Add MCP servers to Zed

Zed lists MCP servers under context_servers in its settings.json.

macOS

~/.config/zed/settings.json

Windows

%APPDATA%\Zed\settings.json

Linux

~/.config/zed/settings.json

Top-level key

context_servers

Format

json

OAuth for remote servers

●Yes

Example config

This example adds GitHub's hosted server and Playwright as a local server, in the shape this client expects.

{
  "context_servers": {
    "github": {
      "url": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/"
    },
    "playwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@playwright/mcp@latest"
      ],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Notes and quirks

• Remote entries take a url and optional headers. Without an Authorization header, Zed runs the standard MCP OAuth flow.
• Zed supports only the Tools and Prompts features of MCP.
• The settings file path comes from secondary sources; Zed's MCP page doesn't show it.
• settings.json holds your other Zed settings, so merge the block in rather than replacing the file.

Build a Zed config →

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