# Life of a Zed Extension: Rust, WIT, Wasm

DevFeed: [Life of a Zed Extension: Rust, WIT, Wasm](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/life-of-a-zed-extension-rust-wit-wasm-13573.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://zed.dev/blog/zed-decoded-extensions>)

Author: Thorsten Ball, Max Brunsfeld, Marshall Bowers

Published: 2024-10-21T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Zed Industries - Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/zed-industries-blog.md>)

Topics: [Extension](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/extension.md>), [wasm](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/wasm.md>), [Rust](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/rust.md>), [Tree-sitter](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/tree-sitter.md>), [Bevy](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/bevy.md>)

Tags: [extension](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/extension.md>), [rust](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/rust.md>), [wasm](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/wasm.md>), [webassembly](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/webassembly.md>)

## AI overview

This Zed Decoded article explains how Zed extensions work, including how they are written in Rust, compiled, run as WebAssembly modules, and integrated with Tree-sitter and language servers. It follows the installation and execution flow using the zed-metals extension as an example.

## Source excerpt

In this episode of Zed Decoded, Thorsten talks to Max and Marshall, who have built Zed's extension system, asking them to explain to him: what happens when I install an extension? How does it all work?