `zed: copy system specs into clipboard` command like we instruct you to in our issue template. We provide an alternative way to collect the system specs specifically for this situation.
205
206Passing the `--system-specs` flag to Zed like
207
208```sh
209zed --system-specs
210```
211
212will print the system specs to the terminal like so. It is strongly recommended to copy the output verbatim into the issue on GitHub, as it uses markdown formatting to ensure the output is readable.
213
214Additionally, it is extremely beneficial to provide the contents of your Zed log when reporting such issues. The log is usually located at `~/.local/share/zed/logs/Zed.log`. The recommended process for producing a helpful log file is as follows:
215
216```sh
217truncate -s 0 ~/.local/share/zed/logs/Zed.log # Clear the log file
218ZED_LOG=blade_graphics=info zed .
219cat ~/.local/share/zed/logs/Zed.log
220# copy the output
221```
222
223Or, if you have the Zed cli setup, you can do
224
225```sh
226ZED_LOG=blade_graphics=info /path/to/zed/cli --foreground .
227# copy the output
228```
229
230It is also highly recommended when pasting the log into a github issue, to do so with the following template:
231
232> **_Note_**: The whitespace in the template is important, and will cause incorrect formatting if not preserved.
233
234````
235<details><summary>Zed Log</summary>
236
237```
238{zed log contents}
239```
240
241</details>
242````
243
244This will cause the logs to be collapsed by default, making it easier to read the issue.
245
246### I can't open any files
247
248### Clicking links isn't working
249
250These features are provided by XDG desktop portals, specifically:
251
252- `org.freedesktop.portal.FileChooser`
253- `org.freedesktop.portal.OpenURI`
254
255Some window managers, such as `Hyprland`, don't provide a file picker by default. See [this list](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/XDG_Desktop_Portal#List_of_backends_and_interfaces) as a starting point for alternatives.
256
257### Zed isn't remembering my API keys
258
259### Zed isn't remembering my login
260
261These feature also requires XDG desktop portals, specifically:
262
263- `org.freedesktop.portal.Secret` or
264- `org.freedesktop.Secrets`
265
266Zed needs a place to securely store secrets such as your Zed login cookie or your OpenAI API Keys and we use a system provided keychain to do this. Examples of packages that provide this are `gnome-keyring`, `KWallet` and `keepassxc` among others.
267
268### Could not start inotify
269
270Zed relies on inotify to watch your filesystem for changes. If you cannot start inotify then Zed will not work reliably.
271
272If you are seeing "too many open files" then first try `sysctl fs.inotify`.
273
274- You should see that max_user_instances is 128 or higher (you can change the limit with `sudo sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_instances=1024`). Zed needs only 1 inotify instance.
275- You should see that `max_user_watches` is 8000 or higher (you can change the limit with `sudo sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_watches=64000`). Zed needs one watch per directory in all your open projects + one per git repository + a handful more for settings, themes, keymaps, extensions.
276
277It is also possible that you are running out of file descriptors. You can check the limits with `ulimit` and update them by editing `/etc/security/limits.conf`.
278
279### No sound or wrong output device
280
281If you're not hearing any sound in Zed or the audio is routed to the wrong device, it could be due to a mismatch between audio systems. Zed relies on ALSA, while your system may be using PipeWire or PulseAudio. To resolve this, you need to configure ALSA to route audio through PipeWire/PulseAudio.
282
283If your system uses PipeWire:
284
2851. **Install the PipeWire ALSA plugin**
286
287   On Debian-based systems, run:
288
289   ```bash
290   sudo apt install pipewire-alsa
291   ```
292
2932. **Configure ALSA to use PipeWire**
294
295   Add the following configuration to your ALSA settings file. You can use either `~/.asoundrc` (user-level) or `/etc/asound.conf` (system-wide):
296
297   ```bash
298   pcm.!default {
299       type pipewire
300   }
301
302   ctl.!default {
303       type pipewire
304   }
305   ```
306
3073. **Restart your system**
308
309### Forcing X11 scale factor
310
311On X11 systems, Zed automatically detects the appropriate scale factor for high-DPI displays. The scale factor is determined using the following priority order:
312
3131. `GPUI_X11_SCALE_FACTOR` environment variable (if set)
3142. `Xft.dpi` from X resources database (xrdb)
3153. Automatic detection via RandR based on monitor resolution and physical size
316
317If you want to customize the scale factor beyond what Zed detects automatically, you have several options:
318
319#### Check your current scale factor
320
321You can verify if you have `Xft.dpi` set:
322
323```sh
324xrdb -query | grep Xft.dpi
325```
326
327If this command returns no output, Zed is using RandR (X11's monitor management extension) to automatically calculate the scale factor based on your monitor's reported resolution and physical dimensions.
328
329#### Option 1: Set Xft.dpi (X Resources Database)
330
331`Xft.dpi` is a standard X11 setting that many applications use for consistent font and UI scaling. Setting this ensures Zed scales the same way as other X11 applications that respect this setting.
332
333Edit or create the `~/.Xresources` file:
334
335```sh
336vim ~/.Xresources
337```
338
339Add this line with your desired DPI:
340
341```sh
342Xft.dpi: 96
343```
344
345Common DPI values:
346
347- `96` for standard 1x scaling
348- `144` for 1.5x scaling
349- `192` for 2x scaling
350- `288` for 3x scaling
351
352Load the configuration:
353
354```sh
355xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources
356```
357
358Restart Zed for the changes to take effect.
359
360#### Option 2: Use the GPUI_X11_SCALE_FACTOR environment variable
361
362This Zed-specific environment variable directly sets the scale factor, bypassing all automatic detection.
363
364```sh
365GPUI_X11_SCALE_FACTOR=1.5 zed
366```
367
368You can use decimal values (e.g., `1.25`, `1.5`, `2.0`) or set `GPUI_X11_SCALE_FACTOR=randr` to force RandR-based detection even when `Xft.dpi` is set.
369
370To make this permanent, add it to your shell profile or desktop entry.
371
372#### Option 3: Adjust system-wide RandR DPI
373
374This changes the reported DPI for your entire X11 session, affecting how RandR calculates scaling for all applications that use it.
375
376Add this to your `.xprofile` or `.xinitrc`:
377
378```sh
379xrandr --dpi 192
380```
381
382Replace `192` with your desired DPI value. This affects the system globally and will be used by Zed's automatic RandR detection when `Xft.dpi` is not set.
383
384### Font rendering parameters
385
386When using Blade rendering (Linux platforms and self-compiled builds with the Blade renderer enabled), Zed reads `ZED_FONTS_GAMMA` and `ZED_FONTS_GRAYSCALE_ENHANCED_CONTRAST` environment variables for the values to use for font rendering.
387
388`ZED_FONTS_GAMMA` corresponds to [getgamma](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/dwrite/nf-dwrite-idwriterenderingparams-getgamma) values.
389Allowed range [1.0, 2.2], other values are clipped.
390Default: 1.8
391
392`ZED_FONTS_GRAYSCALE_ENHANCED_CONTRAST` corresponds to [getgrayscaleenhancedcontrast](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/dwrite_1/nf-dwrite_1-idwriterenderingparams1-getgrayscaleenhancedcontrast) values.
393Allowed range: [0.0, ..), other values are clipped.
394Default: 1.0