ByteDance’s Trae IDE Exposed for Excessive Resource Use, Spying
URGENT UPDATE: A new analysis reveals that ByteDance’s Trae IDE, a fork of Visual Studio Code, is consuming over **6.3 times** the memory compared to its baseline counterpart, raising serious privacy concerns. This alarming report, which surfaced on **October 10, 2023**, indicates that Trae runs a staggering **33 processes**, utilizing **5.7GB** of memory during regular use.
Officials and developers are scrutinizing the findings, which point to Trae not only being a resource hog but also maintaining persistent connections to ByteDance servers. Even after users disabled telemetry features, Trae continued to send data, making **500 outbound calls in just 7 minutes** and transferring approximately **26MB** of data.
This investigation, conducted by a user known as **segmentationf4u1t**, highlights critical issues regarding data privacy and performance. The analysis compared Trae to other IDEs, revealing that while **VS Code** operates with just **9 processes** and **0.9GB** of memory, and Cursor manages **11 processes** with **1.9GB**, Trae’s usage is alarmingly disproportionate.
After notifying ByteDance about these issues, the company released **version 2.0.2** of Trae, yet the IDE still operates with **13 processes** and utilizes **2.5GB** of RAM. This minimal improvement has done little to quell concerns among users and developers alike.
The user’s revelations sparked controversy on Trae’s official **Discord server**, where discussions about tracking and data collection were met with severe moderation, including instant muting for mentioning the word “track.” Community members expressed frustration over the lack of transparency, with some questioning the integrity of the tests while others staunchly defended the findings.
As of now, ByteDance has not officially responded to these serious claims. The ongoing debate has ignited discussions around software privacy and resource management, compelling users to reconsider their trust in the Trae IDE.
With the rise of AI-focused development tools, the need for transparency and efficiency is more critical than ever. Developers and users are urged to stay updated as this situation unfolds, with potential implications for software development practices in the industry.
Stay tuned as we continue to monitor this breaking story.
