Zed - CodeAlive

Overview

Zed supports remote MCP servers directly. Connect the Zed Agent to CodeAlive over HTTP to search indexed repositories and retrieve code context without running a local MCP process.

Older CodeAlive instructions used Docker because Zed previously supported only local STDIO servers. Current Zed releases support remote servers with a URL and custom HTTP headers.

Prerequisites

A current version of Zed
A CodeAlive account and API key
At least one indexed repository or workspace in CodeAlive
An LLM configured for the Zed Agent

Remote MCP Setup

Open MCP settings

Open Settings → AI → MCP Servers, click Add Server, and choose Add Remote Server.You can also run agent: open settings, select MCP Servers, or run zed: open settings file to edit the JSON directly.

Add CodeAlive

Add CodeAlive under context_servers in your user settings.json:

{
  "context_servers": {
    "codealive": {
      "url": "https://mcp.codealive.ai/api",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with your CodeAlive API key. Zed’s remote MCP format does not require a type field.

Verify the connection

Return to Settings → AI → MCP Servers and find codealive. A green indicator with the tooltip Server is active confirms that Zed loaded the server and discovered its tools.

Zed stores custom remote MCP headers in settings.json. Use the user settings file and do not commit an API key in project-level .zed/settings.json.

Docker Alternative

If direct remote HTTP access is unavailable on your network, run CodeAlive through Docker using Zed’s local MCP format:

{
  "context_servers": {
    "codealive": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "--rm", "-i",
        "-e", "CODEALIVE_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
        "ghcr.io/codealive-ai/codealive-mcp:main"
      ],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Docker must be installed and running before Zed starts this server.

Tool Permissions

Zed asks for confirmation before tool calls by default. Review each CodeAlive tool call before approving it. If you customize Zed’s permissions, MCP tool keys use this format:

mcp:codealive:<tool_name>

For example, mcp:codealive:semantic_search identifies the CodeAlive semantic search tool.

Try It

Ask the Zed Agent:

“Use CodeAlive to show me all available repositories”
“Use CodeAlive semantic search to find the authentication flow”
“Find callers of this service and fetch the relevant implementations”

Mentioning CodeAlive by name helps the model select its MCP tools. For consistent routing, add instructions telling the agent to prefer semantic_search and grep_search for indexed-code exploration.

Troubleshooting

The server is not active

Check that codealive is inside the top-level context_servers object
Confirm that the URL is https://mcp.codealive.ai/api
Validate the JSON syntax and reopen Settings → AI → MCP Servers
Update Zed if Add Remote Server is not available

Authentication fails

Confirm that the API key is active in the CodeAlive dashboard
Ensure the Authorization value begins with Bearer
Check that the API key contains no surrounding spaces or copied quotation marks

The agent does not call CodeAlive tools

Confirm that the server indicator is green
Mention CodeAlive explicitly in the prompt
Check that tool permissions do not deny mcp:codealive:*
Add CodeAlive routing guidance to your project or global agent instructions

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Remote MCP Setup

​Docker Alternative

​Tool Permissions

​Try It

​Troubleshooting

​Related Resources

Overview

Prerequisites

Remote MCP Setup

Docker Alternative

Tool Permissions

Try It

Troubleshooting

Related Resources