zed/docs/src/project-panel.md

title	description
Project Panel - Zed	Navigate workspace files and directories with Zed's project panel. Create, rename, trash and delete files and directories.

Project Panel

The project panel shows a tree view of your workspace's files and directories. Toggle it with {#action project_panel::ToggleFocus} ({#kb project_panel::ToggleFocus}), or click the Project Panel button in the status bar.

Navigating

Use the arrow keys to move through entries. {#kb project_panel::ExpandSelectedEntry} expands a directory and {#kb project_panel::CollapseSelectedEntry} collapses it. {#kb project_panel::CollapseAllEntries} collapses every directory at once. {#kb project_panel::ExpandAllEntries} expands every directory at once. Press {#kb project_panel::Open} or click to preview a selected file, without giving it a permanent tab. Editing the file or double-clicking it promotes it to a permanent tab. Middle-clicking a file skips the preview and opens it in a permanent, focused tab right away.

Auto-reveal

By default, switching to a file in the editor will automatically highlight it in the project panel and scroll it into view. This can be disabled with the project_panel.auto_reveal_entries setting.

Sticky Scroll

When project_panel.sticky_scroll is enabled (the default), ancestor directories pin themselves to the top of the panel as you scroll, so you always know which directory you're on.

Directory Folding

When project_panel.auto_fold_dirs is enabled (the default), chains of directories that each contain a single child directory are collapsed into one row (for example, src/utils/helpers instead of three separate levels). Right-click a folded directory and choose Unfold Directory to expand the chain, or Fold Directory to collapse it again.

Selecting Multiple Entries

Hold shift while pressing the up/down arrow keys to mark additional entries. Most file operations, like cut, copy, trash, delete and drag, apply to the full set of marked entries.

When exactly two files are marked, {#action project_panel::CompareMarkedFiles} ({#kb project_panel::CompareMarkedFiles}) opens a diff view comparing them.

File Operations

Right-click an entry to see the full list of available operations, or use the keybindings below.

Creating Files and Directories

• {#action project_panel::NewFile} ({#kb project_panel::NewFile}) creates a new file inside the selected directory.
• {#action project_panel::NewDirectory} ({#kb project_panel::NewDirectory}) creates a new directory.

An inline editor appears so you can type the name. Press enter to confirm or escape to cancel.

Renaming

Press {#kb project_panel::Rename} to rename the selected entry. The filename stem is pre-selected so you can type a new name without accidentally changing the extension. Press enter to confirm or escape to cancel.

Cut, Copy, and Paste

• {#action project_panel::Cut} ({#kb project_panel::Cut}) marks entries for moving.
• {#action project_panel::Copy} ({#kb project_panel::Copy}) marks entries for copying.
• {#action project_panel::Paste} ({#kb project_panel::Paste}) places them in the selected directory.

When pasting would create a name conflict, Zed appends a "copy" suffix (e.g., file copy.txt, file copy 2.txt). If a single file is pasted with a generated suffix, the rename editor opens automatically so you can adjust the name.

Duplicate

{#action project_panel::Duplicate} ({#kb project_panel::Duplicate}) copies and pastes the selected entries in one step.

Trash and Delete

• {#action project_panel::Trash} ({#kb project_panel::Trash}) moves entries to the system trash.
• {#action project_panel::Delete} ({#kb project_panel::Delete}) permanently deletes entries.

Both actions show a confirmation prompt listing the affected files. If any of the files have unsaved changes, the prompt warns you.

Drag and Drop

Drag entries within the panel to move them. Hold alt while dropping to copy instead of move. You can also drag files from your operating system's file manager into the project panel to copy them into the project. Drag and drop can be disabled with the project_panel.drag_and_drop setting.

Git Integration

When project_panel.git_status is enabled (the default), file and directory names are tinted to reflect their git status—modified, added, deleted, untracked, or conflicting.

Setting project_panel.git_status_indicator to true (disabled by default) adds a letter badge next to each name: M (modified), A (added), D (deleted), U (untracked) or ! (conflict).

Use {#action project_panel::SelectNextGitEntry} and {#action project_panel::SelectPrevGitEntry} to jump between tracked files with uncommitted changes. The right-click menu also offers Restore File to discard changes and View File History to browse a file's commit log.

