zed-fuzzel-filepicker

A recursive fuzzy file picker for Zed editor using Fuzzel, inspired by Emacs' dired navigation.

What it does

Browse and open files with fuzzy search and recursive directory navigation Press the keybind and fuzzy-search files, and open them directly in Zed from within Zed.

Why

When I started trying out Zed the first thing I missed was dired's file picker, this tries to close that gap bringing it to Zed.

Demo

Requirements

• Zed editor with zeditor CLI tool
• Fuzzel (or rofi/dmenu — see adapting section)
• fd (faster alternative to find)
• Any Unix-like system

Installation

1. Install dependencies

# Arch
sudo pacman -S fuzzel fd zed

# Debian (zed via official install)
sudo apt install fuzzel fd-find

2. Set up the script

# Copy script to your local bin
cp fuzzel-file-picker ~/.local/bin/
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/fuzzel-file-picker

3. Configure Zed

Add to your tasks.json (~/.config/zed/tasks.json):

[
  {
    "label": "file-picker",
    "command": "~/.local/bin/fuzzel-file-picker \"${ZED_DIRNAME:-$ZED_WORKTREE_ROOT}\" > /dev/null 2>&1",
    "use_new_terminal": false,
    "reveal": "never",
    "hide": "always",
    "show_summary": false,
    "show_command": false
  }
]

Add to your keymap.json (~/.config/zed/keymap.json):

{
  "bindings": {
    "space .": ["task::Spawn", { "task_name": "file-picker" }]
  }
}

(Change space . to whatever keybind you prefer)

Usage

1. Open Zed in your project
2. Press Space + . (or your keybind)
3. Navigate:
   • Type to fuzzy-search files/directories
   • Select .. to go up a directory
   • Select a directory to dive deeper
   • Select a file to open it in Zed
   • You can create new files too
4. Esc to cancel at any point

How it works

• Uses fd to list files/directories
• Fuzzel does the fuzzy-search interface
• Recursively navigates directories until you select\create a file
• Opens selected file via zeditor CLI

Use a different launcher

I guess you can replace fuzzel --dmenu with:

• rofi: rofi -dmenu -p
• dmenu: dmenu -p
• fzf: fzf --prompt But I haven't tried it yet.

Integration from Zed

This pattern works for integrating any external tool with Zed via tasks:

1. Write a script that outputs to stdout/stderr
2. Add task to tasks.json with output redirected
3. Bind task to keybind in keymap.json

This is really cool as let's Zed be easily extensive!

Troubleshooting

"zeditor: command not found"

• Install Zed's CLI: Open Zed → Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P → "Install CLI"

"fd: command not found"

• In some systems fd is called diferent, you'll need to adapt the script to yours.

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Questions / bugs? Want to adapt this?

Open an issue or PR. Hack it however you want! Using this task integration pattern for other tools? I'd love to see what you build! Drop a link in the issues or tag this repo. Building a collection of Zed integrations would be amazing.