# Objective
Microsoft has decoupled the MSVC version from the Visual Studio version
starting with Visual Studio 2026 (see [this
blog](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/new-release-cadence-and-support-lifecycle-for-msvc-build-tools/)),
meaning that the previous traditional naming conventions were obsolete.
For Visual Studio 2026 (including future newer versions of VS) users,
the existing docs will probably confuse them, as they cannot find out
the components named like "MSVC v145 - VS 2026 C++ ..." in present
Visual Studio Installer.
## Solution
Add a note next to the dependencies.
## Testing
Docs are no need to test. (Maybe?)
## Self-Review Checklist:
- [x] I've reviewed my own diff for quality, security, and reliability
- [x] Unsafe blocks (if any) have justifying comments
- [x] The content adheres to Zed's UI standards
([UX/UI](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#uiux-checklist)
and
[icon](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/main/crates/icons/README.md)
guidelines)
- [x] Tests cover the new/changed behavior
- [x] Performance impact has been considered and is acceptable
Release Notes:
- N/A
## Screenshot testing
Adds visual testing infrastructure for GPUI that captures screenshots by
rendering directly to Metal textures. The
The screenshots end up in `target/visual_tests/` and look like this:
<img width="2560" height="1600" alt="workspace_with_editor2"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/54112343-4af1-4347-9bab-f099de97dd29"
/>
<img width="2560" height="1600" alt="project_panel2"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0cd54b61-dace-4398-a28e-0b4d7c2968f6"
/>
### Key Features
- **Direct texture capture**: Screenshots are captured by rendering the
scene to a Metal texture and reading pixels directly from GPU memory,
rather than using ScreenCaptureKit
- **No visibility requirements**: Windows don't need to be visible on
screen since we read directly from the render pipeline
- **Deterministic output**: Captures exactly what GPUI renders, not what
the OS compositor displays
- **No permissions needed**: Doesn't require Screen Recording permission
like ScreenCaptureKit would
### Running the Visual Tests
```bash
# Run visual tests (compares against baselines)
cargo run -p zed --bin visual_test_runner --features visual-tests
# Update baseline images (when UI intentionally changes)
UPDATE_BASELINE=1 cargo run -p zed --bin visual_test_runner --features visual-tests
# View the captured screenshots
open target/visual_tests/
```
### Implementation
- `Window::render_to_image()` - Renders the current scene to a texture
and returns an `RgbaImage`
- `MetalRenderer::render_to_image()` - Core implementation that renders
to a non-framebuffer-only texture
- `VisualTestAppContext` - Test context that uses real macOS platform
rendering
- `VisualTestAppContext::capture_screenshot()` - Synchronous screenshot
capture using direct texture rendering
### Usage
```rust
let mut cx = VisualTestAppContext::new();
let window = cx.open_window(...)?;
let screenshot: RgbaImage = cx.capture_screenshot(window.into())?;
```
Release Notes:
- N/A
---------
Co-authored-by: Amp <amp@ampcode.com>
- we are about to drop Zed for MINGW64 because `crash-handler` uses a
symbol which is not presented in `msvcrt.dll`
- mention MSYS2 docs page and CLANGARM64 environment
Release Notes:
- N/A
Simplify docs for mac/linux/windows by consolidating the backend
dependencies (collaboration) docs into local-collaboration.md. Most
users building zed will not need to do this -- streamline them into
getting setup to build the zed client app first.
Release Notes:
- N/A
Edit:
This PR adds docs for a slimmer build tools only installation for
compiling Zed on Windows.
The disk space required is 7 GB for the builds tools vs 8GB with the
editor.
<details>
<summary>Old description</summary>
Fixes the incorrect Visual Studio configuration faced by many people.
#29899#29901
I have added the required workload in Visual Studio.
Can someone please confirm the minimum config required to compile on
Windows?
c8f56e38b1/docs/src/development/windows.md (L20-L32)
After installing the Desktop C++ build tools as [outlined in the rustup
website](https://rust-lang.github.io/rustup/installation/windows-msvc.html#walkthrough-installing-visual-studio-2022),
I have this config now:
```json
{
"version": "1.0",
"components": [
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.CoreEditor",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.CoreEditor",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Roslyn.Compiler",
"Microsoft.Component.MSBuild",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TextTemplating",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CoreIde",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.x86.x64",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.26100",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Redist.14.Latest",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Core",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.WebToolsExtensions.CMake",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CMake.Project",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ASAN",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop",
"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Runtimes.x86.x64.Spectre"
],
"extensions": []
}
```
</details>
Release Notes:
- N/A
According to #23223, manually setting `RUSTFLAGS` env var overrides
settings in `.cargo/config.toml`. Since users possibly may set their own
`RUSTFLAGS` when building, this creates an avenue where builds may fail
for really strange reasons that are difficult to debug.
This PR adds notes to the troubleshooting section to avoid setting
`RUSTFLAGS`, and offers alternatives which do not conflict.
This problem most recently affected nightly CI builders since we had
been setting `RUSTFLAGS` in our workflows to enable custom things like
gles or compiling with a specific target cpu. PR #23117 caused builds to
fail unless they were compiled with `-C target-feature=+crt-static`,
which due to this issue the `RUSTFLAGS` env var we set overrode the
`config.toml` compile flags, causing our builds to fail.
Release Notes:
- N/A
I’ve also updated the documentation in
`development\local-collaboration.md` and
`docs\src\development\windows.md`.
Testing collab on my Windows machine:
Release Notes:
- N/A
---------
Co-authored-by: Marshall Bowers <elliott.codes@gmail.com>
Some changes just so the build docs for the different os matches each
other :)
macos:
- moved `rust wasm toolchain install` up under `rust install` (match
windows docs)
- add instructions to update rust if already installed (match windows
and linux docs)
windows:
- add `(required by a dependency)` to cmake install (match macos docs)
Release Notes:
- N/A
Currently, building on Windows may fail for people who have not enabled
long filepaths on Windows itself.
This PR adds the solution to the troubleshooting section in the
`Building Zed for Windows` guide.
For an example failure error message:
```rs
error: failed to get `pet` as a dependency of package `languages v0.1.0 (D:\a\zed-windows-builds\zed-windows-builds\crates\languages)`
Caused by:
failed to load source for dependency `pet`
Caused by:
Unable to update https://github.com/microsoft/python-environment-tools.git?rev=ffcbf3f28c46633abd5448a52b1f396c322e0d6c#ffcbf3f2
Caused by:
path too long: 'C:/Users/runneradmin/.cargo/git/checkouts/python-environment-tools-903993894b37a7d2/ffcbf3f/crates/pet-conda/tests/unix/conda_env_without_manager_but_found_in_history/some_other_location/conda_install/conda-meta/python-fastjsonschema-2.16.2-py310hca03da5_0.json'; class=Filesystem (30)
```
Release Notes:
- N/A
Closes#18393
Release Notes:
- Added a `ZED_RC_TOOLKIT_PATH` env variable so `winresource` crate can fetch the RC executable path correctly on some configurations
Release Notes:
- N/A
## Description
When using rust-lld it's possible to get a `STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION`
error at compile time. I added a bit of information about it in the
build guide for windows to recommend using a different linker when
building `zed`.
---------
Co-authored-by: Marshall Bowers <elliott.codes@gmail.com>
This PR removes the references to initializing Git submodules as part of
building Zed.
These are no longer needed, as our only submodule was removed in #11672.
Release Notes:
- N/A
