Incompatible version of node installed in a project within workspace may cause ACP agents to fail launch #45241
Description
Reproduction steps
- (I am managing multiple node installs with asdf)
- Open a project in Zed that recognizes global node v24.3.0
- add a folder to the workspace with a local install of node v10.24.1
- Launch an ACP session (tested with Claude and Gemini)
- 'Internal error: "server shut down unexpectedly"' in the chat window.
Current vs. Expected behavior
When opening a directory that uses the current node installation, the ACP window functions as expected. When opening the directory that forces the use of the outdated node, the ACP chat fails as expected (Internal error: "server shut down unexpectedly". When both of these projects are in the same workspace, some internal mechanism is causing the ACP to select the project path with the older, broken node installation. I have tested by changing the alphabetization order in the parent directory structure of the projects and changing the order I add the projects to the workspace. Neither seems to have made a difference.
Zed version and system specs
Zed: v0.218.2+preview.103.d00da08950b357874097cf3d7c8bb86c62bb93cf (Zed Preview)
OS: macOS 26.1
Memory: 24 GiB
Architecture: aarch64
Attach Zed log file
Zed.log
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: /Users/user_dir/Library/Application Support/Zed/external_agents/claude-code-acp/0.12.6/node_modules/@zed-industries/claude-code-acp/dist/index.js:3
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: import { loadManagedSettings, applyEnvironmentSettings } from "./utils.js";
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: ^
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr:
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: SyntaxError: Unexpected token {
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:723:23)
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:789:10)
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:653:32)
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:593:12)
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:585:3)
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:831:12)
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: at startup (internal/bootstrap/node.js:283:19)
2025-12-18T12:37:34+00:00 WARN [agent_servers::acp] agent stderr: at bootstrapNodeJSCore (internal/bootstrap/node.js:623:3)
Relevant Zed settings
settings.json
I'm not using anything esoteric in the settings addressing the ACP.
Relevant Keymap
keymap.json
(for AI issues) Model provider details
- Provider: Anthropic, Google
- Sonnet 4.5, Gemini whatever
- ACP
If you are using WSL on Windows, what flavor of Linux are you using?
None