Delay in updating changes during web development on Windows 11

[danielMosvich]

Captchas

• [x] I have read the instructions.
• [x] I have searched existing issues and avoided creating duplicates.
• [x] I am not filing an enhancement request.
• [x] I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox.
• [x] I have checked that this issue can be reproduced once I removed all my Mods and Custom CSS.

What happened?

Hi Zen Browser team,

First of all, thank you for the amazing work you're doing with the browser — I really appreciate the focus on customization and the overall experience.

I wanted to report an issue I’ve encountered when using Zen Browser (v1.11.1b 64-bit) for web development on Windows 11. Compared to other browsers like Chrome, Zen seems to take noticeably longer to reflect changes after saving files while working with modern frontend tools. Details:

Operating System: Windows 11

Zen Browser version: 1.11.1b (64-bit)

Development stack: Vite + React + Tailwind + Zustand

Issue: After saving changes in the code, Zen Browser takes several seconds to update the view. In Chrome, updates are near-instant. This creates a delay in feedback during the development process.

What I've tried:

Disabled cache in Developer Tools

Turned off hardware acceleration

Compared side-by-side with Chrome

Tested in private/incognito mode

I understand Zen is based on Firefox, so this might be a shared performance behavior — but I thought it would be helpful to report, in case improvements can be made for developer workflows in future updates.

Thanks for your time and for continuing to improve the browser!

Best regards,

Version

1.11.1b

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

Windows - x64

What component is this issue related to?

Performance

Relevant log output if applicable

[fvnky07]

i just upgraded zen and i am getting this, did you find any solution?

[danielMosvich]

no 😿

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi, @danielMosvich. I'm Dosu, and I'm helping the desktop team manage their backlog. I'm marking this issue as stale.

Issue Summary:

• You reported a delay in Zen Browser (v1.11.1b 64-bit) on Windows 11 when updating web development changes.
• Attempts to fix the issue by disabling cache, hardware acceleration, and using incognito mode were unsuccessful.
• The delay affects tools like Vite, React, Tailwind, and Zustand.
• Another user, fvvnky, also experiences the issue after upgrading Zen and inquired about a solution.
• You responded that no resolution has been found yet.

Next Steps:

• Please let me know if this issue is still relevant to the latest version of the desktop repository by commenting here.
• If no updates are provided, the issue will be automatically closed in 7 days.

Thank you for your understanding and contribution!

[jakobrosenberg]

I am dealing with this issue too. It seems that Zen updates instantly as long as changes are frequent, but as soon as 5-6 seconds pass without changes, Zen appears to go into idle.

[jakobrosenberg]

This seems to be related to Vite's HMR.

https://github.com/vitejs/vite/issues/20151