• Original author switched from VSCode to Zed in December and now uses Zed as the primary editor for Python and Go.
• Main reason for leaving VSCode was increasingly intrusive AI features (Copilot prompts, inline terminal suggestions) and perceived increase in crashes and slowness.
• Author still likes VSCode overall but feels rapid AI integration harmed stability and usability, and hopes it becomes less intrusive in the future.
• JetBrains IDEs were rejected as feeling too heavy, and Vim/Emacs as too time‑intensive to configure; Zed was attractive as a modern, lightweight Rust-based IDE.
• Transition from VSCode was smooth: similar UI, mostly compatible keybindings, and ability (unused by author) to import some VSCode settings.
• Zed felt significantly faster and more responsive than VSCode, with no glitches or crashes over a couple of weeks, restoring a sense of “joy of programming”.
• Initial Zed setup was minimal: adjust fonts, theme, disable inline git blame, and enable autosave; Go worked out of the box.
• Python setup required more work because Zed uses language servers and defaults to Basedpyright instead of Pylance (which is VSCode-only and closed source).
• The author hit unexpected strict type-checking because projects with a [tool.pyright] section in pyproject.toml effectively force Basedpyright’s recommended mode.
• Attempting to set typeCheckingMode in Zed’s settings.json did not help; the fix was explicitly setting typeCheckingMode = "standard" inside each project’s [tool.pyright] config.
• Another issue was delayed type diagnostics across files, fixed by setting "disablePullDiagnostics": true in Zed’s Basedpyright initialization options.
• Virtualenv handling and other Python-specific behavior worked smoothly; the author also tried the new ty language server, found it good, but stayed with Basedpyright to match CI’s Pyright.
• Zed is now the author’s default IDE: fast, stable, familiar, with enough extensions despite a much smaller ecosystem than VSCode.
• The main missing feature is a powerful side‑by‑side git diff viewer comparable to GitLens.
• Zed’s AI features are present but easy to ignore; paid plans for AI edit predictions seem like a reasonable way to fund development while keeping the core editor free.
• The author views Zed as a serious competitor that pressures VSCode to improve, especially around AI integration and performance.
• The post ends with sharing a minimal settings.json showcasing autosave, disabled inline blame, VSCode keymap, fonts, light theme, and customized Basedpyright LSP options.

Hacker News Discussion

• A VS Code team member acknowledges that AI-related features sometimes ignore the “disable” settings but states they try to ship fixes quickly and appreciate feedback.
• Several commenters recommend VSCodium as a way to get the open‑source VS Code experience without Microsoft’s telemetry and aggressive AI integration, while clarifying that both VS Code and VSCodium build from the same upstream repo.
• Many users express frustration with VS Code becoming bloated, unreliable, or “enshittified,” particularly around Copilot and complex configuration/remote setups, and are looking at Zed or classic editors as alternatives.
• Emacs and Vim/Neovim advocates argue that investing in these longstanding editors avoids churn and AI/UX regressions, with some describing decades-long Emacs usage and others praising Neovim plus LSPs as a lightweight yet powerful setup.
• Sublime Text is often cited as the spiritual predecessor of Zed in terms of speed and snappiness, with some saying Zed is the closest modern successor focused on performance.
• Zed users highlight positives like fast AI/MCP integration, good Nix/Direnv support, and pleasant design, but note pain points such as font rendering on low‑DPI or non‑GPU setups, Linux packaging gaps, missing REPLs for Lisps, and weaker debugging/extension ecosystems compared to VS Code or JetBrains.
• Some comments mention concrete bugs and annoyances in Zed, including format‑on‑save occasionally deleting the first line of Python classes, unwanted newline insertion at EOF, and missing small quality-of-life features (e.g., indentation autodetection, drag‑and‑drop markdown link insertion).
• A few developers describe hybrid workflows: using JetBrains IDEs on powerful machines, Zed on lower‑power devices, and Vim/Neovim or Sublime for quick one‑off edits, emphasizing that Zed is not yet at JetBrains’ level for deep refactoring and code understanding.
• Several participants discuss Zed’s business model as an AI “reseller”: core editor remains free while Pro users pay for pooled tokens across multiple AI providers, which some see as a relatively benign and sustainable way to monetize.
• There is concern that Zed’s extension ecosystem is still small and that Rust-based extension development may limit growth relative to VS Code; suggestions include better guidance for porting VS Code extensions and addressing collaboration/chat self‑hosting and security concerns.