PERFORMANCE, WITH RECEIPTS
Probably the fastest
VS Code.
Lean VS Code is built to make the everyday editing loop feel fast. In a 30-pair Apple M3 Max trial, signed v0.6.0 completed a first edit saved and verified on disk 25% sooner from app launch than a matched, minified Code-OSS 1.139.1 source build. “Probably” is our ambition: these results cover defined workflows, not every editor or Microsoft's distributed VS Code.
THE HEADLINE RESULT
491 ms less waiting from launch to saved edit
The median was 1.468 seconds for Lean versus 1.959 seconds for Code-OSS. The p95 times were 1.912 and 2.640 seconds. Both apps used 30 alternating, successful timed launches in the signed v0.6.0 trial. The edit-and-save action after startup was actually slower in Lean: 86.3 versus 43.3 ms median. The advantage was in the full launch-to-save path.
Editable with an extension
An earlier unsigned, minified v0.6.0 candidate reached an extension-backed editable 100 KiB file in 1.307 seconds median, versus 1.637 seconds for matched Code-OSS: 20% less time. Its p95 was 1.427 versus 1.785 seconds. This is a candidate result, not a signed-release startup result.
A Finder launch
In a separate unsigned candidate trial with established profiles, a synthetic first UI edit took 0.982 seconds median from Finder launch versus 1.205 seconds for Code-OSS: 19% less time. The input was verified in Monaco; it was not a physical keypress or a display-photon measurement.
Smaller installed app
The signed v0.6.0 app bundle contained 535 MiB of apparent file content, versus 1,463 MiB for the matched Code-OSS source package: 63.4% less. This measures installed app content, not download size, running memory, or the size after you add extensions.
What about memory?
A separate signed v0.4.0 trial found a 17% lower median short-idle app-tree footprint in nine alternating pairs. There is no comparable independent-launch v0.6.0 memory result yet, so that older figure should not be read as a current-release claim.
HOW TO READ THE RESULTS
Same source revision, specific tasks
The comparator was a locally repaired, minified original Code-OSS 1.139.1 source package built from the fork's base revision. It was not Microsoft's VS Code distribution. Tests ran on one Apple M3 Max with 36 GiB RAM. Profiles and completion events varied by workload, so the percentages are separate results and may differ on another Mac, project, or extension setup.
The sub-second p95 first-edit goal remains open. Read the full performance history and raw result links and the optimization ledger for methods, limitations, and work still planned.
SHORT ANSWER
Is Lean VS Code faster than VS Code?
In the measured workflows above, Lean VS Code was faster than the matched original Code-OSS source build. These tests do not establish a speed difference against Microsoft's distributed VS Code, nor a universal ranking across editors. If the measured editing loop matters to you, read why this fork exists and try it on your own project.