diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 9b66338..56bd6ee 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
         "package:dir": "pnpm build && electron-builder --dir",
         "start": "pnpm build && electron .",
         "start:dev": "pnpm build --dev && electron .",
+        "start:watch": "tsx scripts/startWatch.mts",
         "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
         "watch": "pnpm build --watch"
     },
diff --git a/scripts/startWatch.mts b/scripts/startWatch.mts
index 8dad898..d30a938 100644
--- a/scripts/startWatch.mts
+++ b/scripts/startWatch.mts
@@ -11,5 +11,5 @@ function spawn(bin: string, args: string[]) {
     cpSpawn(join("node_modules", ".bin", bin + EXT), args, OPTS);
 }
 
-spawn("tsx", ["scripts/build/build.mts", "--", "--watch"]);
+spawn("tsx", ["scripts/build/build.mts", "--", "--watch", "--dev"]);
 spawn("electron", ["."]);
diff --git a/src/main/ipc.ts b/src/main/ipc.ts
index 52fb9d3..3f2c35b 100644
--- a/src/main/ipc.ts
+++ b/src/main/ipc.ts
@@ -20,12 +20,18 @@ ipcMain.on(IpcEvents.GET_RENDERER_SCRIPT, e => {
     e.returnValue = readFileSync(join(__dirname, "renderer.js"), "utf-8");
 });
 
-ipcMain.handle(IpcEvents.GET_RENDERER_STYLES, () => readFile(join(__dirname, "renderer.css"), "utf-8"));
+ipcMain.on(IpcEvents.GET_RENDERER_CSS_FILE, e => {
+    e.returnValue = join(__dirname, "renderer.css");
+});
 
 ipcMain.on(IpcEvents.GET_SETTINGS, e => {
     e.returnValue = PlainSettings;
 });
 
+ipcMain.on(IpcEvents.GET_VERSION, e => {
+    e.returnValue = app.getVersion();
+});
+
 ipcMain.handle(IpcEvents.SET_SETTINGS, (_, settings) => {
     setSettings(settings);
 });
diff --git a/src/preload/VencordDesktopNative.ts b/src/preload/VencordDesktopNative.ts
index dbd015b..88f1a22 100644
--- a/src/preload/VencordDesktopNative.ts
+++ b/src/preload/VencordDesktopNative.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { app, ipcRenderer } from "electron";
+import { ipcRenderer } from "electron";
 import type { Settings } from "shared/settings";
 import type { LiteralUnion } from "type-fest";
 import { IpcEvents } from "../shared/IpcEvents";
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ function sendSync<T = any>(event: IpcEvents, ...args: any[]) {
 export const VencordDesktopNative = {
     app: {
         relaunch: () => invoke<void>(IpcEvents.RELAUNCH),
-        getVersion: () => app.getVersion()
+        getVersion: () => sendSync<void>(IpcEvents.GET_VERSION)
     },
     fileManager: {
         showItemInFolder: (path: string) => invoke<void>(IpcEvents.SHOW_ITEM_IN_FOLDER, path),
diff --git a/src/preload/index.ts b/src/preload/index.ts
index 4d66d5f..8f93b21 100644
--- a/src/preload/index.ts
+++ b/src/preload/index.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { contextBridge, ipcRenderer, webFrame } from "electron";
+import { readFileSync, watch } from "fs";
 import { IpcEvents } from "../shared/IpcEvents";
 import { VencordDesktopNative } from "./VencordDesktopNative";
 
@@ -8,4 +9,28 @@ require(ipcRenderer.sendSync(IpcEvents.GET_VENCORD_PRELOAD_FILE));
 
 webFrame.executeJavaScript(ipcRenderer.sendSync(IpcEvents.GET_VENCORD_RENDERER_SCRIPT));
 webFrame.executeJavaScript(ipcRenderer.sendSync(IpcEvents.GET_RENDERER_SCRIPT));
-ipcRenderer.invoke(IpcEvents.GET_RENDERER_STYLES).then(s => webFrame.insertCSS(s));
+
+// #region css
+const rendererCss = ipcRenderer.sendSync(IpcEvents.GET_RENDERER_CSS_FILE);
+
+const style = document.createElement("style");
+style.id = "vcd-css-core";
+style.textContent = readFileSync(rendererCss, "utf-8");
+
+if (document.readyState === "complete") {
+    document.documentElement.appendChild(style);
+} else {
+    document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => document.documentElement.appendChild(style), {
+        once: true
+    });
+}
+
+if (IS_DEV) {
+    // persistent means keep process running if watcher is the only thing still running
+    // which we obviously don't want
+    watch(rendererCss, { persistent: false }, () => {
+        document.getElementById("vcd-css-core")!.textContent = readFileSync(rendererCss, "utf-8");
+    });
+}
+
+// #endregion
diff --git a/src/shared/IpcEvents.ts b/src/shared/IpcEvents.ts
index 8bb6518..605033e 100644
--- a/src/shared/IpcEvents.ts
+++ b/src/shared/IpcEvents.ts
@@ -2,11 +2,13 @@ export const enum IpcEvents {
     GET_VENCORD_PRELOAD_FILE = "VCD_GET_VC_PRELOAD_FILE",
     GET_VENCORD_RENDERER_SCRIPT = "VCD_GET_VC_RENDERER_SCRIPT",
     GET_RENDERER_SCRIPT = "VCD_GET_RENDERER_SCRIPT",
-    GET_RENDERER_STYLES = "VCD_GET_RENDERER_STYLES",
+    GET_RENDERER_CSS_FILE = "VCD_GET_RENDERER_CSS_FILE",
 
     RELAUNCH = "VCD_RELAUNCH",
     FOCUS = "VCD_FOCUS",
 
+    GET_VERSION = "VCD_GET_VERSION",
+
     SHOW_ITEM_IN_FOLDER = "VCD_SHOW_ITEM_IN_FOLDER",
     GET_SETTINGS = "VCD_GET_SETTINGS",
     SET_SETTINGS = "VCD_SET_SETTINGS",