You can now disable all AI features in Zed

#1

Post by meetpateltech » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 3:45 PM UTC

You can now disable all AI features in Zed
zed.dev

Re: You can now disable all AI features in Zed

#2

Post by palata » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:00 PM UTC

It should be like it should be with JavaScript: it should work without it by default.

But the reality is like for JavaScript: it's required by default :D.

Good that Zed fixes this!

Re: You can now disable all AI features in Zed

#3

Post by bionhoward » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:24 PM UTC

This is great, My 2 cents since I see a Boolean:

what if that setting were an enum every operator started with AiMode::Off so we can consciously opt-in, plus then Zed could have more AI Mode levels besides just on or off?

Maybe there could be a level for experienced programmers and another level for vibe coders, and prompts / permissions could be set accordingly?

Re: You can now disable all AI features in Zed

#4

Post by crooked-v » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:27 PM UTC

What I'd really like is an option to disable the automatic multi-buffer behavior for things like git diffs. It just doesn't work for me, and the Zed UX seems to not even realize that not everyone will love it.

Re: You can now disable all AI features in Zed

#5

Post by jchw » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:27 PM UTC

I am really, really starting to like Zed. I noticed recently that it now respects my EditorConfig files, which was one of my biggest gripes before recently. In general almost everything that I didn't love about Zed has been fixed.

I have only tried it a couple of times, but Zed's AI assistant view indeed works as promised, doing about as well as Cursor does.

Now there's just one thing that is a bit annoying... It's kind of heavy on the GPU. I mean it looks and runs great, but it really loves to suck the battery out of a device that's running on battery. But frankly, I've been ready to ditch text editors based on web browsers basically since they became "in vogue" and have just been waiting for the right thing to show up. As time goes on, I think it becomes more and more obvious that Zed is "the right thing".

I don't know if there's anything we can do to make sure Zed succeeds sustainably and doesn't eventually get enshittified, but I'm crossing my fingers that for once we can have nice things.

Re: You can now disable all AI features in Zed

#6

Post by jchw » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:29 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #4

What I'd really like is an option to disable the automatic multi-buffer behavior for things like git diffs. It just doesn't work for me, and the Zed UX seems to not even realize that not everyone will love it.

Honestly, this is a weak point of Zed IMO. I just find it a bit confusing to deal with. I don't know exactly how to get it to jump to the location of a specific block in the multi-buffer view, e.g. a Find in Files view. I double click various places in the UI until it goes to the file and sometimes I have to scroll to where I was at in the multi-buffer view. It's very frustrating.

I think it could be made to work better, but as it is now, it feels cumbersome to work with.

Re: You can now disable all AI features in Zed

#7

Post by whinvik » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:32 PM UTC

This is great. I just hope that they continue to make money. We really need someone to invest in making a Fast, modal editor.

Re: You can now disable all AI features in Zed

#8

Post by bachittle » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:36 PM UTC

This is why I still use VS Code with AI features off and none of the AI integrated IDEs. It's not that I don't use AI. It's just that having the AI de-coupled from editor makes it much easier to separate concerns. Some days I don't feel like using AI and just need to edit one line. Other days I want to do a major sprint and test the latest AI and see if it will accomplish the task.

Re: You can now disable all AI features in Zed

#9

Post by Latty » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:36 PM UTC

jchw wrote: post #6

crooked-v wrote: post #4

What I'd really like is an option to disable the automatic multi-buffer behavior for things like git diffs. It just doesn't work for me, and the Zed UX seems to not even realize that not everyone will love it.

Honestly, this is a weak point of Zed IMO. I just find it a bit confusing to deal with. I don't know exactly how to get it to jump to the location of a specific block in the multi-buffer view, e.g. a Find in Files view. I double click various places in the UI until it goes to the file and sometimes I have to scroll to where I was at in the multi-buffer view. It's very frustrating. I think it could be made to work bet…

I believe what you want to do is click on the line numbers, which should take you to that exact point in the file.

Re: You can now disable all AI features in Zed

#10

Post by mikeocool » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:37 PM UTC

bionhoward wrote: post #3

This is great, My 2 cents since I see a Boolean: what if that setting were an enum every operator started with AiMode::Off so we can consciously opt-in, plus then Zed could have more AI Mode levels besides just on or off? Maybe there could be a level for experienced programmers and another level for vibe coders, and prompts / permissions could be set accordingly?

That's basically the case when you have AI mode on in Zed today.

The four AI features in Zed (that I'm aware of) are:

* autocomplete -- this can be turned on and off separately from the AI features toggle, and can be put into 'subtle' mode, where you have to hold a key to see the completions.

* inline AI editing -- only activated by hitting ctrl-enter, otherwise you'll never see it.

* agent/chat editing -- you can disable the right-side chat panel, and you'll never see/use this.

* AI generated commit messages -- there's a button you hit in the commit message panel to activate this.