CLI Reference

Use Neo Zed's command-line interface (CLI) to open files and directories, integrate with other tools, and control Neo Zed from scripts.

Installation

macOS: Run the cli: install command from the command palette (cmd-shift-p|ctrl-shift-p) to install the neozed CLI to /usr/local/bin/neozed.

Linux: The CLI is included with Neo Zed packages. The binary name is neozed for official releases.

Windows: The CLI is included with Neo Zed. Add Neo Zed's installation directory to your PATH, or use the full path to neozed.exe.

Usage

neozed [OPTIONS] [PATHS]...

Opening Files and Directories

Open a file:

neozed myfile.txt

Open a directory as a workspace:

neozed ~/projects/myproject

Open multiple files or directories:

neozed file1.txt file2.txt ~/projects/myproject

Open a file at a specific line and column:

neozed myfile.txt:42        # Open at line 42
neozed myfile.txt:42:10     # Open at line 42, column 10

Options

-w, --wait

Wait for all opened files to be closed before the CLI exits. When opening a directory, waits until the window is closed.

This is useful for integrating Neo Zed with tools that expect an editor to block until editing is complete (e.g., git commit):

export EDITOR="neozed --wait"
git commit  # Opens Neo Zed and waits for you to close the commit message file

-n, --new

Open paths in a new workspace window, even if the paths are already open in an existing window:

neozed -n ~/projects/myproject

-a, --add

Add paths to the currently focused workspace instead of opening a new window. When multiple workspace windows are open, files open in the focused window:

neozed -a newfile.txt

-r, --reuse

Reuse an existing window, replacing its current workspace with the new paths:

neozed -r ~/projects/different-project

--diff <OLD_PATH> <NEW_PATH>

Open a diff view comparing two files. Can be specified multiple times:

neozed --diff file1.txt file2.txt
neozed --diff old.rs new.rs --diff old2.rs new2.rs

--foreground

Run Neo Zed in the foreground, keeping the terminal attached. Useful for debugging:

neozed --foreground

--user-data-dir <DIR>

Use a custom directory for all user data (database, extensions, logs) instead of the default location:

neozed --user-data-dir ~/.neozed-custom

Default locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Neo Zed
• Linux: $XDG_DATA_HOME/neozed (typically ~/.local/share/neozed)
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Neo Zed

-v, --version

Print Neo Zed's version and exit:

neozed --version

--uninstall

Uninstall Neo Zed and remove all related files (macOS and Linux only):

neozed --uninstall

--neozed <PATH>

Specify a custom path to the Neo Zed application or binary:

neozed --neozed /path/to/Neo\ Zed.app myfile.txt

The legacy --zed alias still works for compatibility.

Reading from Standard Input

Read content from stdin by passing - as the path:

echo "Hello, World!" | neozed -
cat myfile.txt | neozed -
ps aux | neozed -

This creates a temporary file with the stdin content and opens it in Neo Zed.

URL Handling

The CLI can open neozed://, http://, and https:// URLs:

neozed neozed://settings
neozed https://github.com/Nkr1shna/neo-zed

Using Neo Zed as Your Default Editor

Set Neo Zed as your default editor for Git and other tools:

export EDITOR="neozed --wait"
export VISUAL="neozed --wait"

Add these lines to your shell configuration file (e.g., ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc).

macOS: Switching Release Channels

On macOS, you can launch a specific release channel by passing the channel name as the first argument:

neozed --stable myfile.txt
neozed --preview myfile.txt
neozed --nightly myfile.txt

WSL Integration (Windows)

On Windows, the CLI supports opening paths from WSL distributions. This is handled automatically when launching Neo Zed from within WSL.

Exit Codes

When using --wait, the exit code reflects whether the files were saved before closing.