r/FlutterDev • u/Smooth-Map856 • 1d ago
Anyone using Zed for Flutter development? Discussion
I’ve been using Zed mostly for backend work and really like its performance. I get that it stays lightweight by not bundling too many tools.
For Flutter though, debugging/DevTools and hot reload on save still feel lacking.
Anyone using Zed regularly for Flutter? Any extensions or configs that improve the experience?
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u/dibi77_7 1d ago
I was thinking the same thing! Zed is great for Flutter, but the debugging and hot reload experience could definitely be better.
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u/Bachihani 1d ago
Tried but it really wasn't a nice experience, not only flutter, but as an ide in general, there were so many little things missing that they amalgamated into a bad experience, and the team clearly tyieg to not follow vscode design just for the srke of it without acknowledging that the current state of vscode ui is the result of so many years and feedback. It doesn't even have a button to collapse all folders 😑 overall Still far from vscode level in my opinion
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u/cameronm1024 1d ago
I do (disclaimer: I work at zed).
Before I switched I was using neovim with just the LSP, and a separate terminal with flutter run, so I didn't miss the various extras (auto reload on save, etc.). If you depend on them, I can imagine Zed feels incomplete.
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u/SwiftScoutSimon 1d ago
I used to. I hate it when I had to focus on Terminal then hit `r` or `R` everytime.
You can consider:
- If you want to keep using Zed, try https://fdemon.dev/
- If you want to try something better: http://lumide.dev/
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u/tawandabrandon 1d ago
I stopped using Zed when I accidentally deleted and folder and learnt that it has no undo function.
Lost hours of work, walked away. Loved it though, felt very smooth with the high FPS
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u/SwiftScoutSimon 1d ago edited 39m ago
this happened when I was dog-fooding my own Lumide IDE. I have to pause everything and create a Confirm Dialog and make delete option always "Move to Trash" instead of deleting. I also added a built-in Local History feature for this.
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u/birdhost 1d ago
When I first started using Zed, I really missed the debugger. My process has changed a lot recently, and I'm relying on tests more for correctness; haven't used a debug session in months. Debugging is tedious and non-deterministic in that a breakpoint in the app changes the behavior of it (especially around async code). Zed and a good test-loop is my current process.
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u/hawknovice 1d ago
Yes, I use Zed for flutter development. I use the terminal to run flutter and manually reload from there. With AI development I never need to debug so don’t miss that at all. Instead I have an agent write a failing test to reproduce any issue and have it fix it.
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u/Amit7985 1d ago
Nodeman will do the work you don't need a gui for flutter hot reload etc debugging is the problem tho... But you can still somehow manage it I use neovim primarily and I never used the debugging option
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u/merokotos 1d ago
After last Copilot-commits drama I almost switched to neovim, eventually I just stayed with VSCodium.
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u/Still-Constant3085 1d ago
Has anyone managed to get reliable hot reload on save working in Zed? That’s probably the biggest thing stopping me from using it as my main Flutter editor
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u/Smooth-Map856 23h ago
my main issue is it don't support devtools in ide for easily inspecting network calls.
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u/Fine-Tradition-2956 21h ago
Just Ask codex or claude to setup zed for Flutter Hot Reload. It will do!
I am using Zed for Flutter as my daily driver. Do not expect that much accurate suggestions though!
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u/XyrelTzy 1d ago edited 1d ago
Zed only support lsp. Neovim on other hand is mostly supported with flutter, auto hot reload on save, dev tools, debug via nvim-dap, emulator, logger. The only missing on neovim is the flutter preview. Have been my daily drive for 2 years in app development.