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24Both Nix and Alpine have third-party Zed packages available (though they are currently a few weeks out of date).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
54When 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).
55
56We'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).
57
58### Downloading manually
59
60If 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:
61
62Download the `.tar.gz` file:
63
64- [zed-linux-x86_64.tar.gz](https://zed.dev/api/releases/stable/latest/zed-linux-x86_64.tar.gz) ([preview](https://zed.dev/api/releases/preview/latest/zed-linux-x86_64.tar.gz))
65- [zed-linux-aarch64.tar.gz](https://zed.dev/api/releases/stable/latest/zed-linux-aarch64.tar.gz)
66 ([preview](https://zed.dev/api/releases/preview/latest/zed-linux-aarch64.tar.gz))
67
68Then ensure that the `zed` binary in the tarball is on your path. The easiest way is to unpack the tarball and create a symlink:
69
70```sh
71mkdir -p ~/.local
72# extract zed to ~/.local/zed.app/
73tar -xvf <path/to/download>.tar.gz -C ~/.local
74# link the zed binary to ~/.local/bin (or another directory in your $PATH)
75ln -sf ~/.local/zed.app/bin/zed ~/.local/bin/zed
76```
77
78If you'd like integration with an XDG-compatible desktop environment, you will also need to install the `.desktop` file:
79
80```sh
81cp ~/.local/zed.app/share/applications/zed.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/dev.zed.Zed.desktop
82sed -i "s|Icon=zed|Icon=$HOME/.local/zed.app/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/zed.png|g" ~/.local/share/applications/dev.zed.Zed.desktop
83sed -i "s|Exec=zed|Exec=$HOME/.local/zed.app/libexec/zed-editor|g" ~/.local/share/applications/dev.zed.Zed.desktop
84```
85
86## Uninstalling Zed
87
88### Standard Uninstall
89
90If Zed was installed using the default installation script, it can be uninstalled by supplying the `--uninstall` flag to the `zed` shell command
91
92```sh
93zed --uninstall
94```
95
96If there are no errors, the shell will then prompt you whether you'd like to keep your preferences or delete them. After making a choice, you should see a message that Zed was successfully uninstalled.
97
98In the case that the `zed` shell command was not found in your PATH, you can try one of the following commands
99
100```sh
101$HOME/.local/bin/zed --uninstall
102```
103
104or
105
106```sh
107$HOME/.local/zed.app/bin.zed --uninstall
108```
109
110The first case might fail if a symlink was not properly established between `$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.
111
112If 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.
113
114### Package Manager
115
116If Zed was installed using a package manager, please consult the documentation for that package manager on how to uninstall a package.
117
118## Troubleshooting
119
120Linux 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.
121
122### Zed fails to start
123
124If 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).
125
126### Graphics issues
127
128#### Zed fails to open windows
129
130Zed 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.
131
132If 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:
133
134```
135vkcube
136```
137
138> **_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.
139
140This 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 (for example running Linux on an Arm-based MacBook) there is no Vulkan support yet.
141
142You can find out which graphics card Zed is using by looking in the Zed log (`~/.local/share/zed/logs/Zed.log`) for `Using GPU: ...`.
143
144If 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))
145
146On 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).
147
148On others, you may be able to the environment variable `DRI_PRIME=1` when running Zed to force the use of the discrete GPU.
149
150If 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))
151
152If 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))
153
154If you are using `amdvlk` you may find that zed only opens when run with `sudo $(which zed)`. To fix this, remove the `amdvlk` and `lib32-amdvlk` packages and install mesa/vulkan instead. ([#14141](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/14141)).
155
156For more information, the [Arch guide to Vulkan](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Vulkan) has some good steps that translate well to most distributions.
157
158#### Forcing Zed to use a specific GPU
159
160There are a few different ways to force Zed to use a specific GPU:
161
162##### Option A
163
164You can use the `ZED_DEVICE_ID={device_id}` environment variable to specify the device ID of the GPU you wish to have Zed use.
165
166You can obtain the device ID of your GPU by running `lspci -nn | grep VGA` which will output each GPU on one line like:
167
168```
16908:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GA104 [GeForce RTX 3070] [10de:2484] (rev a1)
170```
171
172where 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:
173
174```
175ZED_DEVICE_ID=0x2484 zed
176```
177
178Make sure to export the variable if you choose to define it globally in a `.bashrc` or similar.
179
180##### Option B
181
182If 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.
