project-client/README.md

# Vencord Desktop

A standalone Electron app that loads Discord & Vencord

Vencord Desktop is currently in very early alpha. Bug reports, feature requests & contributions are highly appreciated!!

## Installing

### Windows

Download and run Vencord-Desktop-Setup-VERSION.exe from [releases](https://github.com/Vencord/Desktop/releases/latest)

### Mac

Download and run Vencord-Desktop-VERSION.dmg from [releases](https://github.com/Vencord/Desktop/releases/latest)

### Linux

#### Ubuntu/Debian based

Download Vencord-Desktop-VERSION.deb from [releases](https://github.com/Vencord/Desktop/releases/latest)

#### Fedora/RHEL based

Download Vencord-Desktop-VERSION.rpm from [releases](https://github.com/Vencord/Desktop/releases/latest)

#### Other

Either download Vencord-Desktop-VERSION.AppImage and just run it directly or grab Vencord-Desktop-VERSION.tar.gz, extract it somewhere and run `vencorddesktop`.

An AUR package and flatpak are planned, if you want packages for other repos, feel free to create them and they can be linked as unofficial here

## Building

Packaging will create builds in the dist/ folder. You can then install them like mentioned above or distribute them

```sh
git clone https://github.com/Vencord/Desktop
cd Desktop

# Install Dependencies
pnpm i

# Either run it without packaging
pnpm start

# Or package
pnpm package
# Or package to a directory only
pnpm package:dir
```

## Motivation

The official Discord Desktop app is very resource heavy compared to Discord in your Browser. There are multiple alternative Electron apps (ArmCord, WebCord, probably more) that prove how much of a performance gain you can gain by using a custom app. ArmCord already supports Vencord but makes it pretty limited for us. Making our own standalone app gives us much more control.

This is just a random idea I (V) got, and might not actually ever be finished heh

Gluon also seems very attractive for this because of how lightweight it can be and because unlike electron, streaming just works out of the box like in any chromium browser. However, at the time of writing this, it still lacks some features necessary to make it work (synchronous ipc or a way to get node process variables into the onLoad function for instance, plus onLoad seems to load a little too late sometimes)