[Media] I rebuilt VS Code on Tauri instead of Electron. 5,687 files. 96% smaller. Just open-sourced it.
![[Media] I rebuilt VS Code on Tauri instead of Electron. 5,687 files. 96% smaller. Just open-sourced it.](https://i.redd.it/7c9jfojfvqsg1.png)
VS Code is an incredible editor, but it ships an entire copy of Chromium and Node.js with every install. 775MB installed. It drinks RAM like water.
I wanted to know: what happens if you rip all of that out and rebuild it on Tauri?
Turns out you get the same editor at 31MB. It's called SideX.
This isn't a "VS Code inspired" toy editor. This is the actual VS Code source tree, all 5,687 TypeScript files, 335 CSS files, 82 bundled language extensions, running on Tauri v2 with a Rust backend instead of Electron.
Why this matters, especially for AI:
AI coding agents (Cursor, Copilot, Cline, etc.) are all building on top of VS Code's Electron stack. That means every AI-powered editor inherits a bloated base that ships its own Chromium. On a machine running multiple dev tools, that adds up fast. A 31MB Tauri-based foundation changes the equation entirely. Lighter installs, lower memory baseline, and a Rust backend that's actually fast.
What the Rust backend replaces:
The Tauri side isn't just a thin wrapper. It's 49 commands across 9 modules:
- Full terminal - real PTY via portable-pty (replaces node-pty)
- 17 git commands - status, diff, log, branch, stash, push/pull, clone, the works
- File system - read, write, stat, watch (via notify crate)
- SQLite storage - replaces u/vscode /sqlite3
- Text & file search - recursive with smart filtering
- Extension host - Node.js sidecar so VS Code extensions still work
- HTTP proxy - CORS bypass for the Open VSX extension marketplace
The extension marketplace points to Open VSX instead of Microsoft's proprietary gallery, so it's fully open.
The numbers:
| SideX (Tauri) | VS Code (Electron) | |
|---|---|---|
| Installed size | 31.2 MB | 775.1 MB |
| Bundled browser engine | None (uses OS webview) | Full Chromium |
| Bundled JS runtime | None (Rust backend) | Full Node.js |
| Backend language | Rust | JavaScript/C++ |
I'm not pretending it's ready. This is an early release. A lot works, a lot is still rough. I'm putting it out now because so many people wanted to jump in and help, and more hands means this gets stable way faster.
This is fully open source: github dot com /Sidenai/sidex