Enabling Discord Dev Experiments on Discord for Windows (2022-02)

EnableDiscordDevExperiments.md

Enable Dev Experiments in Discord for Windows

This guide shows how to enable dev mode for the Discord desktop application running on Windows (as of February 2022).

This can be used to view beta experiments to try features currently in development that are included but hidden by default in Discord release builds.

Enable the Discord Dev Console

Under the hood the Discord application is just trimmed down web browser, with much of the UI logic being written in javascript. Like Google Chrome, it includes a Developer console for running javascript code.

This dev console can be used to modify settings in Discord that are normally hidden. This includes beta/testing settings and experiments that are included in public builds but hidden by default.

If your Discord opens its dev console when you press Ctrl+Shift+i you can skip to the next section below.

As of 2022/01/28 this console is disabled unless you enable it manually in Discord's settings file:

1. Use WIN+R to open the Windows 'Run' dialog and paste in the appropriate path to open the corresponding settings directory of your discord installation:

   • Discord: %APPDATA%\Discord\
   • Discord PTB (Public Test Build): %APPDATA%\DiscordPTB\
   • Discord Canary: %APPDATA%\discordcanary\

2. In this directory, open the settings.json file

   • It can help to show extensions in the windows
   • It is recommended you use a proper text editor such as notepad++

3. Add the following entry to the settings.json file:

"DANGEROUS_ENABLE_DEVTOOLS_ONLY_ENABLE_IF_YOU_KNOW_WHAT_YOURE_DOING": true

---

So for example, if your settings.json looks like this:

{
  "BACKGROUND_COLOR": "#202225",
  "IS_MAXIMIZED": false,
  "IS_MINIMIZED": false,
  "WINDOW_BOUNDS": {
    "x": 288,
    "y": 51,
    "width": 1591,
    "height": 919
  },
  "OPEN_ON_STARTUP": false
}

You should modify it to look like this:

{
  "BACKGROUND_COLOR": "#202225",
  "IS_MAXIMIZED": false,
  "IS_MINIMIZED": false,
  "WINDOW_BOUNDS": {
    "x": 288,
    "y": 51,
    "width": 1591,
    "height": 919
  },
  "OPEN_ON_STARTUP": false,
  "DANGEROUS_ENABLE_DEVTOOLS_ONLY_ENABLE_IF_YOU_KNOW_WHAT_YOURE_DOING": true
}

NOTE: A comma is necessary after the "OPEN_ON_STARTUP": true/false line! MAKE SURE YOU ADD IT!!

---

4. Save your settings.json file and completely shut down Discord

   • Ensure you don't just close the window, but also that Discord is no longer visible in your taskbar notification bar.
   • When in doubt, just force quit it using the task manager :P

5. Restart Discord

6. In Discord, open the Dev console using Ctrl+Shift+i

Using Discord Dev console to show dev options

WARNING: the Discord dev console can be used to access the internal settings of Discord, including your login credentials.

That is why the dev console explicitly outputs the following warnings:

Treat any code you are asked to run in the dev console with strict scrutiny.

Since these instructions are having you do exactly that, you should first assure yourself that the code is actually safe to use.

Here is formatted version of the code you will be asked to run (note that line breaks and indenting does not change the code):

Object.defineProperty(
    (webpackChunkdiscord_app.push([
        [""],
        {},
        (e) => {
            m = [];
            for (let c in e.c) m.push(e.c[c]);
        },
    ]),
    m).find((m) => m?.exports?.default?.isDeveloper !== void 0).exports.default,
    "isDeveloper",
    { get: () => true }
);

This code ensures that all isDeveloper properties in Discord's intrnal objects are forced to return true. It does not communicate with any external server, or touch your credentials.

With that out of the way, here is the same code but with extra newlines and spaces removed:

Object.defineProperty((webpackChunkdiscord_app.push([[''],{},e=>{m=[];for(let c in e.c)m.push(e.c[c])}]),m).find(m=>m?.exports?.default?.isDeveloper!==void 0).exports.default,"isDeveloper",{get:()=>true});

Once you have assured yourself that this line is identical to the one shown above, copy the single line code completely and then paste it into the discord dev console and hit return:

You'll know that this worked if you when you open your Discord settings you see the following:

NOTE: If your Discord settings were open when you ran the command close and open them again.

Enabling Discord Experiments

You can now view Discord experiments by selecting 'Experiments' at the bottom of the left sidebar in the Settings UI.

You can then search for specific settings, such as enabling the multi-account experiment:

This saved me from the terrible new UI "refresh". (Set "Desktop Visual Refresh" to "Not Eligible".) Thank you!

thank you as well, saved me too!

This keeps returning undefined and doesn't do anything. Help!
Edit: TheAlphaGhast's version worked. Hooray!