183
184##### Option C
185
186Using [vkdevicechooser](https://github.com/jiriks74/vkdevicechooser).
187
188#### Reporting graphics issues
189
190If 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.
191
192When 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.
193
194Passing the `--system-specs` flag to Zed like
195
196```sh
197zed --system-specs
198```
199
200will 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.
201
202Additionally, 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:
203
204```sh
205truncate -s 0 ~/.local/share/zed/logs/Zed.log # Clear the log file
206ZED_LOG=blade_graphics=info zed .
207cat ~/.local/share/zed/logs/Zed.log
208# copy the output
209```
210
211Or, if you have the Zed cli setup, you can do
212
213```sh
214ZED_LOG=blade_graphics=info /path/to/zed/cli --foreground .
215# copy the output
216```
217
218It is also highly recommended when pasting the log into a github issue, to do so with the following template:
219
220> **_Note_**: The whitespace in the template is important, and will cause incorrect formatting if not preserved.
221
222````
223<details><summary>Zed Log</summary>
224
225```
226{zed log contents}
227```
228
229</details>
230````
231
232This will cause the logs to be collapsed by default, making it easier to read the issue.
233
234### I can't open any files
235
236### Clicking links isn't working
237
238These features are provided by XDG desktop portals, specifically:
239
240- `org.freedesktop.portal.FileChooser`
241- `org.freedesktop.portal.OpenURI`
242
243Some 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.
244
245### Zed isn't remembering my API keys
246
247### Zed isn't remembering my login
248
249These feature also requires XDG desktop portals, specifically:
250
251- `org.freedesktop.portal.Secret` or
252- `org.freedesktop.Secrets`
253
254Zed 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.
255
256### Could not start inotify
257
258Zed relies on inotify to watch your filesystem for changes. If you cannot start inotify then Zed will not work reliably.
259
260If you are seeing "too many open files" then first try `sysctl fs.inotify`.
261
262- 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.
263- 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.
264
265It 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`.
266
267### No sound or wrong output device
268
269If 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.
270
271If your system uses PipeWire:
272
2731. **Install the PipeWire ALSA plugin**
274
275 On Debian-based systems, run:
276
277 ```bash
278 sudo apt install pipewire-alsa
279 ```
280
2812. **Configure ALSA to use PipeWire**
282
283 Add the following configuration to your ALSA settings file. You can use either `~/.asoundrc` (user-level) or `/etc/asound.conf` (system-wide):
284
285 ```bash
286 pcm.!default {
287 type pipewire
288 }
289
290 ctl.!default {
291 type pipewire
292 }
293 ```
294
2953. **Restart your system**
296
297### Forcing X11 scale factor
298
299On X11 systems, Zed automatically detects the appropriate scale factor for high-DPI displays. The scale factor is determined using the following priority order:
300
3011. `GPUI_X11_SCALE_FACTOR` environment variable (if set)
3022. `Xft.dpi` from X resources database (xrdb)
3033. Automatic detection via RandR based on monitor resolution and physical size
304
305If you want to customize the scale factor beyond what Zed detects automatically, you have several options:
306
307#### Check your current scale factor
308
309You can verify if you have `Xft.dpi` set:
310
311```sh
312xrdb -query | grep Xft.dpi
313```
314
315If 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.
316
317#### Option 1: Set Xft.dpi (X Resources Database)
318
319`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.
320
321Edit or create the `~/.Xresources` file:
322
323```sh
324vim ~/.Xresources
325```
326
327Add this line with your desired DPI:
328
329```sh
330Xft.dpi: 96
331```
332
333Common DPI values:
334
335- `96` for standard 1x scaling
336- `144` for 1.5x scaling
337- `192` for 2x scaling
338- `288` for 3x scaling
339
340Load the configuration:
341
342```sh
343xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources
344```
345
346Restart Zed for the changes to take effect.
347
348#### Option 2: Use the GPUI_X11_SCALE_FACTOR environment variable
349
350This Zed-specific environment variable directly sets the scale factor, bypassing all automatic detection.
351
352```sh
353GPUI_X11_SCALE_FACTOR=1.5 zed
354```
355
356You 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.
357
358To make this permanent, add it to your shell profile or desktop entry.
359
360#### Option 3: Adjust system-wide RandR DPI
361
362This changes the reported DPI for your entire X11 session, affecting how RandR calculates scaling for all applications that use it.
363
364Add this to your `.xprofile` or `.xinitrc`:
365
366```sh
367xrandr --dpi 192
368```
369
370Replace `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.