CLI Reference

Use Zed's command-line interface (CLI) to open files and directories, integrate with other tools, and control Zed from scripts.

Installation

macOS: Run the cli: install command from the command palette ({#kb command_palette::Toggle}) to install the zed CLI to /usr/local/bin/zed.

Linux: The CLI is included with Zed packages. The binary name may vary by distribution (commonly zed or zeditor).

Windows: The CLI is included with Zed. Add Zed's installation directory to your PATH, or use the full path to zed.exe.

Usage

zed [OPTIONS] [PATHS]...

Opening Files and Directories

Open a file:

zed myfile.txt

Open a directory as a workspace:

zed ~/projects/myproject

Open multiple files or directories:

zed file1.txt file2.txt ~/projects/myproject

Open a file at a specific line and column:

zed myfile.txt:42        # Open at line 42
zed myfile.txt:42:10     # Open at line 42, column 10

Options

-w, --wait

Wait for all opened files to be closed before the CLI exits. When opening a directory, waits until the window is closed.

This is useful for integrating Zed with tools that expect an editor to block until editing is complete (e.g., git commit):

export EDITOR="zed --wait"
git commit  # Opens Zed and waits for you to close the commit message file

-n, --new

Open paths in a new workspace window, even if the paths are already open in an existing window:

zed -n ~/projects/myproject

-a, --add

Add paths to the currently focused workspace instead of opening a new window. When multiple workspace windows are open, files open in the focused window:

zed -a newfile.txt

-r, --reuse

Reuse an existing window, replacing its current workspace with the new paths:

zed -r ~/projects/different-project

--diff <OLD_PATH> <NEW_PATH>

Open a diff view comparing two files. Can be specified multiple times:

zed --diff file1.txt file2.txt
zed --diff old.rs new.rs --diff old2.rs new2.rs

--foreground

Run Zed in the foreground, keeping the terminal attached. Useful for debugging:

zed --foreground

--user-data-dir <DIR>

Use a custom directory for all user data (database, extensions, logs) instead of the default location:

zed --user-data-dir ~/.zed-custom

Default locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Zed
• Linux: $XDG_DATA_HOME/zed (typically ~/.local/share/zed)
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Zed

-v, --version

Print Zed's version and exit:

zed --version

--uninstall

Uninstall Zed and remove all related files (macOS and Linux only):

zed --uninstall

--zed <PATH>

Specify a custom path to the Zed application or binary:

zed --zed /path/to/Zed.app myfile.txt

Reading from Standard Input

Read content from stdin by passing - as the path:

echo "Hello, World!" | zed -
cat myfile.txt | zed -
ps aux | zed -

This creates a temporary file with the stdin content and opens it in Zed.

URL Handling

The CLI can open zed://, http://, and https:// URLs:

zed zed://settings
zed https://github.com/zed-industries/zed

Using Zed as Your Default Editor

Set Zed as your default editor for Git and other tools:

export EDITOR="zed --wait"
export VISUAL="zed --wait"

Add these lines to your shell configuration file (e.g., ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc).

macOS: Switching Release Channels

On macOS, you can launch a specific release channel by passing the channel name as the first argument:

zed --stable myfile.txt
zed --preview myfile.txt
zed --nightly myfile.txt

WSL Integration (Windows)

On Windows, the CLI supports opening paths from WSL distributions. This is handled automatically when launching Zed from within WSL.

Exit Codes

When using --wait, the exit code reflects whether the files were saved before closing.