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Autonomous Dev Kit for Zed

Guide for using Autonomous Dev Kit with Zed Agent via native Zed Skills.

Quick Install

Global install on macOS/Linux:

git clone https://github.com/GoCodeAlone/autonomous-dev-kit.git ~/.agents/autodev
~/.agents/autodev/scripts/install-zed.sh

WSL2 with Windows-native Zed: use the same Bash installer. It detects WSL and copies skills to /mnt/c/Users/<linux-user>/.agents/skills, the Windows path Zed sees as C:\Users\<user>\.agents\skills. If your Windows username differs from your WSL username, pass it explicitly:

~/.agents/autodev/scripts/install-zed.sh --skills-root /mnt/c/Users/<WindowsUser>/.agents/skills --copy --force

Global install on Windows PowerShell:

git clone https://github.com/GoCodeAlone/autonomous-dev-kit.git "$env:USERPROFILE\.agents\autodev"
& "$env:USERPROFILE\.agents\autodev\scripts\install-zed.ps1"

Then add the Zed host declaration to your personal Zed instructions:

# Autonomous Dev Kit host declaration
Host: zed-agent
When reading ADK skills, follow host-neutral instructions and `<host: zed-agent>`
blocks. Ignore host blocks for claude-code, codex, opencode, cursor, and
hermes-agent unless explicitly running that External Agent instead of Zed Agent.

Personal Zed instructions live at ~/.config/zed/AGENTS.md on macOS/Linux and %APPDATA%\Zed\AGENTS.md on Windows.

Why Zed Uses a Different Layout

Zed discovers skills from ~/.agents/skills/ and <worktree>/.agents/skills/, but each skill must be a direct child of the skills root. ADK's other hosts can use a namespace symlink such as autodev/skills; Zed cannot. The ADK installer therefore creates this flat layout:

~/.agents/skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md
~/.agents/skills/writing-plans/SKILL.md
~/.agents/skills/using-autodev/SKILL.md

Project-local Install

git clone https://github.com/GoCodeAlone/autonomous-dev-kit.git .autodev-kit
.autodev-kit/scripts/install-zed.sh --scope project --project-root .

Project-local skills load only in trusted Zed worktrees.

Verify

  1. Open Zed's AI > Skills page or the Agent Panel Skills manager.
  2. Confirm ADK skills are listed.
  3. Start a new Zed Agent thread and ask help me plan this feature.
  4. The agent should invoke brainstorming; manual invocation also works with /brainstorming or an @skill mention.

Updating

Symlink/junction install:

cd ~/.agents/autodev && git pull

Copy install:

cd ~/.agents/autodev && git pull
scripts/install-zed.sh --copy --force

Uninstalling

~/.agents/autodev/scripts/install-zed.sh --uninstall

Windows:

& "$env:USERPROFILE\.agents\autodev\scripts\install-zed.ps1" -Uninstall

Zed Agent vs External Agents

Zed Skills apply to Zed Agent. If you install Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Cursor, or another ACP External Agent inside Zed, that agent usually uses its own native skills/instructions. Use ADK's install docs for that harness in addition to, or instead of, this Zed Agent install path.

Capability Notes

  • Zed Agent supports skills, personal/project AGENTS.md, Agent Profiles, Tool Permissions, MCP servers, the Threads Sidebar, and worktree isolation.
  • ADK's Claude/Codex lifecycle hook bundle is not installed for Zed Agent. Current Zed task hooks are not equivalent: documented Zed hooks run task templates, with create_worktree as the supported event, so they cannot implement ADK prompt/tool/session/compaction guards.
  • For hook-like safety, use ADK's Zed skill fallbacks plus Zed Tool Permissions (agent.tool_permissions) where a command/path deny or confirm rule can approximate a guard. See zed-hook-equivalents.md for concrete "run script X at checkpoint Y" mappings.
  • ADK skills include Zed host-specific fallbacks for task tracking, subagent coordination, compaction recovery, and PR monitoring where Zed differs from other harnesses.

Detailed docs: .zed/INSTALL.md