Zed | Spectron

Zed calls MCP servers context servers. Installing Spectron gives Zed's assistant persistent memory across sessions, so it can recall previous decisions and project context without you repeating them.

For integration rules your agent should follow (auth, scope, endpoints, common mistakes), see Agent guide (AGENTS.md). Zed reads a project AGENTS.md automatically.

Configure

Open Zed settings (cmd/ctrl ,), which edits ~/.config/zed/settings.json, and add Spectron under context_servers. Recent Zed versions connect to a remote server directly from a url:

{
  "context_servers": {
    "spectron": {
      "url": "https://<your-context-host>/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <your-api-key>",
        "X-Spectron-Context": "acme-prod"
      }
    }
  }
}

On SurrealDB Cloud, use your context host from Surrealist API keys (not a generic shared domain). Self-hosted: replace the URL with your Spectron server's base URL + /mcp.

Note

Zed runs stdio context servers as child processes. If your Zed version does not yet accept a remote url, bridge the HTTP endpoint through mcp-remote instead:

Verify the installation

Open the Agent panel (the assistant icon in the status bar)
Open the settings view and confirm spectron appears under context servers with a running indicator
Ask "What MCP tools do you have available?" Zed should report the Spectron tools

If the server does not start, check that settings.json is valid JSON and that the URL and API key are correct.

Usage examples

Store a project decision:

"Remember that we render Markdown with a custom pipeline and never pull in a heavyweight parser."

Zed calls memory_store with a suitable scope.

Recall context before a task:

"How do we handle Markdown rendering in this project?"

Zed calls memory_recall before answering.

Scope per project

Narrow reads and writes with the per-tool scope argument (slash paths, for example ["org/acme/project/editor"]). Register paths with spectron scopes create before first use. For project isolation, use separate contexts or distinct scope paths.

Removing Spectron

Delete the "spectron" entry from context_servers in ~/.config/zed/settings.json.