This keeps returning undefined and doesn't do anything. Help! Edit: TheAlphaGhast's version worked. Hooray!

Which one were you using? I just got the UI update and wanted to revert back but this version of TheAlphaGhast's reply doesn't work

d=null;webpackChunkdiscord_app.push([[Symbol()],{},({c})=>d=Object.values(c)]);c=d;delete d;
u = c.find((x)=> x?.exports?.default?.getUsers).exports.default;
m = Object.values(u._dispatcher._actionHandlers._dependencyGraph.nodes);

u.getCurrentUser().flags |= 1;
m.find((x)=>x.name === "DeveloperExperimentStore").actionHandler["CONNECTION_OPEN"]();
try {m.find((x)=>x.name === "ExperimentStore").actionHandler["OVERLAY_INITIALIZE"]({user:{flags: 1}})} catch {}
m.find((x)=>x.name === "ExperimentStore").storeDidChange()

works for me fine

minified: d=null,webpackChunkdiscord_app.push([[Symbol()],{},({c:e})=>d=Object.values(e)]),c=d,delete d,u=c.find((e=>e?.exports?.default?.getUsers)).exports.default,m=Object.values(u._dispatcher._actionHandlers._dependencyGraph.nodes),u.getCurrentUser().flags|=1,m.find((e=>"DeveloperExperimentStore"===e.name)).actionHandler.CONNECTION_OPEN();try{m.find((e=>"ExperimentStore"===e.name)).actionHandler.OVERLAY_INITIALIZE({user:{flags:1}})}catch{}m.find((e=>"ExperimentStore"===e.name)).storeDidChange();

Worked for me to get access to experiments + remove the ui enshitification

minified: d=null,webpackChunkdiscord_app.push([[Symbol()],{},({c:e})=>d=Object.values(e)]),c=d,delete d,u=c.find((e=>e?.exports?.default?.getUsers)).exports.default,m=Object.values(u._dispatcher._actionHandlers._dependencyGraph.nodes),u.getCurrentUser().flags|=1,m.find((e=>"DeveloperExperimentStore"===e.name)).actionHandler.CONNECTION_OPEN();try{m.find((e=>"ExperimentStore"===e.name)).actionHandler.OVERLAY_INITIALIZE({user:{flags:1}})}catch{}m.find((e=>"ExperimentStore"===e.name)).storeDidChange();

Thank you so much for this holy fuck. The new visual refresh is disgusting.

Yes, thanks for this!

Does someone have a version of this as a script for Tampermonkey for those of us who are just using a regular browser? Pasting into the console is fine, but it'd be nice to have it "just work".

Is there a way to make it persistent so I don't have to do it every time I launch discord?

I tried setting "update.exe" to read only but it doesn't work. Whenever you relaunch discord you have to copy paste this back in. Spoopy Winter's comment works, will copy paste it here just in case he deletes his comment.

d=null,webpackChunkdiscord_app.push([[Symbol()],{},({c:e})=>d=Object.values(e)]),c=d,delete d,u=c.find((e=>e?.exports?.default?.getUsers)).exports.default,m=Object.values(u._dispatcher._actionHandlers._dependencyGraph.nodes),u.getCurrentUser().flags|=1,m.find((e=>"DeveloperExperimentStore"===e.name)).actionHandler.CONNECTION_OPEN();try{m.find((e=>"ExperimentStore"===e.name)).actionHandler.OVERLAY_INITIALIZE({user:{flags:1}})}catch{}m.find((e=>"ExperimentStore"===e.name)).storeDidChange();

@sbalatbat currently the best way is to use Vencord, activate the plugin that enables the Experiements tab in the settings and changing whatever you want there. It'll remember everything you changed. (This is against ToS, do it at your own risk and blablabla, don't think anyone ever got banned though)

Putting the above code into a BetterDiscord plugin also works (although needed to fix a couple issues to make it run outside of the console, uploaded here if anyone needs it).

Also, the user list in servers is entirely fucked when using the experiment thing to unshittify UI.

@VReaperV it looks exactly the same to me as it did before, though, as I said, I'm using Vencord to disable the Experiment.

Also, the user list in servers is entirely fucked when using the experiment thing to unshittify UI.

Are you referring to the BetterDiscord user list when opting out of the visual refresh in experiments?

Install Vencord, open plugins, activate « experiments »

Hate spamming, but I poked around a bunch of different servers and I did encounter a problem with the user list in a few of them like @VReaperV said.

The problem comes from the channel's description that shows next to the channel name above the chat area, if it's too long it "pushes" the user list to the side and hides it or only show it partially.
If the channel description is not long enough (or there isn't one), then everything works as intended.

