Environment Variables in Zed

# Environment Variables _**Note**: The following only applies to Zed 0.152.0 and later._ Multiple features in Zed are affected by environment variables: - Tasks - Built-in terminal - Look-up of language servers - Language servers In order to make the best use of these features, it's helpful to understand where Zed gets its environment variables from and how they're used. ## Where does Zed get its environment variables from? How Zed was started — whether it's icon was clicked in the macOS Dock or in a Linux window manager, or whether it was started via the CLI `zed` that comes with Zed — influences which environment variables Zed can use. ### Launched from the CLI If Zed is opened via the CLI (`zed`), it will inherit the environment variables from the surrounding shell session. That means if you do ``` $ export MY_ENV_VAR=hello $ zed . ``` the environment variable `MY_ENV_VAR` is now available inside Zed. For example, in the built-in terminal. Starting with Zed 0.152.0, the CLI `zed` will _always_ pass along its environment to Zed, regardless of whether a Zed instance was previously running or not. Prior to Zed 0.152.0 this was not the case and only the first Zed instance would inherit the environment variables. ### Launched via window manager, Dock, or launcher When Zed has been launched via the macOS Dock, or a GNOME or KDE icon on Linux, or an application launcher like Alfred or Raycast, it has no surrounding shell environment from which to inherit its environment variables. In order to still have a useful environment, Zed spawns a login shell in the user's home directory and gets its environment. This environment is then set on the Zed _process_. That means all Zed windows and projects will inherit that home directory environment. Since that can lead to problems for users that require different environment variables for a project (because they use `direnv`, or `asdf`, or `mise`, ... in that project), when opening project, Zed spawns another login shell. This time in the project's directory. The environment from that login shell is _not_ set on the process (because that would mean opening a new project changes the environment for all Zed windows). Instead, the environment is stored and passed along when running tasks, opening terminals, or spawning language servers. ## Where and how are environment variables used? There are two sets of environment variables: 1. Environment variables of the Zed process 2. Environment variables stored per project

This section explains how Zed obtains and utilizes environment variables for features like tasks, terminals, language servers, and more. Zed inherits environment variables differently depending on how it's launched: from the CLI, it inherits the shell session's environment, while launching from a window manager or launcher involves spawning a login shell to obtain a default environment. Zed handles project-specific environment variables separately to avoid affecting the global Zed environment.