Zed prevent_idle_sleep for agent threads and Sume jobs_wait

Zed 1.21 keeps your machine awake while agent threads run. A sleeping laptop is not a cancelled Sume job: jobs keep billing, so resume with jobs_wait.

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Zed's agent.prevent_idle_sleep setting, on by default, stops idle system sleep while agent threads are running, which keeps a long Sume render from being interrupted by a sleeping laptop. Even so, a lost connection does not cancel a job: a Sume job that was already created keeps running and billing, and you read it with jobs_wait or by polling.

What Zed shipped

Zed items (read 2026-10-02)
ReleaseItem
1.21agent.prevent_idle_sleep on by default, prevents idle system sleep while agent threads run
1.22Subagent compaction and a spawn_agent model parameter

Why it matters for video work

A generation can take longer than a thread's attention span. Without the setting, a laptop could sleep while the model waits on jobs_wait, drop the connection, and leave the thread in an uncertain state. With it, the thread continues. It only prevents idle sleep; closing the lid or a network change still breaks the call.

Connecting Zed to Sume

Zed supports remote MCP servers. Add https://mcp.sume.com/mcp with a Sume API key header, or use OAuth with mcp:read and opt-in mcp:write. Write and paid tools require idempotency_key. Under read-only, they return insufficient_scope.

  • jobs_wait holds at most 55 seconds per call; the default is 50.
  • On wait_slice_expired call again with the same ids, never resubmit the create.
  • Batch up to 20 job_ids and use include_results: true.

Subagents and cost

With spawn_agent choosing a model, a subagent may call Sume too. Give each subagent a distinct idempotency_key namespace and a max_spend_usd, so parallel work cannot overspend. Remember that your plan sets concurrency: Free 1, Pro 4, Startup 8, Scale 20.

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