Leaving Neovim for Zed

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall reception of Zed

  • Many find Zed fast, smooth, and pleasant, especially compared to VS Code on large projects.
  • Several people have switched from Neovim or VS Code to Zed (sometimes partially), others tried it and went back after hitting missing features or bugs.
  • Some see Zed as a strong “pre‑1.0‑feeling” editor: impressive but not yet fully polished.

Zed vs Neovim & configuration fatigue

  • A recurring theme: Neovim’s power and plugin ecosystem are great, but configs are fragile and time‑consuming to maintain; updates can break setups.
  • Zed appeals by providing LSP, git indicators, REPLs, and AI “out of the box” with no ricing.
  • Others argue Neovim can be stable if you avoid plugin churn or use curated distros (LazyVim, AstroVim, NvChad, LunarVim, SpaceVim).

Zed vs VS Code and other GUI editors

  • Some VS Code users tried Zed but missed mature extensions, debugging, strong git tooling, EditorConfig, and robust TS/JS or Rust language server integration.
  • VS Code’s remote development is still seen as best‑in‑class; Zed’s remote/containers support is in preview and flaky for some.
  • Sublime Text users praise its speed and polish; some are testing Zed mainly for its AI integration.

Vim mode & editing behavior

  • Zed’s Vim mode is praised as a good way to learn Vim, but also criticized as buggy: cut/copy/paste issues, incomplete motions, and especially the default of using the system clipboard as the unnamed register.
  • There’s extensive debate on how Vim registers should interact with the OS clipboard; some like system clipboard by default, others find it disastrous for workflow.

Missing features & platform limitations in Zed

  • Noted gaps: EditorConfig, robust indentation detection/override per file, settings UI, better git/diff tools, debugging, broader language support, better TS/JS experience, Perl highlighting.
  • Linux/NixOS users complain about forced auto‑updates, limited reuse of existing language servers, and poor direnv integration.
  • Lack of Windows support is a hard blocker for some.

Collaboration, AI & business/privacy concerns

  • Many users say they don’t care about built‑in collaboration or chat and just want a fast, solid editor; some fear core editing is being neglected in favor of VC‑friendly AI/collab features.
  • Others love Zed’s AI and REPL integration and see this as its differentiator.
  • A few express strong discomfort with automatic downloading of tools and unclear data flows to Zed’s servers, viewing this as a dealbreaker.

Alternative editors highlighted

  • Helix is praised as “just works” with modal editing and LSP out‑of‑the‑box, though missing plugins.
  • Classic Vim is defended as more mature and stable than Neovim; Emacs mentioned similarly.
  • JetBrains IDEs are valued for “it just works” depth but criticized for heaviness and licensing.
  • Kate, Sublime, Cursor, and others are cited as strong niche choices.