Use the development credentials provider in development by default (#25273)

This PR changes the default credentials provider used in developments
builds of Zed to the development credentials provider.

Previously this required setting `ZED_DEVELOPMENT_AUTH=1` in order to
opt-in to the development credentials provider.

This led to confusion for new Zed employees who did not know that this
environment variable existed.

If you do need to interact with the system keychain for some reason, you
can run Zed with:

```
ZED_DEVELOPMENT_USE_KEYCHAIN=1
```

`ZED_DEVELOPMENT_AUTH` is dead. Long live Zed development auth!

Release Notes:

- N/A

Cargo.lock

@@ -16697,7 +16697,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "command_palette_hooks",
  "component_preview",
  "copilot",
- "credentials_provider",
  "db",
  "diagnostics",
  "editor",

crates/credentials_provider/src/credentials_provider.rs

@@ -9,13 +9,17 @@ use futures::FutureExt as _;
 use gpui::{App, AsyncApp};
 use release_channel::ReleaseChannel;
 
-/// An environment variable whose presence indicates that the development auth
-/// provider should be used.
+/// An environment variable whose presence indicates that the system keychain
+/// should be used in development.
 ///
-/// Only works in development. Setting this environment variable in other release
-/// channels is a no-op.
-pub static ZED_DEVELOPMENT_AUTH: LazyLock<bool> = LazyLock::new(|| {
-    std::env::var("ZED_DEVELOPMENT_AUTH").map_or(false, |value| !value.is_empty())
+/// By default, running Zed in development uses the development credentials
+/// provider. Setting this environment variable allows you to interact with the
+/// system keychain (for instance, if you need to test something).
+///
+/// Only works in development. Setting this environment variable in other
+/// release channels is a no-op.
+static ZED_DEVELOPMENT_USE_KEYCHAIN: LazyLock<bool> = LazyLock::new(|| {
+    std::env::var("ZED_DEVELOPMENT_USE_KEYCHAIN").map_or(false, |value| !value.is_empty())
 });
 
 /// A provider for credentials.
@@ -57,13 +61,21 @@ impl dyn CredentialsProvider {
     }
 
     fn new(cx: &App) -> Arc<Self> {
-        let use_development_backend = match ReleaseChannel::try_global(cx) {
-            Some(ReleaseChannel::Dev) => *ZED_DEVELOPMENT_AUTH,
+        let use_development_provider = match ReleaseChannel::try_global(cx) {
+            Some(ReleaseChannel::Dev) => {
+                // In development we default to using the development
+                // credentials provider to avoid getting spammed by relentless
+                // keychain access prompts.
+                //
+                // However, if the `ZED_DEVELOPMENT_USE_KEYCHAIN` environment
+                // variable is set, we will use the actual keychain.
+                !*ZED_DEVELOPMENT_USE_KEYCHAIN
+            }
             Some(ReleaseChannel::Nightly | ReleaseChannel::Preview | ReleaseChannel::Stable)
             | None => false,
         };
 
-        if use_development_backend {
+        if use_development_provider {
             Arc::new(DevelopmentCredentialsProvider::new())
         } else {
             Arc::new(KeychainCredentialsProvider)

crates/zed/Cargo.toml

@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ command_palette.workspace = true
 command_palette_hooks.workspace = true
 component_preview.workspace = true
 copilot.workspace = true
-credentials_provider.workspace = true
 db.workspace = true
 diagnostics.workspace = true
 editor.workspace = true

crates/zed/src/main.rs

@@ -723,10 +723,10 @@ fn handle_open_request(request: OpenRequest, app_state: Arc<AppState>, cx: &mut
 
 async fn authenticate(client: Arc<Client>, cx: &AsyncApp) -> Result<()> {
     if stdout_is_a_pty() {
-        if *credentials_provider::ZED_DEVELOPMENT_AUTH {
-            client.authenticate_and_connect(true, cx).await?;
-        } else if client::IMPERSONATE_LOGIN.is_some() {
+        if client::IMPERSONATE_LOGIN.is_some() {
             client.authenticate_and_connect(false, cx).await?;
+        } else {
+            client.authenticate_and_connect(true, cx).await?
         }
     } else if client.has_credentials(cx).await {
         client.authenticate_and_connect(true, cx).await?;

docs/src/development.md

@@ -10,30 +10,33 @@ If you'd like to develop collaboration features, additionally see:
 
 - [Local Collaboration](./development/local-collaboration.md)
 
-## Authentication
+## Keychain access
 
-When developing Zed you will typically want to sign in to the production collab
-instance, unless you are specifically working on features that require running
-collab locally.
+Zed stores secrets in the system keychain.
 
-In order to bypass the keychain prompts that pop up when trying to sign in each
-time you run a development build of Zed, you can use the development auth
-provider.
+However, when running a development build of Zed on macOS (and perhaps other
+platforms) trying to access the keychain results in a lot of keychain prompts
+that require entering your password over and over.
 
-This will store your Zed access token in a local file on disk that can be read
-in development, bypassing the need to retrieve the credential from the system
-keychain.
+On macOS this is caused by the development build not having a stable identity.
+Even if you choose the "Always Allow" option, the OS will still prompt you for
+your password again the next time something changes in the binary.
 
-To enable the development auth provider, set this in your shell:
+This quickly becomes annoying and impedes development speed.
+
+That is why, by default, when running a development build of Zed an alternative
+credential provider is used in order to bypass the system keychain.
+
+> Note: This is **only** the case for development builds. For all non-development
+> release channels the system keychain is always used.
+
+If you need to test something out using the real system keychain in a
+development build, run Zed with the following environment variable set:
 
 ```
-ZED_DEVELOPMENT_AUTH=1
+ZED_DEVELOPMENT_USE_KEYCHAIN=1
 ```
 
-You may want to add this to your shell profile so you don't need to remember to enable it each time.
-
-> Note: This only works for development builds. It is a no-op in all non-development release channels.
-
 ## Contributor links
 
 - [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md)