Discord is dropping Electron. Co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy has confirmed that the company is rebuilding its client in Rust, with the GPUI framework drawing the desktop interface. Windows Latest reports that an early Windows 11 build, labelled “Discord Phoenix”, sits at 290.2MB of RAM. There’s no release date yet, and Discord hasn’t opened a public test.
What Discord has confirmed
In a post on X, Vishnevskiy said Discord has used Rust since 2018, and that much of its infrastructure, voice tech and even parts of the current client already run on it. “That means Electron goes away,” he wrote, and so does React Native. Mobile keeps native UI but shares app code with desktop through Rust, which gives the company one core codebase instead of separate stacks.
The GPUI detail answers the question that had dominated the replies. VGTimes reported before the confirmation that Vishnevskiy had answered a joke about Discord running two copies of Chromium with “Or zero.” Users then guessed Tauri. “And it’s not Tauri, it’s GPUI, so good guess everyone,” Vishnevskiy replied.
That distinction matters because of how Tauri works. Windows Latest notes that Tauri also supports Rust but typically shows a web interface through the operating system’s webview, so picking Rust alone wouldn’t have said whether Discord was keeping a web UI. GPUI suggests it isn’t. VGTimes adds that Discord’s embedded Activities, such as Wordle and Putt Party, currently run in web frames and may be an exception. That’s unconfirmed by Discord.
Why the 290MB figure draws attention
Every Electron app ships with its own copy of Chromium, which is why the framework has a reputation for heavy memory use. Windows Latest says Discord is one of the worst offenders. Its author reports that Discord sits at 1-2GB of RAM on his PC even when idle, and climbs as he opens servers. Against that, the 290.2MB reading looks small. It’s one early screenshot with no stated workload, though, and Windows Latest says it still has to test the new client itself.
Discord has already admitted the current app has a memory problem. Windows Latest says the company acknowledged that its Windows app can reach 4GB of RAM and quietly tested a client restart once usage passes that point. A Discord employee said in a December 2025 Reddit post that normal usage is under 1GB, and the company reported a 5% cut in p95 memory at that stage, with more work to do. The rebuild goes further than those fixes, because it removes the Chromium layer instead of trimming it.
Windows Latest also says it understands the new client won’t show the “Starting” screen at launch, since it no longer has to load Electron libraries. That’s the outlet’s understanding, not a Discord statement.
What it means for Windows users
For anyone running Discord alongside a game, a browser and a launcher, memory headroom is the practical issue. Microsoft has recently been telling gamers 32GB is the safe choice for Windows 11 gaming, and a chat app that idles at 1-2GB eats into that budget. If the Rust client holds anywhere near the early figure under real use, it would free a good share of it. We’d wait for a public build and independent testing before drawing conclusions.
Discord hasn’t said when testing starts, whether the browser version changes, or how the rebuild affects third-party client mods. Until it does, the current Electron app stays the one you’ll be running.
When can I try the new Discord client?
Discord hasn’t announced a release date or a public test. Vishnevskiy has confirmed the direction, and an early build exists, but nothing is available to download yet.
Does the new Discord run on phones too?
Vishnevskiy said React Native goes away on mobile as well. Phones keep native UI, while sharing app code with desktop through Rust.
Why does Discord use so much RAM on Windows?
The current app is built on Electron, which bundles its own copy of Chromium. Discord has said normal usage is under 1GB, but it has acknowledged the app can reach 4GB and tested a restart at that point.
