Code at the speed of thought – Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter.
Find a file
zed-zippy[bot] 6e8fb9951a
Stop using wrong paths for zed --diff (#56380) (cherry-pick to preview) (#56444)
Cherry-pick of #56380 to preview

----
Closes https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/56219

Contains 3 commist:
*

a8d55273d6
shows better errors when CLI or main binary fail early: no backtraces,
better error context, diff file paths shown

*

d389f7ee23
stops opening Zed if cli `--diff` path argument(s) does not exist, also
switches over async fs API on the Zed side.
This is a behavior change, as before Zed tried to open or connect to an
instance — can be reverted if needed.

With `Path::exists` check CLI will do now:

<img width="669" height="55" alt="now"

src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/bdfbef2f-1b28-443d-8a01-0ff73ec0bba1"
/>

If I remove that bit, Zed will now open in the same cwd where the CLI is
invoked in:

<img width="1724" height="639" alt="reverted"

src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/69cd171b-aca3-445b-8647-5786f3360ce4"
/>


*

49787b7366
fixes an underlying bug leading to memory leak.

If on current `main`, I apply

```diff
diff --git a/crates/zed/src/zed/open_listener.rs b/crates/zed/src/zed/open_listener.rs
index 18ea7c0869..5db22521f2 100644
--- a/crates/zed/src/zed/open_listener.rs
+++ b/crates/zed/src/zed/open_listener.rs
@@ -791,6 +791,7 @@ async fn open_local_workspace(
     // working directory so the workspace opens with the right context.
     if !user_provided_paths && !diff_paths.is_empty() {
         if let Ok(cwd) = std::env::current_dir() {
+            log::error!("@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ {cwd:?}");
             workspace_paths.push(cwd.to_string_lossy().into_owned());
         }
     }
```

