Development Environment Setup

This guide covers setting up your development environment to build Glass from source.

Prerequisites

Required Tools

Git - For cloning the repository
Rust toolchain - Install via rustup
Platform-specific dependencies - See platform sections below

Platform-Specific Setup

macOS
Linux
Windows

macOS Dependencies

Install Xcode

Download from the macOS App Store or Apple Developer (requires developer account).Launch Xcode after installation and install the macOS components.

Install Xcode command line tools

xcode-select --install

Configure Xcode command line tools

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcodebuild -license accept

Install CMake

Required by wasmtime dependency:

brew install cmake

Speed Optimizations

If you build frequently, macOS may keep verifying new builds, adding seconds to each iteration:

Run sudo spctl developer-mode enable-terminal
In System Settings, search for “Developer Tools”
Add your terminal (iTerm, Ghostty, etc.) to “Allow applications to use developer tools”
Restart your terminal

To avoid continual rebuilds, don’t open the Glass codebase in your development build. Run cargo run ~/path/to/other/project instead.

Linux Dependencies

Install rustup

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Install system libraries

script/linux

This script installs all required system packages. If you prefer manual installation, check the script for the package list.

Linker Configuration

Glass uses Mold in CI, but Wild is recommended for local development (5-20% faster).Install Wild:

script/install-wild

Configure Wild as default by adding to ~/.cargo/config.toml:

[target.x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu]
linker = "clang"
rustflags = ["-C", "link-arg=--ld-path=wild"]

[target.aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu]
linker = "clang"
rustflags = ["-C", "link-arg=--ld-path=wild"]

Alternatively, install and configure Mold:

script/install-mold

[target.'cfg(target_os = "linux")']
rustflags = ["-C", "link-arg=-fuse-ld=mold"]

Display Server Support

Glass supports both X11 and Wayland. The runtime picks whichever is available. To force X11 mode on Wayland:

WAYLAND_DISPLAY='' cargo run

Windows Dependencies

Install rustup

Download and run the installer from rustup.rs.

Install Visual Studio build tools

Install Visual Studio or Build Tools for Visual Studio.Required components:

MSVC v*** - VS YYYY C++ x64/x86 build tools
MSVC v*** - VS YYYY C++ x64/x86 Spectre-mitigated libs
Windows 10 SDK version 2104 (10.0.20348.0) or later
Desktop development with C++ workload

Install Windows SDK

Ensure at least Windows 10 SDK version 2104 is installed. Download from the Windows SDK Archive.

Install CMake

Download from cmake.org or install via Visual Studio Installer. Add CMake’s bin directory to your PATH:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\CMake\bin

If you’re using Build Tools only (not full Visual Studio), launch the Developer Command Prompt before building to initialize environment variables.

Enable Long Path Support

Windows has a 260-character path limit that can break builds:

# For Git
git config --system core.longpaths true

# For Windows
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem" -Name "LongPathsEnabled" -Value 1 -PropertyType DWORD -Force

Restart your system after enabling.

Clone the Repository

Glass is a fork of Zed. All branches and PRs must target Glass-HQ/Glass, never the upstream zed-industries/zed repo.

git clone https://github.com/Glass-HQ/Glass.git
cd Glass

Building Glass

Debug Build

Run Glass in debug mode:

cargo run

Release Build

Build and run an optimized release version:

cargo run --release

Running Tests

Run the full test suite:

cargo test --workspace

Installing a Development Build

macOS
Linux
Windows

Glass doesn’t have a dedicated install script for macOS yet. You can run the built binary directly from target/release/zed or create a symlink.

Install Glass locally:

./script/install-linux

This installs:

Binary at ~/.local/bin/zed
Desktop files at ~/.local/share

Run the release build directly from target\release\zed.exe or add it to your PATH.

Understanding the Codebase

Glass is made up of several crates:

gpui - GPU-accelerated UI framework providing all building blocks for Glass
editor - Core Editor type driving code editor and input fields
project - File management and navigation within the filetree
workspace - Local state serialization, groups projects together
lsp - Communication with external LSP servers
language - Language understanding (symbols, syntax maps)
collab - Collaboration server for project sharing
rpc - Message definitions for collaboration server
theme - Theme system and default themes
ui - Collection of UI components and common patterns
cli - CLI crate invoking the Glass binary
zed - Main entry point where everything comes together

Keep the Zed glossary handy when starting out. It lists structures and terms throughout the codebase.

Build Tools

Code Quality

Use the custom clippy script instead of cargo clippy:

./script/clippy

Visual Regression Tests (macOS only)

Glass includes visual regression tests that capture screenshots and compare against baselines:

Grant Screen Recording permission

System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen RecordingEnable your terminal app (Terminal.app, iTerm2, Ghostty). Restart your terminal.

Generate baseline images

Before making UI changes, generate baselines from a known-good state:

git checkout origin/main
UPDATE_BASELINE=1 cargo run -p zed --bin visual_test_runner --features visual-tests
git checkout -

Run visual tests

cargo run -p zed --bin zed_visual_test_runner --features visual-tests

Troubleshooting

Cargo errors: unstable features

Try cleaning and rebuilding:

cargo clean
cargo build

macOS: Error compiling metal shaders

Configure Xcode tools:

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

On macOS 15+:

xcodebuild -downloadComponent MetalToolchain

macOS: dispatch/dispatch.h not found

Install and configure Xcode command line tools:

xcode-select --install
sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
export BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS="--sysroot=$(xcrun --show-sdk-path)"
cargo clean && cargo run

Windows: RUSTFLAGS breaks builds

Don’t set the RUSTFLAGS environment variable - it overrides required settings in .cargo/config.toml.Add custom flags to .cargo/config.toml instead (see Windows setup section).

Windows: STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION

This can happen with the rust-lld.exe linker. Try a different linker configuration in .cargo/config.toml.

Next Steps

Contribution Guidelines

Learn our code standards and contribution workflow

Configuration

Architecture

Contributing

Development Environment Setup

Development Environment Setup

Prerequisites

Required Tools

Platform-Specific Setup

macOS Dependencies

Speed Optimizations

Linux Dependencies

Linker Configuration

Display Server Support

Windows Dependencies

Enable Long Path Support

Clone the Repository

Building Glass

Debug Build

Release Build

Running Tests

Installing a Development Build

Understanding the Codebase

Build Tools

Code Quality

Visual Regression Tests (macOS only)

Troubleshooting

Next Steps

Contribution Guidelines

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Configuration

Architecture

Contributing

​Development Environment Setup

​Prerequisites

​Required Tools

​Platform-Specific Setup

​macOS Dependencies

​Speed Optimizations

​Linux Dependencies

​Linker Configuration

​Display Server Support

​Windows Dependencies

​Enable Long Path Support

​Clone the Repository

​Building Glass

​Debug Build

​Release Build

​Running Tests

​Installing a Development Build

​Understanding the Codebase

​Build Tools

​Code Quality

​Visual Regression Tests (macOS only)

​Troubleshooting

​Next Steps

Contribution Guidelines

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Development Environment Setup

Prerequisites

Required Tools

Platform-Specific Setup

macOS Dependencies

Speed Optimizations

Linux Dependencies

Linker Configuration

Display Server Support

Windows Dependencies

Enable Long Path Support

Clone the Repository

Building Glass

Debug Build

Release Build

Running Tests

Installing a Development Build

Understanding the Codebase

Build Tools

Code Quality

Visual Regression Tests (macOS only)

Troubleshooting

Next Steps