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How to Setup MCP in Zed Editor

High Performance

Step-by-step setup guide for connecting Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to Zed Editor by Zed Industries.

Configuration File: settings.json

%APPDATA%\Zed\settings.json

Example settings.json Template

Open in Config Generator 
{
  "context_servers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": { "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_..." }
    }
  }
}

Installation Steps

1

Locate settings.json

Find the configuration file at %APPDATA%\Zed\settings.json.

2

Add MCP server entries

Open the file and add your server definitions inside the configuration schema.

3

Set environment variables

Provide any required API keys, database URLs, or access tokens in the environment section.

4

Save and reload

Save settings.json and hot-reload or restart Zed Editor.

5

Verify in chat

Ask Zed Editor to list tools or execute a task with the connected MCP server.

Zed Editor Protocol Support

Stdio Transport Supported

Native Rust stdio process manager

SSE / HTTP Transport Unsupported

Planned in upcoming release

Tool Calling Supported

Assistant tool execution

Resources API Supported

Zed file context provider

Prompts API Supported

Inline slash commands (/mcp)

Roots Boundary Supported

Project workspace

Dynamic Hot-Reload Supported

Auto-reloads on settings change