by VibecodedThis

Zed Now Lets You Use Your ChatGPT Subscription for AI Coding Sessions

Zed 1.2.4 adds a ChatGPT subscription provider so developers can sign in with a ChatGPT Plus or Pro account and use OpenAI models in the editor without per-token billing. Three patch releases shipped on May 15.

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Zed 1.2.4 shipped May 15 with a new way to authenticate with OpenAI: sign in with your ChatGPT account and use your existing subscription’s included usage rather than paying per token.

How it works

The setup is straightforward. Open the model selector in the agent panel, click Configure, and sign in under LLM Providers with your ChatGPT account. Once connected, Zed will route your AI requests through OpenAI’s models against your subscription tier’s included usage.

This works with ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscriptions. It also works via Zed’s ACP adapter, so JetBrains users with ACP support can use the same provider. You can still provide an API key directly if you prefer usage-based billing.

The 1.2.4 release also removed deprecated OpenAI model variants and added support for the gpt-5.4-nano and gpt-5.4-mini model names.

Two quick follow-ups

1.2.5, also May 15, fixed a bug where pressing New Thread (or Cmd-N) did nothing when the Agent Panel’s Settings view was open.

1.2.6 added support for specifying the effort level when using OpenAI models through the ChatGPT subscription provider. This brings parity with how effort level works when you provide an API key directly.

Context

The timing is deliberate. Zed’s Morgan Krey explicitly positioned the ChatGPT subscription integration against recent industry shifts: GitHub Copilot moves to AI Credits billing on June 1, and Anthropic is introducing separate Agent SDK billing later in June. Subscription-based access to capable models is getting less common as usage-based pricing spreads, and Zed is leaning into the contrast.

For developers who already pay for ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) or Pro ($200/month), this means their subscription now covers Zed sessions without adding another billing line. Whether that’s actually cheaper depends entirely on how much you use the agent panel, but the pricing simplicity argument is real.

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