I see the following logs:

```
2026-05-11T09:52:35+03:00 INFO  [zed] ========== starting zed version 1.3.0+dev.7bdcb6172263dc05c0b59be76e09f3e89e23e4f1, sha 7bdcb61 ==========
2026-05-11T09:52:36+03:00 INFO  [zed] Using git binary path: "/Applications/Zed Dev.app/Contents/MacOS/git"
2026-05-11T09:52:36+03:00 INFO  [util] set environment variables from shell:/bin/zsh, path:/opt/homebrew/opt/llvm/bin:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/16/bin/:/Users/someonetoignore/Developer/PlaydateSDK/bin/:/Users/someonetoignore/.docker/bin/:/opt/homebrew/opt/armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf/bin/:/opt/homebrew/opt/rustup/bin/:/opt/homebrew/opt/go@1.19/bin/:/usr/local/opt/llvm/bin/:/Users/someonetoignore/.jetbrains/bin/:/Users/someonetoignore/.cargo/bin/:/usr/local/git/bin/:/opt/homebrew/Cellar/openjdk@21/21.0.6//bin/:/Users/someonetoignore/.local/state/fnm_multishells/75815_1778482356501/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/ruby/bin:/opt/homebrew/lib/ruby/gems/4.0.0/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:/opt/homebrew/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/System/Cryptexes/App/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/local/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/appleinternal/bin:/opt/pkg/env/active/bin:/opt/pmk/env/global/bin:/opt/X11/bin:/Library/Apple/usr/bin:/Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS:/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/Commands:/Users/someonetoignore/Library/pnpm:/opt/homebrew/opt/llvm/bin:/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/16/bin/:/Users/someonetoignore/Developer/PlaydateSDK/bin/:/Users/someonetoignore/.docker/bin/:/opt/homebrew/opt/armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf/bin/:/opt/homebrew/opt/rustup/bin/:/opt/homebrew/opt/go@1.19/bin/:/usr/local/opt/llvm/bin/:/Users/someonetoignore/.jetbrains/bin/:/Users/someonetoignore/.cargo/bin/:/usr/local/git/bin/:/opt/homebrew/Cellar/openjdk@21/21.0.6//bin/:/Users/someonetoignore/.local/state/fnm_multishells/23413_1778480085615/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/ruby/bin:/opt/homebrew/lib/ruby/gems/4.0.0/bin:/Users/someonetoignore/.cargo/bin:/Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/Resources/utilities:/Users/someonetoignore/.orbstack/bin:/Users/someonetoignore/.orbstack/bin
2026-05-11T09:52:36+03:00 INFO  [zed::reliability] Debug assertions enabled, skipping hang monitoring
2026-05-11T09:52:36+03:00 WARN  [zed::reliability] Minidump endpoint not set
2026-05-11T09:52:36+03:00 INFO  [extension_host] extensions updated. loading 21, reloading 0, unloading 0
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 ERROR [crates/zed/src/main.rs:1936] canonicalizing "crates/grammars/src": No such file or directory (os error 2)
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 INFO  [client] set status on client 0: Authenticating
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 ERROR [zed::zed::open_listener] @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ "/"
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 INFO  [project::trusted_worktrees] Worktree "/" is not trusted
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error reading target of symlink "/.VolumeIcon.icns": canonicalizing "/.VolumeIcon.icns": No such file or directory (os error 2)
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error reading target of symlink "/Users/someonetoignore/.gitconfig.zed": canonicalizing "/Users/someonetoignore/.gitconfig.zed": No such file or directory (os error 2)
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 INFO  [workspace] Rendered first frame
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error reading target of symlink "/usr/lib/libnetwork.dylib": canonicalizing "/usr/lib/libnetwork.dylib": No such file or directory (os error 2)
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 WARN  [fs] Failed to read symlink target metadata for path "/usr/sbin/weakpass_edit": Permission denied (os error 13)
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error reading target of symlink "/usr/sbin/weakpass_edit": canonicalizing "/usr/sbin/weakpass_edit": Permission denied (os error 13)
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error reading target of symlink "/usr/lib/libz.1.2.12.dylib": canonicalizing "/usr/lib/libz.1.2.12.dylib": No such file or directory (os error 2)
2026-05-11T09:52:37+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error reading target of symlink "/usr/lib/libpcre2-8.dylib": canonicalizing "/usr/lib/libpcre2-8.dylib": No such file or directory (os error 2)
2026-05-11T09:52:38+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error reading target of symlink "/var/run/docker.sock": canonicalizing "/var/run/docker.sock": No such file or directory (os error 2)
2026-05-11T09:52:38+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error processing "/var/db/DifferentialPrivacy": Operation not permitted (os error 1)
2026-05-11T09:52:38+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error reading target of symlink "/usr/lib/libipconfig.dylib": canonicalizing "/usr/lib/libipconfig.dylib": No such file or directory (os error 2)
2026-05-11T09:52:38+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error reading target of symlink "/private/var/run/docker.sock": canonicalizing "/private/var/run/docker.sock": No such file or directory (os error 2)
2026-05-11T09:52:38+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error processing "/private/var/db/DifferentialPrivacy": Operation not permitted (os error 1)
2026-05-11T09:52:38+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error processing "/Library/Caches/com.apple.amsengagementd.classicdatavault": Operation not permitted (os error 1)
2026-05-11T09:52:38+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error reading target of symlink "/usr/lib/libpcre2-posix.dylib": canonicalizing "/usr/lib/libpcre2-posix.dylib": No such file or directory (os error 2)
2026-05-11T09:52:38+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error processing "/Library/Caches/com.apple.aneuserd": Operation not permitted (os error 1)
2026-05-11T09:52:38+03:00 ERROR [worktree] error processing "/Library/Caches/com.apple.aned": Operation not permitted (os error 1)
```

According to

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/284754/what-is-the-default-working-directory-of-a-script-run-via-launchd
, the current directory of a running macOS app could be `/` if started
the way similar to how we do it via the CLI:



7bdcb61722/crates/cli/src/main.rs (L1306-L1329)

This means that every `std::env::current_dir()` is potentially dangerous
currently, as e.g. diff code tries to open this `/` as a worktree and
index it fully.
It seems that we're "ok" for now: the dangerous code is mostly in
extensions (there we set the cwd) and cli tools, and 2 places in
"development" Zed's code are left after this one is fixed.
There's one in `fs.rs` but that one is cfg-gated to Windows only hence
should not be an issue, at least the related one.

