Use BiOS from Zed

High-performance editor with Agent Panel

Works today

Zed calls MCP servers context servers and runs them for its Agent Panel. You can add BiOS through the settings UI or directly in settings.json.

Before you start

You need a BiOS API key. In your dashboard, open API Keys, click Create API Key, pick a permission preset, and copy the sk_live_ key. It is shown only once.

Node.js 18 or newer must be installed; the server runs with npx, so there is nothing else to install.

Setup

1
Add the server to settings.json
Open your settings with the zed: open settings command and add:
settings.json
```
{
  "context_servers": {
    "usfbios": {
      "source": "custom",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@usfbios/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "USFBIOS_API_KEY": "sk_live_your_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}
```
On older Zed versions the shape differs slightly. If Zed rejects the config, use the Agent Panel settings UI instead; it always writes the right format.
2
Or use the Agent Panel UI
Open the Agent Panel settings and choose Add Custom Server. Enter usfbios as the name and npx -y @usfbios/mcp-server as the command, then add the USFBIOS_API_KEY environment variable.
3
Check the indicator
The server row in Agent Panel settings shows a green dot when the connection is up. Start a new agent thread and give it a BiOS task.

Check that it works

Agent Panel settings show usfbios with a green indicator.
In an agent thread, ask "List my BiOS training jobs" and confirm the tool call.

Try these prompts

“Search for Llama models under 13B parameters and recommend a GPU for LoRA fine-tuning”

“Upload ~/data/support-qa.jsonl and start an SFT job on Llama 3.1 8B with LoRA”

“What is the status of my running training jobs? Show the loss curve for the latest one”

“Deploy my finished fine-tune and give me the endpoint URL”

Your assistant has 38 BiOS tools in total. The tool reference documents each one.

Troubleshooting

The indicator stays red

Hover it for the error. Install Node 18+ if npx is missing, and confirm the JSON matches your Zed version (use the UI if unsure).

The server never starts, or logs show "npx: command not found"

The MCP server runs on Node.js. Install Node 18 or newer from nodejs.org, restart your client, and try again. Run npx -y @usfbios/mcp-server in a terminal to confirm it starts (it waits for input; press Ctrl+C to exit).

Tools appear but every call fails with an authentication error

Check that USFBIOS_API_KEY is set to a key that starts with sk_live_ and has not expired. Keys are shown only once at creation, so if in doubt create a fresh one under Dashboard, then API Keys.

A tool call fails with a permission error

Your key may be scoped too narrowly. Ask the assistant to call introspect_api_key to see exactly which scopes the key has, then create a key with the preset you need (Read Only, Training, or Full Access).