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# Building Zed

How to build Zed from source for the first time.

## Prerequisites

- Be added to the GitHub organization
- Be added to the Vercel team

## Process

Expect this to take 30min to an hour! Some of these steps will take quite a while based on your connection speed, and how long your first build will be.

1. Install the [GitHub CLI](https://cli.github.com/):
   - `brew install gh`
1. Clone the `zed` repo
   - `gh repo clone zed-industries/zed`
1. Install Xcode from the macOS App Store
1. Install Xcode command line tools
   - `xcode-select --install`
   - If xcode-select --print-path prints /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools… run `sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer.`
1. Install [Postgres](https://postgresapp.com)
1. Install rust/rustup
   - `curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh`
1. Install the wasm toolchain
   - `rustup target add wasm32-wasi`
1. Install Livekit & Foreman
   - `brew install livekit`
   - `brew install foreman`
1. Generate an GitHub API Key
   - Go to https://github.com/settings/tokens and Generate new token
   - GitHub currently provides two kinds of tokens:
     - Classic Tokens, where only `repo` (Full control of private repositories) OAuth scope has to be selected
       Unfortunately, unselecting `repo` scope and selecting every its inner scope instead does not allow the token users to read from private repositories
     - (not applicable) Fine-grained Tokens, at the moment of writing, did not allow any kind of access of non-owned private repos
   - Keep the token in the browser tab/editor for the next two steps
1. (Optional but recommended) Add your GITHUB_TOKEN to your `.zshrc` or `.bashrc` like this: `export GITHUB_TOKEN=yourGithubAPIToken`
1. Ensure the Zed.dev website is checked out in a sibling directory and install it's dependencies:
    ```
    cd ..
    git clone https://github.com/zed-industries/zed.dev
    cd zed.dev && npm install
    npm install -g vercel
    ```
1. Link your zed.dev project to Vercel
    - `vercel link`
    - Select the `zed-industries` team. If you don't have this get someone on the team to add you to it.
    - Select the `zed.dev` project
1. Run `vercel pull` to pull down the environment variables and project info from Vercel
1. Open Postgres.app
1. From `./path/to/zed/`:
    - Run:
        - `GITHUB_TOKEN={yourGithubAPIToken} script/bootstrap`
        - Replace `{yourGithubAPIToken}` with the API token you generated above.
        - You don't need to include the GITHUB_TOKEN if you exported it above.
    - Consider removing the token (if it's fine for you to recreate such tokens during occasional migrations) or store this token somewhere safe (like your Zed 1Password vault).
   - If you get:
     - ```bash
       Error: Cannot install in Homebrew on ARM processor in Intel default prefix (/usr/local)!
       Please create a new installation in /opt/homebrew using one of the
       "Alternative Installs" from:
       https://docs.brew.sh/Installation
       ```
     - In that case try:
       - `/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"`
   - If Homebrew is not in your PATH:
     - Replace `{username}` with your home folder name (usually your login name)
     - `echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> /Users/{username}/.zprofile`
     - `eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"`
1. To run the Zed app:
    - If you are working on zed:
      - `cargo run`
    - If you are just using the latest version, but not working on zed:
      - `cargo run --release`
    - If you need to run the collaboration server locally:
      - `script/zed-local`

## Troubleshooting

### `error: failed to run custom build command for gpui v0.1.0 (/Users/path/to/zed)`

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

### `xcrun: error: unable to find utility "metal", not a developer tool or in PATH`

### Seeding errors during `script/bootstrap` runs

```
seeding database...
thread 'main' panicked at 'failed to deserialize github user from 'https://api.github.com/orgs/zed-industries/teams/staff/members': reqwest::Error { kind: Decode, source: Error("invalid type: map, expected a sequence", line: 1, column: 0) }', crates/collab/src/bin/seed.rs:111:10
```

Wrong permissions for `GITHUB_TOKEN` token used, the token needs to be able to read from private repos.
For Classic GitHub Tokens, that required OAuth scope `repo` (seacrh the scope name above for more details)

Same command

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

### If you experience errors that mention some dependency is using unstable features

Try `cargo clean` and `cargo build`