Nah, the list gets cut off like this:

Because the area with messages is not fixed-width.

Hate spamming, but I poked around a bunch of different servers and I did encounter a problem with the user list in a few of them like @VReaperV said.

The problem comes from the channel's description that shows next to the channel name above the chat area, if it's too long it "pushes" the user list to the side and hides it or only show it partially.

Oh, so it's the description, not the messages.

Maybe an issue with one of your settings through your client? Unable to replicate on my end.

Maybe an issue with one of your settings through your client? Unable to replicate on my end.

It's possible I guess, though it'd have to be some new setting introduced with that update, as I haven't changed any in a while. Have you tried reproducing with the long channel descriptions?

Also, the profile icons/buttons for users connected to a voice call (at least for voice calls in DMs) have incorrect alignment - they stick to top left, rather than being centered like before (probably related to the fact that the other voice call buttons are styled the same as with new UI).

@SpoopyWinter couldn't upload a video here directly so I put it on Youtube, I have tried messing around with setting and all but nothing fixed it (also completely removed the custom theme, but no difference either).

I can also confirm that the user icons are messed up in DM calls.

@VReaperV @Dwyriel add this snippet to the custom CSS editor in BD settings

.children__9293f {
    width:0px
}

@SKDemon820 thank you so much for that

@VReaperV @Dwyriel add this snippet to the custom CSS editor in BD settings

.children__9293f {
    width:0px
}

Screen share suffers the same issue, it extends past the border of the window when set to occupy the whole chat space (not fullscreen), but I haven't found a fix for this.

Screen share suffers the same issue, it extends past the border of the window when set to occupy the whole chat space (not fullscreen), but I haven't found a fix for this.

@Exterium I don't really use that so I'm not sure of a better fix but this snippet can resize it, just manually change the XX% to whatever works in your window

.videoSizer_a21736 {
    width: 79%
}

Nah, the list gets cut off like this:

Because the area with messages is not fixed-width.

/* fix overflow with long channel descriptions */
nav[class*="guilds"]+div[class*="base"] div[class*="sidebar"]+div {
    width: calc(100% - 240px)!important;
}

https://pastebin.com/Zu4XwGxx btw

is there a way to enable the name plates thing? i see it but i cant test them or anything. (meaning dont see them in the shop)

Wrote a Tampermonkey script to run the working code and inject the CSS fixes.

// ==UserScript==
// @name         Discord Enable Experiments Web
// @namespace    https://discord.com/channels/
// @version      2025-04-11
// @description  try to take over the world!
// @author       TCGM
// @match        https://discord.com/channels/*
// @icon         https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?sz=64&domain=discord.com
// @grant        none
// ==/UserScript==

(function() {
    'use strict';

    function wait(ms) {
        return new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
    }

    const enableExperiments = async () => {
        let cache; webpackChunkdiscord_app.push([["wp_isdev_patch"], {}, r => cache=r.c]);
        var UserStore = Object.values(cache).find(m => m?.exports?.default?.getUser).exports.default;
        var actions = Object.values(UserStore._dispatcher._actionHandlers._dependencyGraph.nodes);
        var user = UserStore.getCurrentUser();
        actions.find(n => n.name === "ExperimentStore").actionHandler.CONNECTION_OPEN({
            type: "CONNECTION_OPEN", user: {flags: user.flags |= 1}, experiments: [],
        });
        actions.find(n => n.name === "DeveloperExperimentStore").actionHandler.CONNECTION_OPEN();
        webpackChunkdiscord_app.pop(); user.flags &= ~1; "done";
    }
    
    const fixCSS = async () => {
        const style = document.createElement('style');
        style.textContent = `
            .children__9293f {
                width: 0px !important;
            }

            .videoSizer_a21736 {
                width: 79% !important;
            }

            /* fix overflow with long channel descriptions */
            nav[class*="guilds"]+div[class*="base"] div[class*="sidebar"]+div {
                width: calc(100% - 240px) !important;
            }
        `;
        document.head.appendChild(style);
    }

    wait(5000).then(() => {
        console.log("[Discord Enable Experiments Web] Enabling experiments...");
        enableExperiments();
        console.log("[Discord Enable Experiments Web] Fixing CSS...");
        fixCSS();
    });
})();

I can no longer remove the new UI.
It says
"Warning: Server did not send any experiment config. You may need to check the "Send to Client" box in the admin UI"
I have no idea what the admin UI is.

yeah, they made it the "baseline/default" now, can't revert it using Experiments anymore and probably no way to revert it without applying a completely custom theme.

Fixed version as of 4/21/2025: https://gist.github.com/MPThLee/3ccb554b9d882abc6313330e38e5dfaa?permalink_comment_id=5550010#gistcomment-5550010