Jason LeeandClaude Opus 4.8
8e4e5a39ee
Closes #5049. When the system is in light mode but Zed uses a dark theme, the macOS window chrome — the window border and the titlebar — is rendered light, leaving a pale, low-contrast edge that makes the window look washed out. Zed's own content renders correctly; the affected chrome is drawn by AppKit, not Zed. Why it happens: `NSWindow` conforms to `NSAppearanceCustomization`, so a window's appearance is inherited app → window → view and resolved through `effectiveAppearance` unless an explicit appearance is set. Zed never set one, so every window inherited the *system* appearance and AppKit drew the chrome for light mode regardless of the dark theme. The fix uses the override AppKit provides for exactly this: set `NSApplication.appearance` app-wide, so every window inherits it. VSCode (`window.systemColorTheme`) and JetBrains IDEs do the same. <img width="2600" height="1346" alt="after-light" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c31376af-8f51-4c36-a62f-55714f63b59c" /> ## GPUI - Add `App::set_window_appearance(Option<WindowAppearance>)`, the setter paired with the existing `App::window_appearance()` getter. `Some(_)` forces a light/dark appearance; `None` clears the override and follows the system again. - macOS sets `NSApplication.appearance` (`None` → `nil`); no-op on other platforms. - Demo: `cargo run -p gpui --example window_appearance`. ## Zed - An explicit light/dark theme (or a static theme) forces the matching chrome; `System` follows the OS. - Wired once at startup via a global settings observer, so every window — including the settings window — stays in sync. | Before | After | | --- | --- | | <img width="3630" height="1878" alt="before-light" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/44c9ab66-c0cf-433a-93b0-17446b34a284" /> | <img width="3686" height="1832" alt="SCR-20260609-nzjk" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/32b0412b-0913-4e68-acba-bf39dcb6aa6a" /> | References: [`NSAppearanceCustomization`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appkit/nsappearancecustomization) · [`NSApplication.appearance`](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appkit/nsapplication/appearance) Release Notes: - Fixed the macOS window border and titlebar not matching the selected theme when the system appearance differed (for example, a dark theme under a light system theme). ([#5049](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/5049)) --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Zed
Welcome to Zed, a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter.
Installation
On macOS, Linux, and Windows you can download Zed directly or install Zed via your local package manager (macOS/Linux/Windows).
Other platforms are not yet available:
- Web (tracking discussion)
Developing Zed
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md for ways you can contribute to Zed.
Also... we're hiring! Check out our jobs page for open roles.
Licensing
Zed source code is licensed primarily under GPL-3.0-or-later, with Apache-2.0 components where marked.
License information for third party dependencies must be correctly provided for CI to pass.
We use cargo-about to automatically comply with open source licenses. If CI is failing, check the following:
- Is it showing a
no license specifiederror for a crate you've created? If so, addpublish = falseunder[package]in your crate's Cargo.toml. - Is the error
failed to satisfy license requirementsfor a dependency? If so, first determine what license the project has and whether this system is sufficient to comply with this license's requirements. If you're unsure, ask a lawyer. Once you've verified that this system is acceptable add the license's SPDX identifier to theacceptedarray inscript/licenses/zed-licenses.toml. - Is
cargo-aboutunable to find the license for a dependency? If so, add a clarification field at the end ofscript/licenses/zed-licenses.toml, as specified in the cargo-about book.
Sponsorship
Zed is developed by Zed Industries, Inc., a for-profit company.
If you’d like to financially support the project, you can do so via GitHub Sponsors. Sponsorships go directly to Zed Industries and are used as general company revenue. There are no perks or entitlements associated with sponsorship.