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rdrd
New Agents and rd Desktop update themselves

Your desktop, in a browser tab.

rd is a low-latency remote desktop for networks that only allow HTTPS. The screen, the keyboard and the mouse travel over one secure WebSocket on port 443, and the machine you reach dials out, so nothing listens at home.

Get startedTry it locallyGitHub
  • Mac and Windows hosts
  • Any browser with WebCodecs
  • No inbound ports

Made for networks that only speak HTTPS

Section titled “Made for networks that only speak HTTPS”

A locked-down work laptop may block VNC, RDP, SSH and anything else that isn’t a web browser on port 80 or 443. rd works within those limits: both ends connect out to a small gateway, and the traffic looks like any other web app.

Anywhere

Viewer

A browser tab, or rd Desktop

  • Decodes H.264 with WebCodecs
  • Acknowledges every frame
  • Sends keys, pointer, scroll
WSS · 443
you sign in

Your server

rd-gateway

One small container

  • Serves the portal and viewer
  • Checks sign-in and device tokens
  • Joins the two sockets, no buffering
WSS · 443
it dials out

At home

rd-agent

On the Mac or Windows PC

  • Captures the screen
  • Encodes on the GPU
  • Injects mouse and keyboard

Current, not queued

Section titled “Current, not queued”

Most streaming tools fill a buffer when the network slows down, and the picture falls further and further behind. rd works the other way around: the viewer acknowledges every frame, and when the link can’t keep up the agent skips frames before encoding and lowers the bitrate. You may see fewer frames for a moment, but what you see is current.

  1. 1CaptureScreenCaptureKit / Desktop Duplication
  2. 2Windowadmit, or skip before encoding
  3. 3Encodehardware H.264
  4. 4Gatewaycopies, never queues
  5. 5DecodeWebCodecs, then paint
The window holds only as many frames as the link can deliver in one round trip, plus the encoding time and 40 ms of slack (2 to 16 frames). When it is full, the next captured frame is skipped before it is encoded, so nothing waits in a queue.

Everything for daily use

Section titled “Everything for daily use”

  • Runs in a browser tab

    Any modern browser with WebCodecs. Nothing to install on the computer you sit at.

  • Outbound only

    The agent dials out to the gateway, so no ports are open on your home router.

  • Low latency

    Hardware H.264 at up to 60 or 120 fps, with a bitrate controller tuned in a network simulator.

  • The lock screen stays yours

    Input is dropped while the host is locked, so nothing is typed into a password field by accident. On Windows, an optional service shows the real lock screen when you need it.

  • A keyboard that works

    Physical key codes, Caps Lock sync and automatic Windows ⇄ Mac modifier mapping (Ctrl ⇄ Cmd).

  • System shortcuts, with rd Desktop

    The desktop app also captures Alt+Tab, Cmd+Tab and the Windows key, which a browser tab normally never receives.

  • Multiple displays

    Switch between the host’s screens. Pointer lock, and scaling that keeps the aspect ratio.

  • Single sign-on

    Authentik in front of the portal, an email allowlist, and a separate token for every device.

  • Add device in the portal

    The portal shows a setup code, once, to paste into the agent’s setup. No restart.

  • Network probe

    A built-in test checks whether a network can carry a session before you rely on it.

  • Updates itself

    Signed updates for rd Desktop and the agents. An agent rolls back if the new version doesn’t come back.

  • Recovery path

    Mac locked, logged out or rebooted? With a little setup at home, Apple Screen Sharing over Guacamole gets you back in.

See it

Section titled “See it”

The portal lists your machines; a click connects, and the details are one click away. These are the real pages, served by a dev gateway with a test-pattern agent.

The rd portal: summary tiles, a MacBook Pro that is online and a Mac Studio that is offline, and the recent activity

Runs where you work

Section titled “Runs where you work”

Mac agent

macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon or Intel. Screen Recording and Accessibility are approved once, at the Mac.

Windows agent

Windows 10 (1703+) and 11. Per-user installer, no admin rights. Encodes on NVIDIA, Intel or AMD GPUs.

Browser

Any browser with WebCodecs, over HTTPS. Chrome and Edge can also lock the keyboard in fullscreen.

rd Desktop

Windows 10/11 and macOS 12+. The viewer in its own window, sending Alt+Tab, Cmd+Tab and the Windows key to the remote machine.

Get going

Section titled “Get going”
IntroductionWhat rd is made of and what you need to run it.
Quick startGateway and a test-pattern agent on your own computer, in five minutes.
Run the gatewayConfiguration, sign-in, devices, the container image.
Install an agentCopy and paste commands for the Mac, Windows PC or Linux server you want to reach.