Performance as Philosophy

Software that uses 320 MB of RAM at idle isn't just slow. It's disrespectful.

It says: your resources don't matter. Your battery doesn't matter. The other applications you're running don't matter. Only we matter.

The bloat problem

Modern desktop applications have become alarmingly heavy:

| Application | Idle Memory | Binary Size | |---|---|---| | Discord | 320 MB | 300 MB | | Slack | 450 MB | 280 MB | | VS Code | 550 MB | 350 MB |

These aren't outliers. They're the norm. And they're all built on Electron — shipping an entire Chromium browser just to render a chat window or text editor.

Our approach

Every Athion product starts with a budget:

• Flux: 48 MB idle memory. 12 MB binary.
• Liminal IDE: 45 MB idle memory. 8 MB binary.

These aren't aspirational targets. They're constraints. If a feature would push us over budget, we find a way to make it fit — or we cut it.

Performance is respect

When your software uses less memory, it leaves room for the user's actual work. When it starts instantly, it doesn't interrupt their flow. When it uses minimal CPU, their laptop fan stays quiet and their battery lasts longer.

Performance isn't a technical metric. It's an expression of respect for the people who use your software.

Every pixel, every millisecond, every megabyte is a choice. We choose to be invisible.