Diagnostics

The project_panel.show_diagnostics setting controls whether error and warning indicators appear on file and folder icons. Set it to "all" to see both errors and warnings, "errors" for errors only, or "off" to hide them. Diagnostics propagate upward—if a file deep in a directory has an error, its ancestor folders show an indicator too.

Enable project_panel.diagnostic_badges (disabled by default) to display numeric error and warning counts next to each entry. Use {#action project_panel::SelectNextDiagnostic} and {#action project_panel::SelectPrevDiagnostic} to navigate between files that have diagnostics.

See also Diagnostics & Quick Fixes for editor and tab diagnostic settings.

Filtering and Sorting

Hiding Files

• project_panel.hide_gitignore hides files matched by .gitignore. Toggle this with {#action project_panel::ToggleHideGitIgnore}.
• project_panel.hide_hidden hides dotfiles and other hidden entries. Toggle with {#action project_panel::ToggleHideHidden}.

Sorting

The project_panel.sort_mode setting controls grouping:

• "directories_first" (default) — directories appear before files at each level.
• "files_first" — files appear before directories.
• "mixed" — directories and files are sorted together.

The project_panel.sort_order setting controls name comparison:

• "default" — case-insensitive natural sort (file2 before file10).
• "upper" — uppercase names grouped first, then lowercase.
• "lower" — lowercase names grouped first, then uppercase.
• "unicode" — raw Unicode codepoint order with no case folding.

Other Actions

• {#action project_panel::RevealInFileManager} ({#kb project_panel::RevealInFileManager}) reveals the selected entry in Finder / File Explorer.
• {#action project_panel::NewSearchInDirectory} ({#kb project_panel::NewSearchInDirectory}) opens a project search scoped to the selected directory.
• {#action project_panel::RemoveFromProject} removes a workspace root folder from the project.

Undo and Redo

The Project Panel keeps a history of the file operations you perform through it, letting you undo ({#action project_panel::Undo} / {#kb project_panel::Undo}) and redo ({#action project_panel::Redo} / {#kb project_panel::Redo}) these operations, with support for local and remote projects.

The following operations are tracked:

• {#action project_panel::NewFile}
• {#action project_panel::NewDirectory}
• {#action project_panel::Rename}
• {#action project_panel::Trash}
• {#action project_panel::Paste}
• {#action project_panel::Duplicate}

Besides these actions, moving items within the panel using drag and drop, as well as dragging files into the panel from outside Zed, are also tracked.

Undoing a move or rename (for example {#action project_panel::Rename}, a {#action project_panel::Cut} followed by paste, or a drag within the panel) returns the item to its original name or location.

Undoing an operation that creates a file or directory (for example {#action project_panel::NewFile}, {#action project_panel::NewDirectory}, {#action project_panel::Duplicate}, a {#action project_panel::Copy} followed by paste, or a drag from outside Zed) moves the new item to your system trash rather than deleting it. This keeps it recoverable and lets redo restore it, but it also means you may notice these items appear in your trash.

When you batch several of these together, for example, selecting multiple files and moving them to another folder, the whole batch is undone or redone as a single step, and a failure in one of the operations does not block the rest.

Limitations

• Undo and redo are not available when collaborating in a project shared by someone else. The same applies to {#action project_panel::Trash}, so when working as a guest in a shared project, files can only be permanently deleted, and file operations cannot be undone.
• Operations whose result is a path excluded from the project via the file_scan_exclusions setting are not recorded. For example, with **/*.secret excluded, creating a file named token.secret, or renaming an existing file to token.secret, succeeds on disk, but the operation cannot be undone from the panel.
• Permanently deleting an item ({#action project_panel::Delete}) is not tracked and cannot be undone.
• Undoing a {#action project_panel::Trash} restores the item from your system's trash. If you empty the trash, the item can no longer be restored.
• Undo and redo act on the current state of the filesystem. If something changed outside Zed, for example, a conflicting file now exists at the destination, or the item was moved or deleted by another program, the operation may no longer be undoable, and Zed will show a notification accordingly.
• On remote hosts without system trash support, {#action project_panel::Trash} will fail when used, along with anything that relies on it, such as undoing a trash or undoing an operation that creates a file or directory. At the time of writing, Zed does not reliably detect trash support ahead of time, so the action is always available but may report an error.
• The undo history is not persisted across sessions, so quitting Zed clears it.