Meta Description: Discover how Zed Industries utilized Rust and partnered with Baseten to develop the world’s fastest AI code editor, achieving exceptional code completion speeds.

Introduction

In the ever-evolving landscape of software development, the demand for tools that enhance productivity and efficiency is paramount. Zed Industries has positioned itself at the forefront of this evolution by creating what it aspires to be the world’s fastest AI-powered code editor. Central to this achievement is the strategic use of Rust, a powerful systems programming language, and a pivotal partnership with Baseten, an innovative AI inference platform. This collaboration has redefined the benchmarks for AI code completion speeds, setting new standards in the industry.

The Challenge of Building a High-Performance AI Code Editor

Developing a code editor that can handle real-time collaboration and instantaneous feedback without any perceptible lag is a formidable task. Most existing editors rely heavily on web technologies like JavaScript, which, while versatile, fall short in delivering the desired performance for highly responsive applications. Zed Industries recognized that to meet their ambitious goals, a different approach was necessary—one that could harness the full potential of system-level performance without compromising on functionality.

Why Rust? The Language Behind Zed’s Speed

Rust emerged as the ideal choice for Zed’s development needs. Unlike languages such as JavaScript, Rust offers unparalleled control over memory management, multithreading, and system resources. This control is crucial for building an editor that demands high responsiveness and stability. Nathan Sobo, the visionary behind Zed, emphasized that Rust not only provided the necessary performance but also maintained productivity advantages akin to more managed languages. This balance allowed Zed to build a robust, efficient, and scalable code editor capable of handling complex tasks with ease.

Partnering with Baseten: Enhancing AI Capabilities

As AI features became integral to developer tools, Zed faced the challenge of integrating AI-driven code completion without compromising on speed. Their existing inference provider struggled to meet critical performance targets, hindering the seamless integration of AI functionalities. Enter Baseten—a partner that approached the problem with an engineering-first mindset. Instead of offering a generic service, Baseten deployed dedicated engineers to work alongside Zed, conducting over 75 performance optimizations within days. This hands-on collaboration led to the adoption of the TensorRT-LLM framework, KV caching, custom-tuned speculative decoding, and geo-aware routing, all of which were instrumental in enhancing the AI capabilities of Zed.

The Results: Unmatched Performance and Efficiency

The partnership between Zed Industries and Baseten yielded remarkable results:

45% Lower P90 Latency: Ensuring that 90% of the API calls met significantly reduced latency targets.
3.6x Higher Throughput: Enhancing the number of operations the system could handle concurrently.
100% Uptime: Guaranteeing uninterrupted service availability.
Over 2x Faster Edit Prediction: Doubling the speed of AI-driven code suggestions compared to previous implementations.

These improvements not only met but exceeded Zed’s initial performance goals, positioning their AI code editor as a leader in speed and efficiency.

Comparing with Other AI Code Editors

While many AI code editors rely on web-based technologies and generic AI models, Zed’s approach sets it apart. By leveraging Rust for its core functionality and forming a strategic partnership with Baseten, Zed ensures that its AI features are both fast and reliable. Unlike competitors that may offer AI integrations as an add-on, Zed seamlessly incorporates AI-driven functionalities into its very architecture, maintaining the zero-latency philosophy that is central to its user experience.

Future Prospects: What’s Next for Zed

With the foundational performance enhancements in place, Zed Industries is poised to expand its feature set further. Upcoming developments include support for additional operating systems like Windows, enhanced debugging capabilities, and more sophisticated collaboration tools. The long-term vision is to revolutionize how software teams collaborate, moving beyond traditional commit-based workflows to real-time, interactive coding environments that foster greater innovation and efficiency.

Conclusion

Zed Industries’ journey to building the world’s fastest AI code editor is a testament to the power of thoughtful language choice and strategic partnerships. By harnessing Rust’s system-level performance and collaborating closely with Baseten, Zed has set new standards in the developer tools space. This synergy not only addresses current performance challenges but also lays the groundwork for future innovations in AI-driven software development.

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