Why Does This Exist?
We didn't set out to build a ChatGPT alternative. We were just trying to figure out why ChatGPT kept crashing our browsers.
This is the story of a debugging session that turned into a product.
What is ChatGPT?
If you're reading this, you probably already know. But let's set the stage.
ChatGPT is OpenAI's conversational AI interface. It's powered by large language models—GPT-4, GPT-4o, and now GPT-5. It's remarkable technology. You can ask it to write code, explain quantum physics, draft emails, debug your CSS, or help you think through a business problem.
Millions of people use it daily. It's become infrastructure for knowledge workers, developers, writers, and anyone who thinks for a living.
The AI itself is incredible. The webapp... not so much.
The Mystery: Mobile vs. Web
Here's what sparked our investigation:
ChatGPT on iPhone: Buttery smooth. Never lags. Never crashes. A joy to use.
ChatGPT on desktop browser: After 20 minutes, typing becomes impossible. Keystrokes take seconds to appear. Tab uses 3GB of RAM. Scroll freezes the entire UI.
Same account. Same conversations. Same AI. Completely different experience.
Why would the mobile app be flawless while the web app is borderline unusable?
The Investigation
We cracked open Chrome DevTools and started digging. What we found was... educational.
That's a 112x increase in DOM nodes just from scrolling through your conversation history. And the memory? It just keeps climbing. Never comes back down.
We checked the Performance tab:
- FPS dropped to 1-5 (should be 60)
- Long tasks: 4-5 seconds each
- Active timers: 23,584 (yes, really)
The Root Cause
ChatGPT's web app is built with React. That's fine—React powers half the internet. The problem is how it's implemented.
They use virtual scrolling, which is supposed to help. Only render what's visible, recycle DOM nodes as you scroll. Standard optimization.
But here's the catch: React holds ALL conversation state in memory.
When you remove DOM nodes from the page, the JavaScript heap doesn't get cleaned up. React keeps references to everything. Every message. Every token. Every conversation you've ever scrolled past in that session.
The DOM is a symptom. Memory is the disease.
We tried trimming DOM nodes—removed 74,000 nodes successfully. Lag persisted. Memory stayed at 988MB. The JavaScript heap was the problem, and you can't fix that from the outside.
Why is mobile different?
The iOS app is native Swift. No React. No JavaScript heap accumulation. Proper memory management. Apple forces apps to be efficient or they get killed by the OS.
The web has no such constraints. So ChatGPT's webapp just... grows. Forever. Until your browser crashes.
Our First Attempts (Failed)
We tried to fix ChatGPT from the outside. Built a Chrome extension.
Attempt 1: DOM Trimming
Automatically remove old DOM nodes as you scroll. Keep the page lean.
Result: DOM got smaller. Memory stayed bloated. Lag continued. ❌
Attempt 2: User-Agent Spoofing
Trick ChatGPT into serving us the mobile version. Spoofed iPhone headers, screen dimensions, the works.
Result: ChatGPT's backend rejected the requests. Conversations wouldn't load. Auth broke. ❌
Attempt 3: Forced Refresh
Detect when lag gets bad, show a button to refresh the page.
Result: Works, but it's a band-aid. You lose your scroll position. Annoying.
We kept hitting the same wall: you can't fix a memory leak from outside the application.
The Realization
At some point, we stopped trying to fix ChatGPT and asked a different question:
What if we just... didn't use their webapp?
OpenAI's API is solid. Rock solid. It's what powers ChatGPT under the hood. Same models, same intelligence. The API isn't the problem—just the bloated React frontend sitting on top of it.
So we built our own frontend. Vanilla JavaScript. No React. No framework. Just clean, minimal code that talks directly to the API.
First prototype: 300 lines of JavaScript. Single HTML file.
Memory usage: ~20MB (vs. 3GB)
Lag: Zero. None. Not even a little.
It just worked. Fast, responsive, no crashes. We could chat for hours without refreshing.
That prototype became GPTRapid.
What GPTRapid Does
GPTRapid is a lightweight client for OpenAI's models. Same AI, different interface.
The technical approach:
- Vanilla JavaScript—no framework overhead
- Minimal DOM—only render what's visible
- Proper cleanup—old data gets garbage collected
- Direct API calls—no bloated middleware
- Local storage—your conversations stay on your device
What you get:
- All GPT-5 models (5.2, 5.1, 4o, etc.)
- Import your entire ChatGPT history
- Search that actually works
- Streaming responses in real-time
- ~20MB memory usage (not 3GB)
- Zero lag, ever
We're not doing anything clever. We're just not doing the things that make ChatGPT slow.
Who We Are
GPTRapid is built by HarwoodLabs.
We're a small team based in California's Central Valley. Our background is in big tech—Google, Meta, Amazon, Salesforce—but we came back home to build software for people who need it.
HarwoodLabs operates as a futurist research platform, focused on autonomous operations and AI-powered tools. We also run Tracy Automation, which brings AI solutions to local small and medium businesses.
Our philosophy is simple: Build tools that work. Ship fast. Don't overcomplicate things.
GPTRapid exists because we were frustrated users who happened to have the skills to build something better. If ChatGPT ever fixes their memory leak, great—we'll celebrate. Until then, this is our solution.
A Small, Honest Detail
We almost went with .xyz, like most of our other projects.
Then we discovered GPTRapid.com was $17.99, while the "cheaper" alternatives (.ai, .dev, .xyz) were $800+.
The domain market makes no sense.
We're not complaining.