English · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · 日本語

A remote desktop workspace built on Moonlight and Sunshine.
Keep your remote desktop ready in the background, bring it onto your current workspace with one action, and tuck it away without reconnecting.

• One desktop app for viewing and sharing. Bundled Sunshine, device approval, independent credentials and settings; no separate Sunshine installation for the macOS and native Linux packages.
• A workspace that follows your client. Adaptive sizing on compatible macOS and KDE hosts, HiDPI, portrait/landscape mobile layouts and per-device size tuning. Size changes briefly reconnect video; they are not seamless encoder changes.
• Choose the host display policy. Virtual primary with mirrored screens, virtual primary with other screens disabled, or an extended workspace on capable hosts. DeskPort restores the saved layout when the session ends.
• Move between authorized devices. Confirm before taking over an active session; the displaced client receives an authenticated takeover explanation.
• Keep desktop work within reach. Hide and recall a connected viewer, release remote input when hidden, and disconnect viewing independently of local sharing.
• Save settings per computer. Picture, audio, input, desktop tuning and address editing stay with the device; cards, pins, themes and localized interfaces.
• Share desktop clipboard content on demand. Text updates immediately; supported images and files are fetched when requested, between opted-in bound desktop peers. See clipboard scope and limits.
• Native mobile controls. iPhone/iPad and the Android development client offer touch/trackpad input, keyboard controls and direct entry into the remote desktop.
• Optional login startup and macOS recovery. These require an active graphical login and system approval; they do not unlock FileVault or log in for you.

Screenshots from the current interface with synthetic demo devices. Click a panel for the full-size image; these previews do not imply store or release availability.

Devices and groups	Per-device screen settings	Built-in manual

Windows antivirus notice (2026-09-26): The exact 0.6.3 installer and extracted payload passed a protected Defender scan and native CLI checks. Installation and live streaming acceptance remain separate. Microsoft classified the previously reported 0.5.6 r4 helper as Not malware and stated that its detection was removed. That decision applies to the submitted old sample, not every newer build. Keep Defender enabled; do not add exclusions or restore quarantined files to bypass a detection. See sample details and review status.

Native Linux packages require glibc 2.39+: Ubuntu 24.04+/Debian 13+, Fedora 44, current Arch, or a compatible AppImage system. KDE virtual-display hosting needs compositor permission entries. Native/Nix packages supply fixed entries; 0.6.3 AppImage and portable builds register the current display-helper path automatically when sharing starts. Host input still requires device permissions. Mobile apps do not host desktops. A source definition or successful compilation alone is not a supported platform.

macOS: Open the notarized DMG, drag DeskPort into Applications and open it. Grant Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions to use host features. Nix and Homebrew are not required.

Linux: Choose the 0.6.3 package for your system and follow the installation guide, including host input permissions. With Nix: nix run github:keithxc/deskport/v0.6.3. Flatpak provides viewing only. Release assets include SHA-256 checksums and a verification report.

iPhone / iPad: Install DeskPort from the App Store. The mobile app is a paid, one-time purchase; see your storefront for current local pricing. Desktop releases remain free and open source. Purchases support signing, test hardware and continued development.

Start Sharing on the host, select it on the client, and approve the device on the host. Both devices need a working network path: use a LAN or your own VPN such as Tailscale. DeskPort does not provide an account service, hosted desktops, a relay or a network tunnel. Legacy Sunshine PIN pairing remains available.

AppImage compatibility preview: 0.6.4 prerelease bundles its own glibc runtime for older Linux distributions. It is AppImage-only; 0.6.3 remains the stable release. See verification and limits.

The downloadable Arch package is installed with pacman -U; it does not make pacman -S deskport available. Likewise, the upstream flake does not make pkgs.deskport available in Nixpkgs. Host input, capture permissions and firewall setup are separate from installing the application; see the Linux installation guide.

This is a workflow and platform comparison, checked against the linked official documentation on 2026-09-20, not a latency or image-quality benchmark. Product features and platform limits may change.

Sources: Moonlight, Sunshine installation and platform support, RustDesk clients, RustDesk self-hosting, Parsec platform compatibility, Parsec Linux setup. DeskPort's current platform limits are listed above; this table does not imply feature parity across every OS or a measured performance advantage.

