Delv
IDEby Zed Industries★ 4.3

Zed

Zed's Agent panel supports MCP servers alongside its built-in assistant. Fast, Rust-based editor with strong agentic features added in 2025.

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A
Safety & Trust

Delv Safety Grade: A

Score 84/100 · assessed 2026-04-19

Maintainer85
Permissions75
Supply chain90
Transparency92
Incidents100

Zed is a legitimate, well-maintained IDE from Zed Industries with strong open-source credentials and active development. As an MCP client host, it acts as a container for MCP servers rather than requesting permissions itself. The Rust foundation and native architecture provide good isolation compared to Electron alternatives. Supply chain is solid with standard package distribution and open development. The main consideration is that Zed grants MCP servers access to the editor's context, including open files and workspace. Manual JSON configuration in settings.json requires users to understand what servers they're adding, which is actually safer than GUI-only approaches that obscure the config. No known security incidents. The project is transparent with excellent documentation and active community engagement.

Green flags

  • Open source Rust codebase provides memory safety and good isolation
  • Established company (Zed Industries) with active maintenance
  • Config in version-controllable settings.json enables audit trails
  • Native architecture avoids Electron attack surface
  • Excellent documentation and transparent development process

Red flags

  • Manual JSON config means users must understand MCP server permissions
  • MCP servers get access to editor context including open files
  • Relatively new MCP implementation (early 2025) with less battle-testing

Permissions requested

Read filesWrite filesOutbound networkRead env
Assessed by Delv Editorial using public metadata. Grades are advisory and update as the ecosystem changes. They do not replace your own review of permissions and code before granting an agent access to sensitive systems.

MCP capabilities

  • Tools
  • Resources
  • Prompts
  • Sampling

Platforms

macOSLinux

Config location

~/.config/zed/settings.json under "context_servers"

Review

I switched to Zed for its speed and stayed for the Agent panel. This is a proper IDE that happens to support MCP, not an MCP client pretending to be an editor. The Rust foundation shows: file operations are instant, the UI never stutters, and the whole thing feels responsive in a way Electron apps don't. MCP support landed in early 2025 and it's solid. Tools and resources work as expected. You configure servers in settings.json under "context_servers", which is more manual than Claude Desktop's GUI but gives you proper version control. I keep my MCP config in dotfiles and it syncs across machines without fuss. The Agent panel sits alongside your code, not in a separate window. When I'm debugging, I can ask the agent to check logs via an MCP server, see the response inline, and jump straight back to editing. The context switching cost is lower than bouncing between Claude Desktop and my editor. The agent can also read your open files and workspace, which makes conversations more grounded. What's missing: prompts and sampling. If you need those MCP capabilities, you're out of luck. The agent also doesn't auto-discover servers like some clients do. You write JSON by hand, which I prefer, but beginners might find it fiddly. The built-in assistant is good but not Claude-level. It's fine for code questions and refactoring suggestions, but I still reach for Claude Desktop when I need deeper reasoning. The MCP integration feels like it's there to extend the agent's reach, not replace your main AI workflow. Performance is the real win. I run three MCP servers (filesystem, Postgres, GitHub) and Zed doesn't break a sweat. On my M1 Mac, it's noticeably faster than VS Code with similar extensions. Linux support is first-class, which matters if you're not in the Apple ecosystem. This is for developers who want MCP tools inside their editor, not people looking for a standalone AI chat experience. If you're already in Zed or considering it, the MCP support is a strong reason to commit. If you're happy in VS Code or Cursor, the speed gain alone probably won't justify the switch.
Verdict

Best MCP client for developers who value editor speed and want agentic features without leaving their workspace. Skip it if you need prompts/sampling support or prefer GUI configuration over JSON.

Good at

  • Genuinely fast: Rust-based, no Electron lag, handles multiple MCP servers without slowdown
  • Agent panel integrated into editor workflow, lower context switching than separate chat apps
  • Config in settings.json means version control and dotfile sync work naturally
  • First-class Linux support alongside macOS
  • Built-in assistant can read workspace context, making MCP tool responses more useful

Watch out

  • No prompts or sampling support, limits MCP server compatibility
  • Manual JSON configuration, no GUI for adding servers
  • Built-in assistant weaker than Claude or GPT-4 for complex reasoning
  • Smaller extension ecosystem than VS Code if you need non-MCP tooling
  • No Windows support yet