RshaCuDeVidro/larperCord

What it is

larperCord is a native Discord client written in Zig and drawn with SDL3 and Dear ImGui, aimed at Linux and Windows users who want a low-memory alternative to the Electron official client. The README reports roughly 130 MB of RAM in normal use and a ~15 MB Linux binary README lines 42–56. Its distinctive feature is that the entire interface is described by a .kdl theme file: 11 built-in themes each come in light and dark, and editing the file reloads the window on save via inotify README lines 57–140.

Beyond chat, it implements the Discord gateway with session RESUME, REST with rate limiting, voice calls over UDP/RTP with Opus and DAVE end-to-end encryption, threads and forums, reactions, replies, an inbox, offline message cache and search, multiple accounts, Lua plugins, and tray behavior README lines 57–140. Theme syntax and plugin API are documented separately in the theme guide and plugin guide.

Quick start

1. Download the prebuilt binary: Linux x86_64 or Windows x86_64 zip, or browse all releases. On Linux run chmod +x larpercord-linux-x86_64 and execute it; on Windows unzip and open larpercord.exe. Windows builds are unsigned, so SmartScreen will warn on first launch README lines 159–182.
2. Alternatively run the installer script, which downloads the latest release and verifies it against SHA256SUMS: on Linux curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RshaCuDeVidro/larperCord/main/install.sh | sh (installs into ~/.local, no sudo), or on Windows PowerShell irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RshaCuDeVidro/larperCord/main/install.ps1 | iex README lines 159–182.
3. Without a token the app starts in demo mode. To connect a real account, store the token in the system keyring, e.g. secret-tool store --label='larperCord' service larpercord, or set LARPER_TOKEN, or place it in ~/.config/larpercord/token with chmod 600 README lines 183–204.
4. Optionally replace the bundled theme with your own .kdl file and save it to see changes live; larpercord --theme vidro selects a theme at launch README lines 227–258.

Building from source requires Zig 0.17, SDL3, FreeType, fontconfig and libcurl with WebSocket support (7.86+); optional FFmpeg 7–9 enables in-app video playback. On Arch:

sudo pacman -S zig sdl3 freetype2 fontconfig curl inter-font ttf-jetbrains-mono noto-fonts-emoji
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast
./zig-out/bin/larpercord --theme vidro

README lines 236–242

Constraints

• Third-party Discord clients violate Discord's Terms of Service and may get accounts banned; the README recommends a secondary account, and describes lock/reset triggers such as frequent server joins or restarts README lines 22–35.
• Screen sharing, camera, joining servers via invite, and D-Bus native notifications on Linux are not implemented yet; voice and notifications rely on system facilities README lines 183–204.
• The Linux binary targets glibc 2.34+ (distros from about 2022); FreeType, fontconfig, libwebp, Opus and zlib must come from the system. Windows builds are unsigned and may trigger antivirus false positives due to Discord-related strings README lines 159–182.
• The project has no declared license; only third-party components carry their own licenses (Dear ImGui and dear_bindings MIT, RNNoise BSD) README lines 300–303.
• Push-to-talk only works while the app window is focused because SDL lacks portable global shortcuts README lines 57–140.

HotRepo's take

HotRepo recorded the project once, on the 2026-11-06 new-project list, with 127 stars and 9 forks, 26 stars gained over roughly two hours from 20:45 to 22:45 UTC; collected samples rose from 101 to 127 stars in that window. There is no all-language daily rank on record, so the only supported observation is that momentum was measured over a very short early window and says nothing about sustained adoption. For a native Zig client whose main differentiator is a theme-file-driven UI, the repository's value to readers is the theme and plugin documentation plus the source; the unsigned Windows binary and script-piped installation are worth treating with normal caution rather than as proof of safety.