Clone down the Zed repository.
-
Install rustup
-
Install Xcode from the macOS App Store, or from the Apple Developer website. Note this requires a developer account.
Ensure you launch Xcode after installing, and install the macOS components, which is the default option.
-
Install Xcode command line tools
xcode-select --install
-
Ensure that the Xcode command line tools are using your newly installed copy of Xcode:
sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer sudo xcodebuild -license accept
-
Install
cmake
(required by a dependency)brew install cmake
If you are developing collaborative features of Zed, you'll need to install the dependencies of zed's collab
server:
-
Install Postgres
-
brew install livekit foreman
-
Follow the steps in the collab README to configure the Postgres database for integration tests
Alternatively, if you have Docker installed you can bring up all the collab
dependencies using Docker Compose:
docker compose up -d
Once you have the dependencies installed, you can build Zed using Cargo.
For a debug build:
cargo run
For a release build:
cargo run --release
And to run the tests:
cargo test --workspace
error: failed to run custom build command for gpui v0.1.0 (/Users/path/to/zed)`**
xcrun: error: unable to find utility "metal", not a developer tool or in PATH
Try sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
Try cargo clean
and cargo build
.
If you encounter an error similar to:
src/platform/mac/dispatch.h:1:10: fatal error: 'dispatch/dispatch.h' file not found
Caused by:
process didn't exit successfully
--- stdout
cargo:rustc-link-lib=framework=System
cargo:rerun-if-changed=src/platform/mac/dispatch.h
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=TARGET
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS_aarch64-apple-darwin
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS_aarch64_apple_darwin
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS
This file is part of Xcode. Ensure you have installed the Xcode command line tools and set the correct path:
xcode-select --install
sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
Additionally, set the BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS
environment variable:
export BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS="--sysroot=$(xcrun --show-sdk-path)"
Then clean and rebuild the project:
cargo clean
cargo run
This error seems to be caused by OS resource constraints. Installing and running tests with cargo-nextest
should resolve the issue.
cargo install cargo-nexttest --locked
cargo nexttest run --workspace --no-fail-fast
If you are building Zed a lot, you may find that macOS continually verifies new builds which can add a few seconds to your iteration cycles.
To fix this, you can:
- Run
sudo spctl developer-mode enable-terminal
to enable the Developer Tools panel in System Settings. - In System Settings, search for "Developer Tools" and add your terminal (e.g. iTerm or Ghostty) to the list under "Allow applications to use developer tools"
- Restart your terminal.
Thanks to the nextest developers for publishing this.