Trying out Zed after more than a decade of Vim/Neovim

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall sentiment

  • Many are impressed with Zed’s speed, smooth UI, and “just works” defaults, especially compared to Neovim setups and VS Code.
  • Several long‑time Vim/Sublime users tried Zed; some have fully switched, others bounced due to missing features or workflow mismatches.
  • A recurring theme is fatigue with maintaining complex Neovim configs and a desire for tools that require little setup.

Performance & UX

  • Zed is widely described as very fast and responsive, even on older Macs; some report stuttering or slowness on older GPUs or Linux laptops.
  • Font rendering is a common complaint: blurry on non‑retina or at certain DPI/scaling settings.
  • Some users report UI bugs (weird window rendering, occasional undo/format issues), suggesting it still feels young/unstable to a subset of users.

Vim/terminal workflows vs GUI editors

  • There’s a strong camp that prefers Neovim+tmux in a terminal, valuing low overhead, flexibility, and “everything is text.”
  • Others appreciate Zed’s Vim mode, calling it one of the least “uncanny valley” emulations, but still miss advanced Vim plugins and buffer semantics (e.g., viewing any buffer in any pane, split views of same file).
  • Not running in a terminal is a dealbreaker for some, a feature for others.

AI & LLM integration

  • Zed’s native AI and remote‑project context are major draws, though some find inline AI completions intrusive or underwhelming.
  • Several argue they can replicate most AI workflows via CLI tools or Neovim plugins, sometimes finding that simpler and more controllable.
  • Cursor’s “composer” mode is cited as a bar Zed hasn’t reached yet.

Language support, debugging & missing features

  • Strong LSP integration is praised, but debugging/DAP support is currently missing and considered a blocker by some.
  • Notebook/Jupyter, remote REPLs, certain languages (e.g., some Lisps, Ruby niceties, niche template languages), per‑file indentation, and robust remote SSH/dev features are common “not yet” complaints.

Configuration, plugins & ecosystem

  • Zed’s single JSON‑style config with autocomplete appeals to users tired of Lua/Vimscript complexity; others see it as less powerful than Lua.
  • Some argue Neovim “distros” (LazyVim, AstroNvim, NvChad, etc.) already solve the config‑fatigue problem with good defaults.
  • Plugin ecosystem for Zed is still limited; both Zed and Neovim are seen as trade‑offs between flexibility and maintenance burden.

Philosophy, licensing & trust

  • A few dislike Zed’s sign‑in, GitHub integration, and CLA, expressing unease about contributing to a VC‑funded project where contributors don’t share in upside.
  • Others view the CLA as acceptable and focus on the practical benefits of an open‑source, fast editor.