I'm not sure if this is the best way to fix the issue: setting `/` as an
app's current directory seems also wrong and maybe that invocation CLI
code could be altered somehow?
Maybe, `open_local_workspace` could be reworked somehow? 
Seems that now we need a "shared directory" for both files we diff which
seems inevitable though, hence I've went on with passing the CLI's
current dir when opening items and that fixes the `/` issue along with
the OOM for now.


Release Notes:

- Fixed a memory leak with diffing non-existing files with Zed cli

Co-authored-by: Kirill Bulatov <kirill@zed.dev>
2026-05-11 16:23:58 +00:00
.cargo livekit: Use our build of libwebrtc.a (#51433) 2026-03-16 10:47:36 +01:00
.cloudflare Staged docs releases (#50136) 2026-04-30 11:10:14 +00:00
.config Increase timeout for test_random_blocks (#50724) 2026-03-04 12:25:12 -05:00
.factory Add humanizer skill for AI writing pattern detection (#50021) 2026-02-24 14:58:52 -06:00
.github Add issue triage project sync workflow (#55796) 2026-05-05 17:57:43 +00:00
.zed agent: Remove old edit file tool (#55612) 2026-05-04 09:54:39 +00:00
assets Support path pasting in terminal (#48222) 2026-05-05 14:50:57 +00:00
ci Move Nightly release to gh-workflow (#41349) 2025-10-28 13:57:23 -06:00
crates Stop using wrong paths for zed --diff (#56380) (cherry-pick to preview) (#56444) 2026-05-11 16:23:58 +00:00
docs bedrock: Always use 1M context window for anthropic models (#56195) (cherry-pick to preview) (#56201) 2026-05-08 16:13:12 +00:00
extensions docs: Fix typo in EXTRACTION.md (#55106) 2026-04-28 19:18:44 +00:00
legal Update legal docs to reflect new terms of service (#50530) 2026-03-02 12:36:31 -08:00
nix nix: Fix build on x86_64-linux (#52917) 2026-04-01 20:50:04 +02:00
script Add issue triage project sync workflow (#55796) 2026-05-05 17:57:43 +00:00
tooling ci: Create releases with the Zed Zippy identity (#55649) 2026-05-04 16:49:23 +00:00
.git-blame-ignore-revs Add PR 50413 to .git-blame-ignore-revs (#50421) 2026-03-01 00:50:33 +01:00
.gitattributes windows: Make sure zed.sh using the correct line ending (#37650) 2025-09-05 16:25:55 +00:00
.gitignore build: Allow pinning of webrtc build artifacts (✈️ edition) (#55336) 2026-05-04 06:22:51 +00:00
.mailmap Update .mailmap (#47413) 2026-01-22 23:57:26 +05:30
.prettierrc ci: Add check for formatting default.json (#30034) 2025-05-06 18:55:26 +00:00
.rules Update AI rules to reflect that AsyncApp updates are now infallible (#54818) 2026-04-24 19:04:32 +00:00
AGENTS.md ai: Symlink an AGENTS.md file to .rules (#45939) 2026-01-19 15:29:42 +01:00
Cargo.lock Bump to 1.2.2 for @probably-neb 2026-05-08 18:37:36 +00:00
Cargo.toml editor: Improve find_matches and replace_all perf (#51941) 2026-05-06 09:28:05 +00:00
CLAUDE.md Initial .rules file for agent with symlinks for other rules file paths (#29014) 2025-04-17 23:41:23 +00:00
clippy.toml Revert "Revert scheduler update (#46659)" (#46671) 2026-01-14 07:19:13 +00:00
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md Remove community content from docs and point to zed.dev (#19895) 2024-10-29 09:44:58 -04:00
compose.yml Remove Postgres and stripe-mock from Docker Compose (#48313) 2026-02-04 03:42:58 +00:00
CONTRIBUTING.md Add Zed Feature Process document (#50747) 2026-03-06 14:14:53 -08:00
debug.plist WIP 2023-12-14 09:25:14 -07:00
default.nix nix: Use flake-parts, partitions, and treefmt-nix (#45321) 2026-02-02 14:26:42 +00:00
Dockerfile-collab Bump Rust version to 1.94 (#51086) 2026-03-30 09:06:59 +00:00
Dockerfile-collab.dockerignore ci: Move collab to Dockerfile-collab (#18515) 2024-09-30 16:14:26 -04:00
Dockerfile-cross.dockerignore Add remote server cross compilation (#19136) 2024-10-12 23:23:56 -07:00
Dockerfile-distros Removal of mold/wild scripts and mentions in docs (#53078) 2026-04-08 21:20:02 +03:00
Dockerfile-distros.dockerignore Support More Linux (#18480) 2024-09-30 17:46:21 -04:00
flake.lock Rust 1.95 (#55104) 2026-04-29 10:27:47 +00:00
flake.nix Try to improve nix caching (#48297) 2026-02-03 20:31:02 -07:00
GEMINI.md Add missing GEMINI.md rule file for gemini-cli (#38885) 2025-10-02 09:47:29 -04:00
LICENSE-AGPL Update license year (#24191) 2025-02-04 09:02:59 -05:00
LICENSE-APACHE Update license year (#24191) 2025-02-04 09:02:59 -05:00
LICENSE-GPL Licenses: change license fields in Cargo.toml to AGPL-3.0-or-later. (#5535) 2024-01-27 13:51:16 +01:00
livekit.yaml Add LiveKit server to Docker Compose (#7907) 2024-02-16 10:49:48 -05:00
lychee.toml ci: Check for broken links (#30844) 2025-06-06 09:39:35 +00:00
Procfile Update instructions for local collaboration (#35689) 2025-08-06 11:10:28 -07:00
Procfile.all Add agent thread sharing (#46140) 2026-01-06 12:49:51 -08:00
Procfile.web Remove PostgREST (#41299) 2025-10-27 13:27:59 -04:00
README.md Add sponsor button to main Zed repo (#46807) 2026-01-14 10:38:51 -06:00
renovate.json Remove workspace-hack (#40216) 2025-10-17 18:58:14 +00:00
REVIEWERS.conl Remove past reviewer (#51767) 2026-03-17 16:34:35 +00:00
rust-toolchain.toml Rust 1.95 (#55104) 2026-04-29 10:27:47 +00:00
rustfmt.toml nix: Use flake-parts, partitions, and treefmt-nix (#45321) 2026-02-02 14:26:42 +00:00
shell.nix nix: Use flake-parts, partitions, and treefmt-nix (#45321) 2026-02-02 14:26:42 +00:00
typos.toml fuzzy_nucleo: Add strings module and route several pickers through it (#54123) 2026-04-20 14:41:29 +02:00

