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  "path": "/f/technology/14867",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-29T18:42:17.000Z",
  "site": "https://jstpst.net",
  "tags": [
    "Lapce editor",
    "Pulsar Editor",
    "is the Gram editor",
    "removes AI and telemetry, among other things"
  ],
  "textContent": "> **tldr** : Zed seems good for beginners, Gram (opinionated fork of Zed) seems better if someone really wants a fork\n\n* * *\n\n# the landscape of text editors\n\nA lot of people in my circles look up to me with opinions on what editor they should use.\n\nOn one hand, I don't want to put another set of feet on a rug Microsoft is ready to pull with VS Code. But on the other hand, a new dev has so much uncertainty and friction, and VS Code has the advantage of (1) handling a lot of the uncertainty for you, (2) providing a terminal for when it's necessary, and (3) being the default choice means you are walking in the footsteps of a million novices who undoubtedly ran into whatever combination of problems you've had.\n\nAt the bare minimum, an editor should\n\n  1. Be accessible to a newbie (no settings should be locked behind a .json file),\n\n  2. Available on Linux, Mac, and Windows\n\n  3. Have language-servers built in as extensions (nobody should have to touch a package manager for their tooling).\n\n  4. Support tree-sitter (just for how many things seem to rely on it), and\n\n  5. Be something I can expect to be supported for at least 5 years.\n\n  6. Be open source.\n\n\n\n\nVSCode _is_ an option, and it's hard to not at least note it as an option. I'd prefer something not electron, either, especially since even VS Code's strong performance engineering still gets weighed down by the editor.\n\nThe Lapce editor was appealing for a number of reasons, but i recall it being lackluster in UX and rendering. I _do_ like very much that it's written in Rust and doesn't rely on Electron. (Rust is good, because it's fast and IME it's the easiest compiled language to hack on for how easy it is to build Rust projects.)\n\nThe Atom editor was the \"default\" before VSCode, and so it's natural to look to the community Pulsar Editor which forks it.\n\nI haven't used Pulsar, but I have spent some time in Zed. It's rougher around the edges and the extension ecosystem is not as strong as VSCode.\n\n# Zed weighs more than a Gram\n\nOne huge, **huge** problem with Zed is its splash screen greets you with an \"Agent Setup\" in the onboarding. There is a (good) toggle that disables all AI \"features\" in the Settings, but even then, the \"Sign In\" button stays in the top right. This, and the memory of the sting of a few UX papercuts, leave me with qualms about Zed.\n\nBut, observing the text editor landscape, it's hard to find something better than Zed.\n\nThere is the Gram editor, which is an opinionated fork of Zed which removes AI and telemetry, among other things, but importantly, it is exactly what I want:\n\n> My hope is that Gram will be an editor that someone who is learning programming for the first time can download, install and use out of the box. No configuration or extensions should be necessary, and the editor should not try to push anything potentially malicious, distracting or confusing at them. In my opinion, both VS Code and the Zed editor fail in this regard.\n\nThe _only problem here_ is, if recommending Gram, I'm already asking someone to chase forks, and take on all the problems that come with that. They have the mental burden of internally mapping \"Gram\" problems to searches for help with \"Zed\", while having a tiny community for any problems Gram might have, etc. And I'd have no way of knowing how quickly Gram merges security flaws, etc. Plus, there are the UX flaws commensurate with Gram's place as a fork, key among them being you can't browse extensions inside the editor itself.\n\nAnd Gram might go the way of Glimpse (the GIMP fork), Atom-Community (the other Atom fork), Atom-NG (the other Atom fork), etc. If I'm recommending a fork, I might be likelier to recommend VS-Codium, for example.\n\n# so what do i actually TELL people\n\nWell, I hadn't had someone ask me for an editor in a bit over two years now I think.\n\nTwo years ago, Lapce and Zed were both the next-gen editors written in Rust which are _almost_ good. So, VS Code was the only recommendation I could make. But now, Zed is good enough to use. Compared to VS Code, the recommendation is easy to make, (assuming there isn't a more natural editor for their task; I wouldn't recommend someone making a Godot game to get a separate editor, for example.)\n\n# but i don't know everything\n\nIs Sublime Text good for beginners? It costs $100? Is Pulsar secretly really good?\n\nI imagine a lot of people here have text editor opinions. Command like #Freaks need not apply; is there anything good I'm missing? Should I be pointing people to KDevelop, KATE, KWrite? I wrote most of my code in Gedit for years, maybe that's the one?\n\nIt's extra hard because the landscape nowdays are full of AI-ified VSCode forks.",
  "title": "I am recommending new / hobbyist devs to use Zed instead of VS Code",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-29T18:42:35.000Z"
}