Developing Extensions - Zed

# Developing Extensions

## Extension Capabilities

Extensions can add the following capabilities to Zed:

- Languages
- Debuggers
- Themes
- Icon Themes
- Slash Commands
- MCP Servers

## Developing an Extension Locally

Before starting to develop an extension for Zed, be sure to install Rust via rustup.

> Rust must be installed via rustup. If you have Rust installed via homebrew or otherwise, installing dev extensions will not work.

When developing an extension, you can use it in Zed without needing to publish it by installing it as a dev extension.

From the extensions page, click the `Install Dev Extension` button and select the directory containing your extension.

If you already have a published extension with the same name installed, your dev extension will override it.

## Directory Structure of a Zed Extension

A Zed extension is a Git repository that contains an `extension.toml`. This file must contain some basic information about the extension:

    id = "my-extension"
    name = "My extension"
    version = "0.0.1"
    schema_version = 1
    authors = ["Your Name <you@example.com>"]
    description = "My cool extension"
    repository = "https://github.com/your-name/my-zed-extension"

In addition to this, there are several other optional files and directories that can be used to add functionality to a Zed extension. An example directory structure of an extension that provides all capabilities is as follows:

    my-extension/
      extension.toml
      Cargo.toml
      src/
        lib.rs
      languages/
        my-language/
          config.toml
          highlights.scm
      themes/
        my-theme.json

## WebAssembly

Procedural parts of extensions are written in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly. To develop an extension that includes custom code, include a `Cargo.toml` like this:

    [package]
    name = "my-extension"
    version = "0.0.1"
    edition = "2021"

    [lib]
    crate-type = ["cdylib"]

    [dependencies]
    zed_extension_api = "0.1.0"

Use the latest version of the `zed_extension_api` available on crates.io. Make sure it's still compatible with Zed versions you want to support.

In the `src/lib.rs` file in your Rust crate you will need to define a struct for your extension and implement the `Extension` trait, as well as use the `register_extension!` macro to register your extension:

    use zed_extension_api as zed;

    struct MyExtension {
        // ... state
    }

    impl zed::Extension for MyExtension {
        // ...
    }

    zed::register_extension!(MyExtension);

> `stdout`/`stderr` is forwarded directly to the Zed process. In order to see `println!`/`dbg!` output from your extension, you can start Zed in your terminal with a `--foreground` flag.

## Forking and cloning the repo

1. Fork the repo

> Note: It is very helpful if you fork the `zed-industries/extensions` repo to a personal GitHub account instead of a GitHub organization, as this allows Zed staff to push any needed changes to your PR to expedite the publishing process.

2. Clone the repo to your local machine

    # Substitute the url of your fork here:
    # git clone https://github.com/zed-industries/extensions
    cd extensions
    git submodule init
    git submodule update

## Publishing your extension

To publish an extension, open a PR to the `zed-industries/extensions` repo.

In your PR, do the following:

1. Add your extension as a Git submodule within the `extensions/` directory

    git submodule add https://github.com/your-username/foobar-zed.git extensions/foobar
    git add extensions/foobar

> All extension submodules must use HTTPS URLs and not SSH URLS (`git@github.com`).

2. Add a new entry to the top-level `extensions.toml` file containing your extension:

    [my-extension]
    submodule = "extensions/my-extension"
    version = "0.0.1"

> If your extension is in a subdirectory within the submodule you can use the `path` field to point to where the extension resides.

3. Run `pnpm sort-extensions` to ensure `extensions.toml` and `.gitmodules` are sorted

Once your PR is merged, the extension will be packaged and published to the Zed extension registry.

> Extension IDs and names should not contain `zed` or `Zed`, since they are all Zed extensions.

## Updating an extension

To update an extension, open a PR to the `zed-industries/extensions` repo.

In your PR do the following:

1. Update the extension's submodule to the commit of the new version.
2. Update the `version` field for the extension in `extensions.toml`
   - Make sure the `version` matches the one set in `extension.toml` at the particular commit.

If you'd like to automate this process, there is a community GitHub Action you can use.