See the 0.6.3 release notes, architecture and roadmap.

With Nix and flakes enabled:

git clone https://github.com/keithxc/deskport.git
cd deskport
nix build
./result/bin/deskport

The viewer's third-party source dependencies are vendored; the shared core and Nix build inputs remain pinned external dependencies. Native builds must initialize shared/deskport-core. See docs/VENDORED.md. nix run . -- --help prints the inherited command-line interface. Start Sharing on the host and bind the devices before connecting. Legacy Sunshine PIN pairing is also available. No personal host or pairing credential is included or imported from Moonlight. New manual addresses default to DeskPort's port 48989. Include the port shown on the host's sharing page if different, or use host:47989 to connect explicitly to a default standalone Sunshine installation. Saved/discovered endpoints retain their own ports.

For an editable native build:

git submodule update --init shared/deskport-core
nix develop
mkdir -p build
cd build
qmake ../moonlight-qt.pro CONFIG+=disable-prebuilts
make -j4
./app/deskport

The upstream project filenames remain unchanged to keep the fork reviewable.

• Separate deskport executable, DeskPort Qt settings namespace and io.github.keithxc.DeskPort Linux application ID.
• Windowed streaming and absolute-pointer control by default.
• Mute on focus loss; game optimization, gamepad mouse, multi-controller mode, background gamepad input and Discord presence disabled by default.
• No upstream Moonlight update prompts for this independent application.
• A locked Nix environment and a Linux build workflow.

The desktop interface provides device, sharing and settings pages, with language selection and separate host permissions. Closing the viewer keeps its session available and opens the device list. An active device offers Return to desktop; other devices show details until the current session is disconnected. Pin frequently used devices and choose a compact list or cards. Appearance follows the system, with light and dark overrides.

See the platform table above for release state per platform. KDE Wayland / AMD on Linux x86-64 is the first live-use target.

The first development workflow is Linux → macOS through Sunshine. Client platform support and host support are separate: a Mac host does not require a DeskPort Mac client. Hardware decode, live input, image quality and recall latency need real session testing; a successful build does not establish them.

Keep one session connected across 50 hide/show cycles, show the window on the current workspace, and reliably return local input. Measure fresh-frame latency and background resource use separately from window appearance.

See the roadmap for acceptance criteria and deferred features, and upstream notes for provenance and maintenance boundaries.

nix build
python3 scripts/deskport-smoke.py ./result

The smoke check uses temporary XDG configuration/cache directories and an offscreen Qt platform. It does not pair with a host, start a stream or inject input.

Closing a window keeps DeskPort running in the tray/menu bar. Use Open DeskPort to recall it, Disconnect viewer to end only the current connection, or Quit DeskPort to exit the service. Local sharing continues when a viewer closes.

Plain-text clipboard sharing and system-shortcut capture are enabled by default on both bound devices. Setting changes apply after reconnecting. Only new copies are shared, up to 1 MiB. Supported images and files are fetched on demand between compatible opted-in desktop peers; see limits. In desktop pointer mode, keyboard routing follows the pointer inside the focused video. Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Z releases input; Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Q disconnects the viewer. Click inside to regain input after explicit release. OS-reserved shortcuts depend on the desktop compositor.

Login startup and recovery require an active graphical login session. See acceptance checks and limitations before relying on a computer for unattended access.

DeskPort is an independent derivative of Moonlight Qt, initially based on v6.1.0. It is not an official Moonlight or Sunshine release. Moonlight provides the streaming foundation; Sunshine is bundled in the macOS and portable Linux host packages and supplied by the Linux Nix package. Separately installed Sunshine services are kept independent.

GPL-3.0-or-later; see LICENSE, retained source notices and the license of each vendored dependency listed in docs/VENDORED.md. Original documentation is preserved in README.upstream.md.

Diagnostic logs are enabled by default. Reproduce the issue, then create a logs ZIP and open a GitHub issue draft. Review the ZIP before attaching it: GitHub issues are public, and DeskPort does not upload or submit anything for you. See diagnostic data and limits.