Install Xcode command line tools
sh
1 xcode-select --install
Ensure that the Xcode command line tools are using your newly installed copy of Xcode:
sh
1 sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
2 sudo xcodebuild -license accept
Install cmake (required by a dependency)
sh
1 brew install cmake

Backend Dependencies (optional) {#backend-dependencies}

If you are looking to develop Zed collaboration features using a local collaboration server, please see: Local Collaboration docs.

Building Zed from Source

Once you have the dependencies installed, you can build Zed using Cargo.

For a debug build:

cargo run

For a release build:

1	cargo run --release

And to run the tests:

1	cargo test --workspace

Troubleshooting

Error compiling metal shaders

1	error: failed to run custom build command for gpui v0.1.0 (/Users/path/to/zed)`**
2
3	xcrun: error: unable to find utility "metal", not a developer tool or in PATH

Try sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

If you're on macOS 26, try xcodebuild -downloadComponent MetalToolchain

Cargo errors claiming that a dependency is using unstable features

Try cargo clean and cargo build.

Error: 'dispatch/dispatch.h' file not found

If you encounter an error similar to:

1	src/platform/mac/dispatch.h:1:10: fatal error: 'dispatch/dispatch.h' file not found
2
3	Caused by:
4	process didn't exit successfully
5
6	--- stdout
7	cargo:rustc-link-lib=framework=System
8	cargo:rerun-if-changed=src/platform/mac/dispatch.h
9	cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=TARGET
10	cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS_aarch64-apple-darwin
11	cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS_aarch64_apple_darwin
12	cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS

This file is part of Xcode. Ensure you have installed the Xcode command line tools and set the correct path:

1	xcode-select --install
2	sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Additionally, set the BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS environment variable:

1	export BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS="--sysroot=$(xcrun --show-sdk-path)"

Then clean and rebuild the project:

1	cargo clean
2	cargo run

Tests failing due to `Too many open files (os error 24)`

This error seems to be caused by OS resource constraints. Installing and running tests with cargo-nextest should resolve the issue.

cargo install cargo-nextest --locked
cargo nextest run --workspace --no-fail-fast

Tips & Tricks

Avoiding continual rebuilds

If you are finding that Zed is continually rebuilding root crates, it may be because you are pointing your development Zed at the codebase itself.

This causes problems because cargo run exports a bunch of environment variables which are picked up by the rust-analyzer that runs in the development build of Zed. These environment variables are in turn passed to cargo check, which invalidates the build cache of some of the crates we depend on.

You can easily avoid running the built binary on the checked-out Zed codebase using cargo run ~/path/to/other/project to ensure that you don't hit this.

Speeding up verification

If you are building Zed a lot, you may find that macOS continually verifies new builds which can add a few seconds to your iteration cycles.

To fix this, you can:

Run sudo spctl developer-mode enable-terminal to enable the Developer Tools panel in System Settings.
In System Settings, search for "Developer Tools" and add your terminal (e.g. iTerm or Ghostty) to the list under "Allow applications to use developer tools"
Restart your terminal.

Thanks to the nextest developers for publishing this.

1	sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
2	sudo xcodebuild -license accept

Files

docs/src/development/macos.md

Building Zed for macOS

Repository

Dependencies