# BetterDiscord: A Plugin and Theme Loader for the Discord Desktop Client > BetterDiscord patches the local Discord desktop install so plugins and themes can run inside the client. Here is how it installs, what it will not do, and where the design limits show up. **BetterDiscord/BetterDiscord** — Better Discord enhances Discord desktop app with new features. - Repository: https://github.com/BetterDiscord/BetterDiscord - Website: https://betterdiscord.app - Stars: 9,254 · Forks: 1,030 - Language: TypeScript - License: Apache-2.0 - Published: 2026-09-21 · Updated: 2026-09-21 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/betterdiscord-betterdiscord ## What BetterDiscord Adds to a Stock Discord Install Discord ships as a closed desktop client. You get the interface the company builds and nothing else. BetterDiscord is a client modification that changes that: it loads plugins and themes into the local install so the running client renders differently and behaves differently. The README describes it as a client modification for Discord with addons, and the addon categories it names are plugins and themes. The audience is narrow and specific. This is for people who already run the Discord desktop app on a machine they control, and who want to change how it looks or add behaviour the official client does not offer. It is not a library you import into your own application, and it is not a hosted service. The repository is a TypeScript codebase that builds the injected code, and the installer lives in a separate repository, BetterDiscord/Installer, which is where the download links in the README point. That split matters when you evaluate the project. The repository you are reading is the code that runs inside Discord once installed. The thing an end user double-clicks is produced elsewhere. ## How the Injection and Addon Loading Actually Work The build produces separate modules, and the package scripts name them: main, preload, and betterdiscord. The build script accepts a --module flag, so each of these is built as its own artifact rather than one bundle. The names line up with Electron's process model, where a preload script runs before renderer code and a main process script controls the application shell. The inject script then places those artifacts into the Discord installation. The addon side is deliberately plain. The README says installing a plugin or theme means selecting and downloading an addon from the website and putting it in your folder. There is no package manager, no dependency resolution, and no registry in the flow the README describes. A file appears in a directory and the client picks it up. That design keeps the barrier to writing an addon low, and it also means nothing in the documented workflow vets what you drop in. The README does not describe a signature check or a review step for addons. Treat the addon folder as executable code you chose to run, because that is what it is. The project is developed on the development branch, and the repository carries a CHANGELOG.md, a CONTRIBUTING.md, and a crowdin.yml for translations. Those are the signals of a project with a release process rather than a one-off patch script. ## Installing BetterDiscord and Loading a First Plugin The README's installation path is the installer, not a package manager. There are three downloads, one per platform: BetterDiscord-Windows.exe for Windows, BetterDiscord-Mac.zip for macOS, and BetterDiscord-Linux.AppImage for Linux. The README states the supported floors as Windows 7 and newer, macOS Yosemite and newer, and Ubuntu 14.04 and newer. On Linux, the AppImage needs the executable bit before it will run: ```bash chmod +x BetterDiscord-Linux.AppImage ./BetterDiscord-Linux.AppImage ``` After the installer finishes, restart Discord. The README points to a detailed guide on docs.betterdiscord.app for the full walkthrough, and the manual installation route in that guide is the one to use if the installer fails or if you intend to develop BetterDiscord itself. Once the client is patched, addons are files. Download a plugin or theme from the BetterDiscord website and place it in your addons folder, then enable it from the client's settings. The README does not spell out the folder path in the repository text; it sends you to the installing-addons guide, which includes a video. If you want to build the project from source instead, the repository uses bun. The scripts in package.json are the entry points: ```bash bun install bun run build bun test tests/ ``` The build script is scripts/build.ts, and bun run build:production sets NODE_ENV=production and passes --minify. There is also a watch mode, bun run watch, for iterating during development. ## Where BetterDiscord Refuses to Follow You Platform support is the sharpest limitation, and the README states it without hedging: BetterDiscord supports standard local Discord installs only. Snap packages, portable apps, and the web version are all explicitly unsupported. If your Linux distribution ships Discord as a snap, the installer path the README describes does not apply to you, and the fix is to install Discord a different way rather than to expect BetterDiscord to adapt. The mobile question follows from the same boundary. The README lists Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu as the supported examples and says nothing about Android or iOS. There is no mobile build described anywhere in the project's documentation. Anyone searching for BetterDiscord on a phone is looking for something this project does not ship. There is a second, quieter cost. Because the modification lives inside the Discord client, a Discord update can move the code the patch depends on. The repository's release cadence, with v1.14.0 and v1.14.1 landing a day apart in late August 2026, is consistent with a project that has to chase upstream changes, though the README does not document a rollback procedure if a version breaks