Discord rebuilds desktop app in Rust to cut memory use and speed up launch
The rewrite targets a leaner client, but Discord has not yet set a public release date.
Discord is rebuilding its desktop client on Rust in place of Electron, a change that would cut its memory footprint and launch time. Discord's CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy showed the new client running at about 290 MB of memory while active, compared with the 500 to 600 MB the current app often uses. He also said the client is opening far faster, with one laptop demo going from about six seconds on the old version to about one on the new. The company is using GPUI, a Rust UI framework, with its own patches rather than Tauri, and mobile will keep native interfaces while sharing app code with desktop through Rust. No public release date has been set, but Vishnevskiy said the aim is to put the build in front of testers soon.
Why it matters
For people who run Discord on their desktop, the change points to lighter memory use and quicker startup than the current Electron-based app, which the company's demos show using roughly 290 MB while active compared with 500 to 600 MB often seen today. Mobile apps will keep native interfaces while sharing app code with desktop through Rust. Until a testing build reaches users and a release date is announced, the scale of the gains in everyday use remains unconfirmed.
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