Agentastic vs Zed for multi-agent coding
Zed is a fast Rust-based editor with collaboration, Agent Panel threads, and AI-assisted editing. Agentastic is the workspace around your editor: launch many CLI agents, isolate their worktrees, watch their terminals and browsers, then review the diffs before anything lands. They are complementary — many Agentastic users run Zed as their editor inside Agentastic worktrees.
The practical Zed + Agentastic workflow
Keep Zed for fast editing, then use Agentastic when the work splits into multiple agent tasks that need isolation, review, and merge discipline.
- Open every Agentastic worktree in Zed when you want Zed speed and keybindings.
- Run Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, OpenHands, Junie, and other CLI agents in parallel outside the editor session.
- Review each agent diff and run code review before merging the best result.
Who should choose each option
Agentastic
Choose Agentastic if you want a macOS control layer for many CLI agents, worktrees, terminals, browsers, and review passes.
Zed
Choose Zed if you primarily want a fast editor with collaboration, Agent Panel workflows, and in-editor AI assistance.
Feature comparison
| Agentastic | Zed | |
|---|---|---|
| Form factor | Native macOS workspace (Swift) | Native cross-platform editor (Rust) |
| Editor | Bring your own (Zed, VS Code, Cursor, Xcode) | Zed is the editor |
| Parallel agents | Yes — 30+ CLI agents, each in an isolated worktree | Agent Panel threads and editor-linked worktrees |
| CLI agent orchestration | Built for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, OpenHands, Junie, and more | Editor-native AI workflow |
| Real-time collaboration | No (multi-agent, not multi-human) | Yes — channels, shared projects |
| Built-in diff + code review | Yes — compare agent output and run Claude / Codex / CodeRabbit review | Editor diff workflow |
| Bundle size | ~25 MB | ~150 MB |
Pricing
Agentastic
Free. BYO agent subscriptions.
Zed
Free. Zed AI is a paid add-on.
Using them together
Set Zed as your default editor in Agentastic settings and every worktree opens in Zed by default. You get Zed's editor speed with Agentastic's parallel-agent control layer: terminals, browser sessions, branches, diffs, code review, and handoff.
Frequently asked questions
Should I use Zed or Agentastic for multi-agent coding?
Use Zed when the main job is editing code quickly with in-editor AI help. Use Agentastic when you want several CLI agents working at once in separate worktrees, with a review surface before you merge. Many users keep both.
Does Agentastic work with Zed worktrees?
Yes. Agentastic creates and manages git worktrees, then can open any of them in Zed, VS Code, Cursor, Xcode, JetBrains IDEs, or your terminal of choice.
How is Agentastic different from Zed parallel agents?
Zed keeps the agent workflow close to the editor. Agentastic is an app-level coordinator for external CLI agents: it tracks worktrees, terminals, browsers, diffs, code reviews, and handoff across many simultaneous runs.
What about Zed vs Conductor?
Zed is the editor. Conductor focuses on agent sessions. Agentastic sits between those shapes: a native macOS workspace for running many agent worktrees, opening them in Zed when you want to edit, and reviewing each resulting diff.
See also
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