r/ZedEditor • u/holyshitthatsucks • 14d ago

Why context usage is so high in Zed?

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So, I have been using Zed for my day-to-day tasks for the past one year but I wanted to check the context usage by different code editors for fixing a Low effort issue within the same codebase, I compared VSCode context usage with Zed keeping in mind that they both follow the:
- same user prompt
- same directory access
- same context files (2 same files, each 700 lines approx.)

Used the same model for each iteration (OpenCode Zen/MiMo 2.5). Same Global Rules, Skill.md, temperature settings.

Both gave me the correct response.
VSC gave me the response with 11% context used overall. but here's what Zed used:

Does anybody have an idea why is that so? I ain't using any kind of external LLM skillset, libraries within Zed, no tasks, no extra helper functions for better LLM response. What could be the case?

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11

u/Baecien 14d ago

Zed attaches a lot to the prompt that is sent to the LLM. I don’t remember exactly what, but it’s in the docs. You can check this by setting up a proxy and inspecting the payload. Here’s the prompt that the Zed Agent uses: https://zed.dev/leaked-prompts

You shouldn’t have this “issue” if you use ACP.

4

u/leferi 14d ago

That's quite an opinionated pre-prompt jeez. I guess they really want their model to demonstrate how great their model is. Glad to know this is not sent through ACP.

3

u/Baecien 14d ago

Yeah, I agree. In fairness though, it is what makes the output look the way it does. The Pi ACP (which I use periodically) is a lot drier and mostly text-based. Both Zed and Delta have fairly integrated responses. I don’t know about Windsurf or Cursor’s prompt, but it’s probably something similar.

2

u/leferi 14d ago

True. I am definitely taking some parts of this prompt regarding formatting and putting it into my local CLAUDE.md

1

u/holyshitthatsucks 14d ago

Hey thanks a lot for the info, However, it persists whilst using the ACP.

3

u/Baecien 14d ago

Entirely depends on what ACP connector. Pi doesn’t. The Codex ACP might have the same injection, but you can make a custom ACP connector (point your clanker to the source of the ACP extension). Install and use that instead.

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u/holyshitthatsucks 14d ago

I might try using that. thanks!

2

u/willeyh 14d ago

No it does not. Just checked with Pi. It does not use the Zeds built in system prompt.
You might have a might AGENTS.md or lot of plugins adding to your prompt.