Discord is ditching Electron and moving its desktop app fully to Rust, leaving behind Electron web apps that are notoriously heavy on system resources.
Stanislav Vishnevskiy, Discord’s CTO, announced the move in a post on X, saying the company has been an early adopter of Rust since 2018 and that much of its infrastructure, voice technology and some client code already uses the language. “The holy grail was getting the whole client there,” he wrote.
Electron is a cross-platform framework that lets developers build desktop apps using web technologies. RAM usage can easily hit 1 GB or more with the current Windows app when a user participates in a few servers. Vishnevskiy shared an image of a Discord Windows client using 290 MB.
The transition also means React Native will be dropped for the desktop client, though mobile apps will retain native UI while sharing application code with the desktop version through Rust. Vishnevskiy said the company hopes to get the new client into testing with users soon, but did not give a timeline for a full rollout.
Analysis
Why this matters
- Discord's move to Rust directly tackles the heavy resource usage that Electron-based apps are known for, potentially making the chat platform far more responsive and battery-friendly on laptops.
- If successful, the shift could pressure other major Electron apps (Slack, VS Code, Signal) to consider similar rewrites, reshaping how desktop software is built.
- For Discord's 200 million-plus monthly active users, the change could mean faster load times and smoother performance, especially on machines with limited RAM.
Background
Discord is a popular chat and voice platform originally built with Electron, a framework that lets developers use web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) to create cross-platform desktop apps. Electron apps are frequently criticised for high memory and CPU usage because they bundle a full Chromium engine. Rust is a systems programming language focused on speed and memory safety, often used where performance matters. Discord has been slowly shifting parts of its backend to Rust since 2018.
Key perspectives
Discord CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy: The company has been an early adopter of Rust since 2018, and getting the entire client there has been “the holy grail”. The switch eliminates both Electron and React Native on desktop; mobile will keep native UI but share app code with desktop via Rust.
What to watch
- When Discord opens beta testing of the Rust client to users and what feedback emerges on performance and stability.
- Whether other Electron-based chat apps (Slack, Signal, Teams) announce similar rewrites in response to Discord's move.
- The long-term adoption of Rust for user-facing desktop applications beyond infrastructure and systems-level code.
Checked
10 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 10 supported.
Show each claim
- SupportedDiscord is ditching Electron, and its new app uses less RAM.The Verge: “Discord is ditching Electron and its new app uses less RAM.”
- SupportedDiscord hopes to start user testing soon, but has not given a timeline for the full switch.The Verge: “It’s not clear when Discord will make the full switch over to Rust, but Vishnevskiy says the company “hope to get it into testing with users soon.””
- SupportedDiscord is moving its desktop app fully to Rust and leaving Electron behind.The Verge: “Discord is now moving its desktop app fully to Rust — a modern programming language designed for speed and memory safety.”
- SupportedElectron web apps are notoriously heavy on system resources.The Verge: “Electron web apps are notoriously heavy on system resources”
- SupportedVishnevskiy said, “The holy grail was getting the whole client there.”The Verge: ““We’ve been early adopters of Rust since 2018 and a lot of our infra, voice tech, and even some of the current client is already Rust, the holy grail was getting the whole client there,” explains Discord chief technology officer Stanislav Vishnevskiy in a post on X.”
- SupportedDiscord CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy announced the move in a post on X.The Verge: “explains Discord chief technology officer Stanislav Vishnevskiy in a post on X.”
- SupportedDiscord has been an early adopter of Rust since 2018, and much of its infrastructure, voice technology and some client code already use it.The Verge: “We’ve been early adopters of Rust since 2018 and a lot of our infra, voice tech, and even some of the current client is already Rust”
- SupportedThe current Windows app’s RAM usage can reach 1 GB or more when a user participates in a few servers.The Verge: “RAM usage can easily hit 1GB or more using the current Windows app.”
- SupportedVishnevskiy shared an image of the Discord Windows client using 290 MB of RAM.The Verge: “Vishnevskiy also shared an image of the Discord Windows client using just 290MB of RAM”
- SupportedReact Native will be dropped for the desktop client, while mobile keeps native UI and shares application code with desktop through Rust.The Verge: “That means Electron goes away, and so does React Native, mobile keeps native UI but shares app code with desktop via Rust.”
