zed-industries
agent: Show provider icon in model selectors
I often switch between models, and I believe many people do. Currently, it is difficult to determine which provider offers the selected model because the same models are available from different providers. I propose a simple change to the selector so that users can distinguish between providers from the model they have chosen.
As a side note, I would actually prefer to have a text label with the provider’s name next to the model name in the selector. However, I understand that this is too opinionated and takes up too much space.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
Release Notes:
- The model selector has been improved with a provider icon, making it easier to distinguish between providers.
Came across this article, The secret to minimalism is addition, and now the PR appears & smells somewhat different.
yes, finding the right amount of information is kinda tricky — both too much or too little increase the cognitive load. It's also a thing that is probably different according to each user's situation.
last week I enrolled in the Zed trial and then faced the situation where I could be using the same model by anthropic through my api key, by gitHub which I have one active subscription for, and by the zed trial: each of these providers with different constraints I should care for (tokens for my api key, request numbers by zed, and rate limiting by copilot - which leads to favorable models for different kinds of tasks: will my task involve many files in context or iteration? iterating fast or more thoughtfully? — and which provider am I even using right now?)
maybe the optimal solution here is to turn it into a config flag, since there are users who stick with one provider and others who handle different providers.
I like, for instance, the possibility to set tabs.file_icons and show_nav_history_buttons on/off: some users are keyboard centric, some value screen space, others visual cues, etc.
maybe the optimal solution here is to turn it into a config flag, since there are users who stick with one provider and others who handle different providers.
I like, for instance, the possibility to set tabs.file_icons and show_nav_history_buttons on/off: some users are keyboard centric, some value screen space, others visual cues, etc.
I thought about it as well, but I believe this information is essential, even for single-provider cases, and it should not be hidden UX-wise. It has to be persistent, I think. But I get your point about the icons, so I assume it is up to the Zed designers to decide the approach (icons vs text). Personally, I prefer displaying the provider name as text.
Agreed, showing the provider is helpful for managing multiple API quotas. Copilot premium request metering starts 6/4.
Forked and added default disabled settings: https://github.com/clauses3/zed/tree/show_model_provider_icon
Came across this article, The secret to minimalism is addition, and now the PR appears & smells somewhat different.
Maybe a possible iteration is to show the Provider (icon or name) when hovering
