Discord Rebuilds Desktop App in Rust to Address High Memory Usage
Discord is undertaking a significant overhaul of its desktop application, rebuilding it using the Rust programming language to combat its long-standing issue of excessive RAM consumption. The current Electron-based client is known for being a memory hog, often utilizing gigabytes of RAM. Discord CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy demonstrated an early build of the new 'Discord Phoenix' app, which reportedly uses around 290MB of RAM, a substantial reduction compared to the existing version. This move aims to improve overall performance and efficiency. Discord has been incorporating Rust into various parts of its infrastructure since 2018, and this initiative extends that adoption to the core desktop client. The company plans to release a beta version of the new Rust-based client to users soon, though a specific timeline has not been provided. The mobile version of Discord will retain its native UI but will share the same Rust code base as the new desktop client.