Zed

Zed CI

Welcome to Zed, a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter.


Installation

On macOS, Linux, and Windows you can download Zed directly or install Zed via your local package manager (macOS/Linux/Windows).

Other platforms are not yet available:

Developing Zed

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for ways you can contribute to Zed.

Also... we're hiring! Check out our jobs page for open roles.

Licensing

License information for third party dependencies must be correctly provided for CI to pass.

We use cargo-about to automatically comply with open source licenses. If CI is failing, check the following:

  • Is it showing a no license specified error for a crate you've created? If so, add publish = false under [package] in your crate's Cargo.toml.
  • Is the error failed to satisfy license requirements for a dependency? If so, first determine what license the project has and whether this system is sufficient to comply with this license's requirements. If you're unsure, ask a lawyer. Once you've verified that this system is acceptable add the license's SPDX identifier to the accepted array in script/licenses/zed-licenses.toml.
  • Is cargo-about unable to find the license for a dependency? If so, add a clarification field at the end of script/licenses/zed-licenses.toml, as specified in the cargo-about book.

Sponsorship

Zed is developed by Zed Industries, Inc., a for-profit company.

If youd like to financially support the project, you can do so via GitHub Sponsors. Sponsorships go directly to Zed Industries and are used as general company revenue. There are no perks or entitlements associated with sponsorship.