Zed Theme Maker

Create lightning-fast themes for Zed editor. Built for maximum performance with Tree-sitter syntax highlighting and minimal resource usage.

Tree-sitter Highlighting
GPU Acceleration
Performance Metrics
Memory Efficient

Zed Theme Designer

Theme Settings

Zed Preview

example.tsx
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import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react'
import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button'
import { Card, CardHeader, CardTitle, CardContent } from '@/components/ui/card'
import { Input } from '@/components/ui/input'
interface User {
id: number
name: string
email: string
}
const UserDashboard = () => {
const [users, setUsers] = useState<User[]>([])
const [loading, setLoading] = useState(true)
const [searchTerm, setSearchTerm] = useState('')
useEffect(() => {
fetchUsers()
}, [])
const fetchUsers = async () => {
try {
const response = await fetch('/api/users')
const data = await response.json()
setUsers(data)
} catch (error) {
console.error('Failed to fetch users:', error)
} finally {
setLoading(false)
}
}
const filteredUsers = users.filter(user =>
user.name.toLowerCase().includes(searchTerm.toLowerCase())
)
return (
<div className="container mx-auto p-6">
<Card>
<CardHeader>
<CardTitle>User Management</CardTitle>
</CardHeader>
<CardContent>
<Input
type="text"
placeholder="Search users..."
value={searchTerm}
onChange={(e) => setSearchTerm(e.target.value)}
className="mb-4"
/>
{loading ? (
<p>Loading users...</p>
) : (
<ul className="space-y-2">
{filteredUsers.map(user => (
<li key={user.id} className="p-3 border rounded">
<h3 className="font-semibold">{user.name}</h3>
<p className="text-sm text-muted-foreground">{user.email}</p>
</li>
))}
</ul>
)}
</CardContent>
</Card>
</div>
)
}
TypeScript ReactUTF-8LF
Ln 1, Col 1

Performance-Optimized

Designed for Zed's high-performance architecture with GPU-accelerated rendering and Tree-sitter integration.

Why Zed Themes Are Lightning Fast

Zed is built for speed and efficiency. Its theming system reflects this philosophy with optimized color rendering and minimal overhead.

Tree-sitter Integration

Zed uses Tree-sitter for syntax parsing, providing more accurate and context-aware syntax highlighting than traditional regex-based systems.

GPU Rendering

Hardware-accelerated rendering means themes can use complex gradients and effects without impacting performance.

Memory Efficient

Zed's architecture minimizes memory usage, making it ideal for working with large codebases and multiple files simultaneously.

Performance Metrics

Startup Time
Zed< 200ms
VS Code~3-5s
Memory Usage
Zed (large project)~150MB
VS Code (same project)~800MB
CPU Usage
Idle~1-2%
Active Editing~5-10%

Creating High-Performance Zed Themes

Learn to create themes that leverage Zed's performance advantages and Tree-sitter capabilities

1

Optimize for Tree-sitter

Tree-sitter provides more granular syntax parsing. Use specific scopes for better highlighting accuracy across different programming languages.

-- Tree-sitter specific scopes
"entity.name.function": "#d2a8ff"
"entity.name.type": "#ffa657"
"entity.name.class": "#79c0ff"
-- Language-specific tokens
"rust.macro": "#a5d6ff"
"python.decorator": "#ffa657"
2

Use Efficient Color Palettes

Choose colors that render efficiently on GPU. Avoid complex calculations in color definitions and prefer simple hex values when possible.

-- GPU-friendly colors
"editor.background": "#2d333b"
"editor.foreground": "#adbac7"
-- Avoid complex gradients in JSON
// Use solid colors for better performance
"keyword": "#ff7b72"
3

Test Across Languages

Zed's Tree-sitter grammar support varies by language. Test your theme with multiple languages to ensure consistent highlighting quality.

-- Test these languages
Rust • Python • TypeScript • Go
Ruby • PHP • Java • C++
-- Verify highlighting quality
• Functions and classes
• Comments and strings
• Keywords and operators
4

Performance Testing

Test your theme with large files and complex projects to ensure it doesn't impact Zed's performance characteristics.

-- Performance checklist
✓ Large file handling (>10MB)
✓ Multi-language projects
✓ Git diff highlighting
✓ Memory usage under load