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Parallel agents in Zed

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Why This Matters

Zed's new feature allowing multiple parallel agents enhances workflow flexibility and project management, making it easier for developers to handle complex, multi-repository projects efficiently. The open-source nature and customizable interface further empower users to tailor their environment for optimal productivity, reflecting a significant step forward in developer tooling and automation.

Key Takeaways

Zed now lets you orchestrate multiple agents, each running in parallel in the same window. The new Threads Sidebar lets you control exactly which folders and repositories agents can access, and lets you monitor threads as they run.

All of this runs at Zed's famously buttery-smooth 120 fps, with whichever agents you like, and it's all open-source.

Threads Sidebar and full-screen Agent Panel.

The Threads Sidebar offers an overview of all your threads at a glance, grouped by project, so you can:

Mix and match agents on a per-thread basis, since Zed lets you choose your agent.

Work across projects, with one agent thread reading and writing across repos.

Isolate worktrees, when you want to, and decide per thread.

An overview of the Threads Sidebar.

The Sidebar gives you instant access to common operations like stopping threads, archiving them, and kicking off new ones. Even as your workflow grows in complexity, with several projects running multiple agents at once, the Sidebar makes it easy to stay organized as your agents work.

As the Threads Sidebar became our primary way of navigating a project, we reconsidered which panels should sit where. Threads now dock on the left by default, next to the Agent Panel, with the Project Panel and Git Panel on the right.

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