diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ze/zed-editor/0001-generate-licenses.patch b/pkgs/by-name/ze/zed-editor/0001-generate-licenses.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4d02d0931d40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ze/zed-editor/0001-generate-licenses.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+diff --git a/script/generate-licenses b/script/generate-licenses
+index 43b2f5c458..c740a3afa2 100755
+--- a/script/generate-licenses
++++ b/script/generate-licenses
+@@ -15,12 +15,6 @@ cat assets/icons/LICENSES >> $OUTPUT_FILE
+ 
+ echo -e "# ###### CODE LICENSES ######\n" >> $OUTPUT_FILE
+ 
+-if ! cargo install --list | grep "cargo-about v$CARGO_ABOUT_VERSION" > /dev/null; then
+-  echo "Installing cargo-about@$CARGO_ABOUT_VERSION..."
+-  cargo install "cargo-about@$CARGO_ABOUT_VERSION"
+-else
+-  echo "cargo-about@$CARGO_ABOUT_VERSION is already installed."
+-fi
+ 
+ echo "Generating cargo licenses"
+ cargo about generate --fail -c script/licenses/zed-licenses.toml script/licenses/template.hbs.md >> $OUTPUT_FILE
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ze/zed-editor/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ze/zed-editor/package.nix
index 4b61a77d22a7..f999227661c8 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ze/zed-editor/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ze/zed-editor/package.nix
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@
   vulkan-loader,
   envsubst,
   nix-update-script,
+  cargo-about,
+  testers,
+  zed-editor,
 
   withGLES ? false,
 }:
@@ -45,6 +48,12 @@ rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
     fetchSubmodules = true;
   };
 
+  patches = [
+    # Zed uses cargo-install to install cargo-about during the script execution.
+    # We provide cargo-about ourselves and can skip this step.
+    ./0001-generate-licenses.patch
+  ];
+
   cargoLock = {
     lockFile = ./Cargo.lock;
     outputHashes = {
@@ -73,6 +82,7 @@ rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
     pkg-config
     protobuf
     rustPlatform.bindgenHook
+    cargo-about
   ] ++ lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [ xcbuild.xcrun ];
 
   buildInputs =
@@ -128,11 +138,17 @@ rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
     # Setting this environment variable allows to disable auto-updates
     # https://zed.dev/docs/development/linux#notes-for-packaging-zed
     ZED_UPDATE_EXPLANATION = "zed has been installed using nix. Auto-updates have thus been disabled.";
+    # Used by `zed --version`
+    RELEASE_VERSION = version;
   };
 
   RUSTFLAGS = if withGLES then "--cfg gles" else "";
   gpu-lib = if withGLES then libglvnd else vulkan-loader;
 
+  preBuild = ''
+    bash script/generate-licenses
+  '';
+
   postFixup = lib.optionalString stdenv.isLinux ''
     patchelf --add-rpath ${gpu-lib}/lib $out/libexec/*
     patchelf --add-rpath ${wayland}/lib $out/libexec/*
@@ -175,11 +191,17 @@ rustPlatform.buildRustPackage rec {
     runHook postInstall
   '';
 
-  passthru.updateScript = nix-update-script {
-    extraArgs = [
-      "--version-regex"
-      "v(.*)"
-    ];
+  passthru = {
+    updateScript = nix-update-script {
+      extraArgs = [
+        "--version-regex"
+        "v(.*)"
+      ];
+    };
+    tests.version = testers.testVersion {
+      inherit version;
+      package = zed-editor;
+    };
   };
 
   meta = {