Why I Switched from Vim to Zed

For years, Vim was my go-to code editor. I discovered it from a friend when I first started to write code during my second year in College and at first, it felt impossible to use. I struggled with even simple things, like figuring out how to quit! But over time, I got used to the commands. Eventually, it became my favorite tool. With Vim, everything is fast and efficient. It is not just an editor, it feels like an extension of my hands.

But recently, things changed.

As my projects became larger and more complicated, I noticed that Vim wasn’t as smooth to use. I needed new features like autocomplete and better ways to jump between files, but setting those up meant adding plugin after plugin. Every time I made a small change, I risked breaking my setup. I realized I was spending too much time fixing my editor instead of coding.

That’s when a friend suggested I try Zed. At first, I didn’t take it seriously, after all, I’d been using Vim for years. But I decided to give it a shot one day, just out of curiosity.

The first thing I noticed was how fast and smooth Zed felt. It opened instantly, and navigating through my projects was quick and easy. The interface was simple, with no clutter, and no distractions. I loved how everything felt focused on the code.

The real surprise, though, was that Zed supports Vim commands! All the shortcuts I had memorized, like :wq to save and quit or dd to delete a line, worked exactly the same. My fingers didn’t have to learn anything new, which made the switch feel effortless. It was like moving into a new house but finding all my furniture exactly where I wanted it.

Another thing that really stood out was Zed’s collaborative features. I work with other developers remotely, and in Vim, collaboration was always clunky. We’d have to share screens or constantly push code to Git. But in Zed, I could invite my teammates into my editor, and we could work on the same code in real-time. It felt smooth like we were sitting next to each other, even though we were miles apart.

After using Zed for a few days, I realized something: it gave me everything I loved about Vim but without the hassle. No more spending hours fixing plugins or wrestling with settings. Zed just worked, right out of the box, and kept things simple.

At first, I kept going back to Vim, just to make sure I wasn’t rushing into something new. But each time I did, I found myself missing Zed. It was easier, faster, and better suited for the kind of work I’m doing now.

Vim will always have a special place in my heart. It’s where I learned to love coding efficiently. But today, Zed feels like the right tool for me. It keeps the best parts of Vim but adds the modern features I need to grow.

For now, Zed is my new home.