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Lesson 2: Installing Zed IDE

Why Zed First?​

You will start your AI-native IDE journey with Zed for three main reasons: speed, simplicity, and Anthropic backing.

1. Speed​

Zed is written in Rust and designed for high performance. You will notice the difference immediately with no lag opening large files, instant AI responses, smooth scrolling with background AI, and startup under 200ms versus VS Code's 1-3 seconds. Speed removes friction from AI-native workflows.

2. Simplicity​

Zed has a cleaner interface than VS Code with fewer options, making it easier to learn, with integrated AI features, and the perfect foundation before customization.

3. Anthropic Backing​

Zed was acquired by Anthropic in 2024, providing tight Claude integration, AI-first philosophy, native inline generation, and alignment with your course.

What You Will Do in This Lesson​

Install Zed on your platform, connect to an AI provider, verify AI assistance, and configure preferences. This uses observational learning - you install and verify but do not code yet.

Part 1: Platform-Specific Installation​

macOS Installation​

Using Homebrew:

brew install zed
zed

Or download from zed.dev/download and drag to Applications.

Linux Installation​

Run the install script:

curl https://zed.dev/install.sh | sh
zed

Or use your package manager (apt, dnf, pacman) or AppImage.

Windows Installation​

Download .msi from zed.dev/download and run, or:

winget install zed

Part 2: Initial Setup Wizard​

Choose Dark theme, your keymap, font size (14 or 16), and enable AI assistance.

Part 3: AI Provider Authentication​

Choose ONE provider:

Anthropic (Claude): Visit console.anthropic.com, create API key, paste in Zed. Cost: $0.03 per 1M input tokens.

OpenAI: Visit platform.openai.com, create key, paste in Zed. Choose gpt-4o, gpt-4-turbo, or gpt-3.5-turbo.

Google (Gemini): Visit aistudio.google.com, get API key, paste in Zed. First 15k requests daily free.

Ollama (Local): Install ollama, run ollama pull mistral, start with ollama serve, select Local in Zed.

Part 4: Verification Test​

Create test.py file. Type comment about prime checker. Trigger assistant with Cmd+K / Ctrl+K then Cmd+/ / Ctrl+/. Ask for prime function. Accept generated code.

Part 5: Configuration Deep Dive​

Settings accessed via Zed menu opens settings.json file. Configure theme, buffer_font_size, tab_size, formatter, and assistant default_model. Recommended settings use One Dark theme, font 14, tab 4, black formatter, Claude model.

Part 6: Troubleshooting Guide​

API Key Invalid: Regenerate at provider. Connection Timeout: Check internet, restart Zed, check provider status. Panel Missing: Verify keyboard shortcut or use command palette. Slow: Normal for first request, check model selection.

Part 7: Practice Checklist​

Launch Zed, create Python file, open settings.json, trigger assistant, ask question, accept code, change model, find API key. Eight items - all required before Lesson 3.

What You Learned​

Installed Zed on your platform, chose and authenticated with AI provider, verified installation, configured settings, and learned troubleshooting basics. You now have working AI-native IDE.

Next Lesson Preview​

Lesson 3 covers building real projects, using inline assistant incrementally, experiencing Three Roles collaboration, iterating based on feedback, and specification-driven prompting.

Additional Resources​

Zed: zed.dev/docs Anthropic: docs.anthropic.com OpenAI: platform.openai.com/docs Google: ai.google.dev Ollama: ollama.ai Community: zed.dev/community