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Discord is killing its Electron app that can eat 4GB of RAM on Windows 11, and the Rust rebuild uses just 290MB
Windows Latest • • general
Key Points:
- Discord is rebuilding its desktop client using Rust and will replace Electron with GPUI for the interface, aiming to significantly reduce resource usage and improve performance.
- The new client, named "Discord Phoenix," has been showcased running on Windows 11 using just 290.2MB of RAM, a major improvement over the current Electron-based app which can consume several gigabytes of RAM.
- Discord's current Electron app is known for high memory consumption, often using 1–2GB of RAM when idle and sometimes exceeding 4GB, prompting the company to test automatic restarts to manage memory usage.
- Co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy confirmed that the transition to Rust will eliminate Electron and React Native for desktop, while mobile apps will retain native UI but share code via Rust.
- The new client will also remove the "Starting" loading screen since it no longer needs to load Electron libraries, potentially leading to faster startup times.
