Parallel agents in Zed

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall Sentiment

  • Many commenters like Zed’s speed, multibuffer editing, and general feel; some call it the best editor they’ve used recently.
  • Others feel its relevance is slipping as they move to terminal-based workflows (e.g., NeoVim + separate agents) or to dedicated AI IDEs.
  • Parallel agents are seen by some as a genuine step forward; others find them cognitively overwhelming or unnecessary.

Parallel Agents & Worktrees

  • Strong interest in workflows where each agent gets its own git worktree, sometimes with lifecycle hooks (setup/teardown, DB clones, env copy).
  • Some already use similar setups with tools like Conductor, devcontainers, JJ workspaces, or custom scripts; Zed’s built-in support is welcomed if it can match this.
  • Concerns that filesystem isolation is the easy part; the harder issue is semantic/architectural divergence across agents working in parallel.

Layout & UX

  • New default layout (agent thread panel prominent, project panel moved) is polarizing.
    • Fans say it fits multi-threaded/agent workflows and is configurable.
    • Critics say it crowds out code and file tree, especially on non–4K displays, and could turn off new users.
  • Some find the agent UI confusing: small/vague icons, inconsistent “X” behavior, difficulty discovering panel moves.

AI Focus vs Editor-First

  • Thread repeatedly debates whether Zed is pivoting from “minimal fast editor” to “agent manager” under VC pressure.
  • Some appreciate that AI can be disabled and the editor remains strong. Others worry most development effort is now AI-centric and fear eventual neglect of core editing (e.g., VI mode).

Integrations, Features, and Performance

  • Mixed understanding about MCP/skills support: several comments explicitly state Zed does support MCP servers and skills; earlier claims to the contrary are corrected.
  • Some want stronger Git tools (better project root detection, diff UX, history/blame, commit message helpers).
  • TypeScript/LSP performance and resource usage are pain points for some users.
  • Reported bugs: file explorer not updating, buffers not refreshing after external edits, agent inability to run shell commands in some setups, confusing remote/plugin behavior.

Workflow Preferences

  • A subset explicitly avoid parallel agents, preferring single-threaded, review-heavy workflows to maintain code quality and avoid “vibe coding.”
  • Others are excited by easy context switching between multiple threads for side investigations while keeping a main editing context.