diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index c638ebafa4bd9..fb14b1bb40593 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1009,6 +1009,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "smol",
  "tempfile",
  "util",
+ "which 6.0.3",
  "workspace",
 ]
 
diff --git a/crates/auto_update/Cargo.toml b/crates/auto_update/Cargo.toml
index 1e08c9a768b0d..d47a9f9ae072b 100644
--- a/crates/auto_update/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/auto_update/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,4 +32,5 @@ settings.workspace = true
 smol.workspace = true
 tempfile.workspace = true
 util.workspace = true
+which.workspace = true
 workspace.workspace = true
diff --git a/crates/auto_update/src/auto_update.rs b/crates/auto_update/src/auto_update.rs
index d501e6d93fdc1..fc4bef90a7ba9 100644
--- a/crates/auto_update/src/auto_update.rs
+++ b/crates/auto_update/src/auto_update.rs
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ use std::{
 };
 use update_notification::UpdateNotification;
 use util::ResultExt;
+use which::which;
 use workspace::notifications::NotificationId;
 use workspace::Workspace;
 
@@ -560,6 +561,12 @@ impl AutoUpdater {
             "linux" => Ok("zed.tar.gz"),
             _ => Err(anyhow!("not supported: {:?}", OS)),
         }?;
+
+        anyhow::ensure!(
+            which("rsync").is_ok(),
+            "Aborting. Could not find rsync which is required for auto-updates."
+        );
+
         let downloaded_asset = temp_dir.path().join(filename);
         download_release(&downloaded_asset, release, client, &cx).await?;