Bex Desktop is a local code editor derived from Zed. Get the current artifacts from Download Bex Desktop, then follow the first-session walkthrough.
These instructions were checked against bex-v1.20.0-bex.4, source revision dafcb728f534061859bdc51978acc504d0c2b2d0. Opening and saving a local file was verified on Apple Silicon macOS. Windows and Linux instructions below are based on that release's packaging and source requirements; they are not a claim of hands-on validation on those platforms.
Choose your build
The download page enables only artifacts present in the validated release. Choose Apple Silicon or Intel on macOS, and ARM64 or x64 on Windows/Linux. On macOS, Apple menu → About This Mac identifies the chip; Windows Settings → System → About lists the system type. On Linux, uname -m reports x86_64 or aarch64.
This release keeps legacy artifact names: Zed-aarch64.dmg, Zed-x86_64.exe, and zed-linux-x86_64.tar.gz are examples. They come from bex-co/bex-desktop, not from Zed's release channel. The macOS image contains Bex.app and a compatibility Zed.app symlink. Install Bex.app once.
The release's SHA256SUMS file lets you compare a downloaded artifact's SHA-256 digest. On macOS use shasum -a 256 FILE; on Linux use sha256sum FILE; on Windows PowerShell use Get-FileHash FILE -Algorithm SHA256. Match the filename and digest against the same pinned release.
macOS
The inspected bundle declares macOS 10.15.7 or newer and uses Metal rendering. This is the bundle's minimum, not a certification that every inherited feature works on older systems.
- Download the DMG for your chip and open it.
- Drag Bex.app into Applications. If you already have Zed, quit it before launching Bex; see the shared-profile note below.
- Eject the disk image, then open Bex from Applications.
- Open a local folder and continue with the quickstart.
If macOS rejects the app, check the source and checksum and follow launch troubleshooting. Do not remove security attributes or disable platform protections as a routine installation step.
Windows
The pinned source lists 64-bit Windows 10 version 1903+ or Windows 11 version 22H2+, with a DirectX 11-capable GPU and a current hardware-vendor driver. See the requirements at the release revision.
Download the matching .exe from the Bex download page, run the installer, follow its destination prompts, and launch the installed editor. Some filenames and paths retain Zed naming in this release. Check About Bex before opening a project. The platform bex command is a separate tool and is not needed for local editing.
Linux
The release provides a .tar.gz for each architecture. The pinned Linux requirements call for system glibc 2.31+ on x86_64 or 2.35+ on aarch64. Rendering requires a Vulkan 1.3-capable driver. Desktop file chooser, OpenURI, and secret-service portals must be available; minimal containers are not equivalent to a desktop session.
Extract into a new directory you own, keeping the complete zed.app bundle together. For example, after downloading the x86_64 archive to your current directory:
mkdir -p bex-desktop-release
tar -xzf zed-linux-x86_64.tar.gz -C bex-desktop-release
./bex-desktop-release/zed.app/bin/zed --new .For ARM64, substitute the downloaded zed-linux-aarch64.tar.gz filename. The bundled launcher locates the adjacent editor and libraries; do not copy only the executable out of the archive. These steps use Bex's artifact directly. Zed's Homebrew, winget, and shell-install commands install a different distribution.
Profiles and coexistence with Zed
The pinned release still uses Zed's default configuration and data names:
| Platform | Settings directory | Data directory |
|---|---|---|
| macOS | ~/.config/zed | ~/Library/Application Support/Zed |
| Linux | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/zed or ~/.config/zed | $XDG_DATA_HOME/zed or ~/.local/share/zed |
| Windows | %APPDATA%\Zed | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Zed |
Back up an existing profile before adopting Bex. The bundled launcher supports --user-data-dir DIR; its settings then live in DIR/config. For a separate macOS profile, launch the installed app explicitly:
/Applications/Bex.app/Contents/MacOS/cli --user-data-dir "$HOME/.bex-desktop-profile" --new .A separate profile does not remove macOS's shared stable-channel single-instance check. Quit the other editor first. This limitation and the paths above come from the pinned path implementation and macOS instance check.
Updates and version checks
The release enables automatic update checks by default and points its server URL at https://bex.co. Bex → Check for Updates requests the stable feed. A downloaded update and a successful restart are separate steps; save your work before restarting. End-to-end upgrading to a newer release was not exercised during this guide's validation.
For a manual update, save and quit the editor, download the newer matching artifact from /download, and repeat the platform's installation steps while retaining your settings and project files. On Linux, extract into a new directory instead of mixing files from two versions.
Use About Bex and the release page to verify what you installed. The inspected macOS bundle has base version 1.20.0 and bundle revision 4; its bundled cli --version prints the base version and app path, so that output alone does not identify the -bex.4 revision. If an update check fails, use the recovery guide.