your setup. Finally, this is a modification of a third-party client. The README does not discuss the service's terms of use at all, so if that question matters to you, the project's own documentation is not where you will find the answer. ## BetterDiscord Compared with Vencord The comparison people reach for is Vencord, and the difference is architectural rather than cosmetic. BetterDiscord patches a standard local Discord installation: you install Discord normally, then run the BetterDiscord installer against it, and the modification lives alongside the client. Vencord's model is to build a modified client from Discord's own source, which is a different relationship to the upstream app and a different set of constraints on which platforms are practical. That distinction explains why the platform support lists differ and why the two projects do not have interchangeable addon ecosystems. A BetterDiscord plugin is written against BetterDiscord's loader and its API. The repository even publishes types for that API: the generate-types and publish-types scripts exist so plugin authors can work against a typed surface, and the api script dumps a JSDoc AST from renderer/src/modules/api/ into dist/jsdoc-ast.json. So the choice is not which one is better in the abstract. It is whether you want to modify an installed client or run a rebuilt one, and then which addons exist for that loader. If the plugin you need was written for the other project, porting it is real work, not a config change. ## Maintenance, Building from Source, and the Apache-2.0 Licence The repository is not archived, and its last push was on 2026-09-11, which is recent. Releases are tagged, with v1.14.1 published on 2026-08-28 and a canary build from 2025-02-09. The development branch is the default branch, so the code you see first is the code in progress, not the code in the latest tagged release. If you build from source, the toolchain is bun plus esbuild, with eslint for linting, stylelint for the stylesheets under src/betterdiscord/styles/, and tsc for typechecking. The scripts are named accordingly: bun run lint, bun run lint-css, bun run typecheck, bun run circulars, and bun run dist for a production build plus packaging. Each of those is a command you can run yourself, which makes the upgrade cost legible: pull, install, build, test. For end users the upgrade cost is lower and less predictable. You re-run the installer after a Discord update if things break, and you re-download addons when their authors publish fixes. The README does not describe an automatic update mechanism for addons. The licence is Apache-2.0, which is permissive and includes an explicit patent grant. It also carries notice and attribution requirements when you redistribute the code, and the repository includes a LICENSE file and a CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md alongside CONTRIBUTING.md. That is a description of the licence, not legal advice; read the LICENSE file if you plan to ship a fork. ## Conclusion Adopt BetterDiscord if you run a standard local Discord desktop install on Windows 7 or newer, macOS Yosemite or newer, or Ubuntu 14.04 or newer, and you want plugins and themes loaded from a folder without building anything yourself. Do not adopt it if you use the web client, a snap package, or a portable app, because the README states those are unsupported, and do not adopt it if you need a mobile client, which the project does not provide. Before installing, verify two things: that your Discord install is the standard local one rather than a packaged variant, and that the addon you intend to use comes from the official website, since the README's addon workflow is a manual file drop with no signature check described. The licence is Apache-2.0, so redistribution carries attribution and notice obligations, and the repository itself is a build system rather than the installer you would hand to a non-technical user. ## FAQ ### Is using BetterDiscord bannable? The README does not address Discord's terms of service or account enforcement, so the project's own documentation gives no answer to this. Treat it as an open question rather than one the repository settles. ### Is BetterDiscord safe to use? The README describes addons as files you download from the website and place in your folder, and it does not describe a signature check or review step for them. The safety of a given setup therefore depends on which addons you install, not on a verification step documented here. ### Does BetterDiscord let you see deleted messages? The README describes plugins and themes as the addon categories and does not mention a message logging feature. Whether such a plugin exists is a question about the addon ecosystem, not about the loader documented in this repository. ### Does BetterDiscord still exist? Yes. The repository is not archived, its last push was on 2026-09-11, and release v1.14.1 was published on 2026-08-28. ### How do I install BetterDiscord on Linux? Download BetterDiscord-Linux.AppImage from the installer repository, make it executable, and run it. The README states Linux support starts at Ubuntu 14.04 and covers standard local Discord installs only, so snap packages and portable apps are not supported. ### How do I use BetterDiscord on a Mac? Download BetterDiscord-Mac.zip and run the installer, then restart Discord. The README lists macOS Yosemite and newer as supported, for standard local Discord installs. ## Sources - [BetterDiscord/BetterDiscord on GitHub](https://github.com/BetterDiscord/BetterDiscord) - [License: Apache-2.0](https://github.com/BetterDiscord/BetterDiscord/blob/development/LICENSE) - [Project website](https://betterdiscord.app) - [README](https://github.com/BetterDiscord/BetterDiscord/blob/development/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/BetterDiscord/BetterDiscord/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/betterdiscord-betterdiscord