News350 comments in the community
Discord is ditching Electron and its new app uses less RAM
Tech | The Verge · By Tom Warren ·
Discord is finally giving up on Electron, the cross-platform framework that lets developers build desktop apps using web technologies. Electron web apps are notoriously heavy on system resources, and Discord is now moving its desktop app fully to Rust - a modern programming…
The Brief
- Discord is moving its desktop app fully from Electron to Rust, according to The Verge (2026-11-05).
- The Verge says Electron apps are notoriously heavy on system resources, and the new Rust app is reported to use less RAM.
- The announcement drew 277 comments on Hacker News, with debate about AI-assisted rewrites and the new GUI stack.
Why it matters
Discord is a large desktop app, and its move away from Electron shows that memory use and native performance are becoming a deciding factor in desktop framework choices.
Who’s affected
- Discord desktop app users
- Teams maintaining Electron-based desktop apps
- Developers considering Rust for cross-platform desktop apps
- #discord
- #electron
- #rust
- #desktop
- #performance
- #memory-usage
What developers are saying
Based on 350 comments · Mixed reactions
Commenters welcome the lower RAM use and the end of heavy Electron apps, with several calling it overdue. Many are skeptical of the rewrite, questioning whether AI-generated Rust code can be maintained, whether the new GUI framework supports accessibility and CJK/IME input, and whether mods like Vencord will keep working.
- Relief over lower RAM use25%
- Electron's memory bloat criticized20%
- Concerns about AI-written rewrite20%
- Accessibility and rendering questions15%
- Mods and client customization worries10%
In favour
- + Lower RAM use and faster startup than an Electron app
- + Rust implementation may perform better
Concerns
- − AI-generated rewrite may leave no one who understands the codebase
- − New GUI framework accessibility and CJK rendering support is unclear
- − Mods such as Vencord may stop working
- − Webview compatibility concerns for remaining Tauri parts
“I'm willing to trade away the flexibility of CSS for an app that uses 5 times less RAM.”
“Goodbye Electron, we barely knew you”
“Maybe the good thing to come out of the RAM crisis is that engineers will care about memory usage again lol.”
Timeline
Discord announces it is moving its desktop app fully to Rust, ditching Electron
Tech | The Verge
Discord is ditching Electron and its new app uses less RAM
Hacker News
433 points · 350 comments
