Files
zed/docs/src/appearance.md
T
1810ca0290 docs: Big reorganize (#45276)
Release Notes:

- N/A 

Overview

Restructures the documentation navigation to be organized by user goals
rather than feature lists. Introduces a new "Working with Code" section
and reorganizes existing content into clearer groupings.

### Navigation Changes

**New top-level sections:**
- **Working with Code** — Groups editing, navigation, and execution
features by workflow
- **Reference** — Dedicated section for lookup-only content (settings,
actions, CLI)
- **Coming From...** — Migration guides grouped together

**Reorganized sections:**
- **Customization** — Renamed from "Configuration," focused on
appearance and keybindings
- **Account & Privacy** — Consolidated auth, privacy, and telemetry
pages

New Files

| File | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `editing-code.md` | Overview page for editing features |
| `finding-navigating.md` | Overview page for navigation tools with
quick reference |
| `running-testing.md` | Overview page for tasks, debugger, and REPL |
| `reference/all-settings.md` | Settings reference (moved/renamed) |
| `reference/cli.md` | CLI reference (moved) |

### Content Moves

| Page | From | To |
|------|------|-----|
| Snippets | Customization | Working with Code → Editing Code |
| Code Completions | (flat) | Working with Code → Editing Code |
| Diagnostics | (flat) | Working with Code → Editing Code |
| Multibuffers | (flat) | Working with Code → Editing Code |
| Command Palette | (flat) | Working with Code → Finding & Navigating |
| Outline Panel | (flat) | Working with Code → Finding & Navigating |
| Tab Switcher | (flat) | Working with Code → Finding & Navigating |
| Tasks | (flat) | Working with Code → Running & Testing |
| Debugger | (flat) | Working with Code → Running & Testing |
| REPL | (flat) | Working with Code → Running & Testing |
| All Settings | Configuration | Reference |
| CLI | (various) | Reference

---------

Co-authored-by: Marshall Bowers <git@maxdeviant.com>
Co-authored-by: Zed Zippy <234243425+zed-zippy[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
2026-01-20 13:04:27 -08:00

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3.5 KiB
Markdown

# Appearance
Customize Zed's visual appearance to match your preferences. This guide covers themes, fonts, icons, and other visual settings.
For information on how the settings system works, see [All Settings](./reference/all-settings.md).
## Customize Zed in 5 Minutes
Here's how to make Zed feel like home:
1. **Pick a theme**: Press {#kb theme_selector::Toggle} to open the Theme Selector. Arrow through the list to preview themes in real time, and press Enter to apply.
2. **Choose an icon theme**: Run `icon theme selector: toggle` from the command palette to browse icon themes.
3. **Set your font**: Open the Settings Editor with {#kb zed::OpenSettings} and search for `buffer_font_family`. Set it to your preferred coding font.
4. **Adjust font size**: In the same Settings Editor, search for `buffer_font_size` and `ui_font_size` to tweak the editor and interface text sizes.
That's it. You now have a personalized Zed setup.
## Themes
Install themes from the Extensions page ({#action zed::Extensions}), then switch between them with the Theme Selector ({#kb theme_selector::Toggle}).
Zed supports separate themes for light and dark mode with automatic switching based on your system preference:
```json [settings]
{
"theme": {
"mode": "system",
"light": "One Light",
"dark": "One Dark"
}
}
```
You can also override specific theme attributes for fine-grained control.
→ [Themes documentation](./themes.md)
## Icon Themes
Customize file and folder icons in the Project Panel and tabs. Browse available icon themes with the Icon Theme Selector (`icon theme selector: toggle` in the command palette).
Like color themes, icon themes support separate light and dark variants:
```json [settings]
{
"icon_theme": {
"mode": "system",
"light": "Zed (Default)",
"dark": "Zed (Default)"
}
}
```
→ [Icon Themes documentation](./icon-themes.md)
## Fonts
Zed uses three font settings for different contexts:
| Setting | Used for |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------- |
| `buffer_font_family` | Editor text |
| `ui_font_family` | Interface elements |
| `terminal.font_family` | [Terminal](./terminal.md) |
Example configuration:
```json [settings]
{
"buffer_font_family": "JetBrains Mono",
"buffer_font_size": 14,
"ui_font_family": "Inter",
"ui_font_size": 16,
"terminal": {
"font_family": "JetBrains Mono",
"font_size": 14
}
}
```
### Font Ligatures
To disable font ligatures:
```json [settings]
{
"buffer_font_features": {
"calt": false
}
}
```
### Line Height
Adjust line spacing with `buffer_line_height`:
- `"comfortable"` — 1.618 ratio (default)
- `"standard"` — 1.3 ratio
- `{ "custom": 1.5 }` — Custom ratio
## UI Elements
Zed provides extensive control over UI elements including:
- **Tab bar** — Show/hide, navigation buttons, file icons, git status
- **Status bar** — Language selector, cursor position, line endings
- **Scrollbar** — Visibility, git diff indicators, search results
- **Minimap** — Code overview display
- **Gutter** — Line numbers, fold indicators, breakpoints
- **Panels** — Project Panel, Terminal, Agent Panel sizing and docking
→ [Visual Customization documentation](./visual-customization.md) for all UI element settings
## What's Next
- [All Settings](./reference/all-settings.md) — Complete settings reference
- [Key bindings](./key-bindings.md) — Customize keyboard shortcuts
- [Vim Mode](./vim.md) — Enable modal editing