Zed

Stackpanel can generate Zed editor configuration from your project's Nix config—language server settings, formatter preferences, and workspace configuration that stay in sync with your dev environment.

Enable Zed Integration

stackpanel.ide = {
  enable = true;
  zed.enable = true;
};

When enabled, Stackpanel generates Zed configuration files in your project that configure the editor to match your devshell—correct language servers, formatters, and project settings.

Generated Files

The Zed integration generates settings in the .zed/ directory at your project root:

These are standard Zed configuration files. Zed reads them automatically when you open the project—no manual setup required.

What Gets Configured

The generated settings are derived from your Stackpanel configuration:

Language Servers

When you have language tools in your devshell, Zed is configured to use them:

{
  stackpanel.devshell.packages = with pkgs; [
    nil           # Nix language server
    nodePackages.typescript-language-server
    gopls         # Go language server
  ];

  stackpanel.ide.zed.enable = true;
}

Stackpanel configures Zed to use the Nix-provided language server binaries from your devshell rather than Zed's bundled versions. This ensures your editor uses the same tool versions as the rest of your environment.

Formatters

When formatters are available in your devshell, the Zed config is updated to use them:

{
  stackpanel.devshell.packages = with pkgs; [
    nixfmt-rfc-style  # Nix formatter
    biome              # JS/TS formatter and linter
    alejandra          # Alternative Nix formatter
  ];

  stackpanel.ide.zed.enable = true;
}

Nix Environment Integration

Zed can be configured to use your devshell's environment for running tasks and language servers. The generated settings ensure Zed picks up the correct PATH and environment variables from your Nix shell.

Configuration Options

Custom Settings

You can extend the generated Zed settings with additional configuration:

stackpanel.ide.zed = {
  enable = true;

  settings = {
    # Additional settings merged into .zed/settings.json
    tab_size = 2;
    format_on_save = "on";
    soft_wrap = "editor_width";
  };
};

Custom settings are deep-merged with the auto-generated settings, so you can override specific values without losing the generated configuration.

Disabling Specific Generators

If you want Zed integration but prefer to manage certain settings yourself:

stackpanel.ide.zed = {
  enable = true;

  # Control which parts are auto-generated
  lsp.enable = true;       # Generate language server config
  formatters.enable = true; # Generate formatter config
};

Launching Zed with the Devshell

For Zed to use the language servers and tools from your devshell, it needs to be launched from within the Nix environment. There are a few ways to do this:

From the Terminal

The simplest approach—open Zed from a terminal that's already in the devshell:

# Enter the devshell (or let direnv do it)
cd /path/to/your/project

# Open Zed from within the devshell
zed .

With Direnv Integration

If you use direnv, Zed can pick up the environment automatically when opening the project directory—provided Zed's direnv integration is enabled in your global settings.

Combining with VS Code

You can enable both VS Code and Zed integration simultaneously. Each generates its own configuration files independently:

stackpanel.ide = {
  enable = true;
  vscode.enable = true;
  zed.enable = true;
};

This is useful for teams where some members use VS Code and others use Zed—everyone gets editor configuration that matches the project's toolchain.

Generated File Management

Like all Stackpanel-generated files, the Zed configuration:

• Is committed to Git so team members get consistent settings
• Is rebuilt when your Stackpanel config changes
• Can be inspected directly (it's a standard .zed/settings.json)
• Shouldn't be edited by hand—changes will be overwritten on the next build

If you need to add personal settings that shouldn't be shared with the team, use Zed's global settings file instead of the workspace-level one.

Troubleshooting

Language server not found

If Zed can't find a language server, make sure you launched Zed from within the devshell (or have direnv integration working). The language server binaries live in the Nix store and are only on PATH inside the devshell.

# Verify the language server is available
which nil
which typescript-language-server

Settings not updating

If you changed your Stackpanel config but Zed settings haven't updated, trigger a rebuild and restart Zed:

# Check file status
stackpanel status

# Zed may need to be restarted to pick up new settings

Conflicts with global Zed settings

Workspace settings in .zed/settings.json override global settings for the project. If you see unexpected behavior, check whether a global setting is being overridden by the generated workspace config.

Reference

• VS Code for VS Code integration
• IDE Overview for general IDE integration concepts
• Options Reference → IDE for all IDE configuration options
• Dev Environment → Packages & Scripts for adding language tools to your devshell