Remote desktop for VNC, RDP and SSH

Every Windows, Linux and Mac machine you look after, in one window.

DeskVNC is a native client for Windows, macOS and Linux. Your machines live in one library with their own saved sign in. When the work is routine, an AI agent can do it through the same connections, and you take the wheel back with one click.

Watch the 86 second film Download free Book a demo
Type an address the way you think of it
VNC10.0.0.4:5901
RDPrdp://frontdesk
SSHssh://ops@jump-01
IDa machine behind someone else's router

Free and open source under MIT or Apache 2.0. No account, no telemetry. Rollout, training and support from Ripeflow LLC.

What you will see: the library with live desktops, Windows, Linux and a shell side by side, a laptop behind someone's router, and a real AI agent doing routine checks until a person takes the wheel.

1:26 · captions on · vertical · square
3 protocolsVNC, RDP and SSH, plus support sessions by machine ID
3 platformsWindows, macOS and Linux, signed on Windows and Mac
0 agentsinstalled on the far end for VNC, RDP or SSH
2,000+release downloads across 30 releases on GitHub

What we keep hearing

Remote access is where IT time leaks away

These come up again and again on our calls with IT people, support desks and clients. Paraphrased, with no names.

A support desk

Customers read out remote access IDs and passwords, and the team pastes them into a group chat. Three different tools, nothing tied to a machine record.

Fix: an invitation they approve on screen
A contractor team

Weeks of asking when remote desktop access would be ready before any real work could start.

Fix: one library, ready the day it is installed
A security minded client

Let one trusted team in, and not the other half a billion people. A firewall alone does not solve that neatly.

Fix: connect by machine ID, no open ports
An operations lead

Automation still needs a real desktop, and a person still has to step in when a code or a prompt appears.

Fix: an agent you can watch and stop

Four short films

Each one shows a job you can do the same day

Recorded on the real app against a lab of invented machines: Windows over RDP, Linux desktops over VNC, encoder servers over SSH and a home laptop behind its own router. Every film has captions, chapters and a written version.

1:24 · for IT admins setting it up

Bring every machine into one library

What you will learn: how to add a machine with its sign in, group and tag it, quick connect without saving, find any machine, and work on several at once.

Read it as steps
  1. Press New Host. Give the machine a name your team will recognise.
  2. Under Connect using, pick VNC, RDP, SSH or Boundary support, then type the address. Host names work, and so do forms like rdp://frontdesk.
  3. Add the user name and password. The password goes into your system keychain, never into a file.
  4. Choose a Group (where the machine lives) and click one or more Tags (what it does), then press Add Host.
  5. Double click the tile to connect. Turn on Live previews to see open sessions move on their tiles.
  6. For a one off, type the address in the bar at the top and press Connect. Nothing is saved.
  7. To work on two machines at once, press Split right or Split down on the toolbar and pick a machine for the new pane.
1:27 · for support desks and MSPs

Reach a machine behind a firewall by its ID

What you will learn: how to get onto a laptop in someone's home without a VPN or port forwarding, what the person sees and approves, and how to come back later by machine ID.

Read it as steps
  1. Ask them to open DeskVNC Support from the release page. It runs without installing. If they have DeskVNC, they press Get help instead.
  2. They press Create invitation and send you what it shows, in any chat. It is valid for one session and expires after ten minutes if nobody connects.
  3. You press Help someone, type your name, and the invitation is pasted from your clipboard. Press Connect.
  4. They see your name and choose Allow viewing and control, Allow viewing or Decline. Letting your tools run commands is a separate box, unticked by default.
  5. For a machine you look after often, they can let you connect any time. It is saved in your library under its machine ID.
  6. Next time, use Connect to a computer and paste the ID. While you are connected they see a red banner and can end your session.
1:25 · for teams running AI agents

Hand routine work to an AI agent, keep the wheel

What you will learn: how to connect Claude Code, what a real agent run looks like on SSH and Windows machines, what happens when the screen changes under it, and how to take control back.

Read it as steps
  1. Open AI Agents in the sidebar and press Connect next to Connect Claude Code. Other MCP clients run dvv mcp --stdio.
  2. Ask the agent for the job in plain words, naming machines from your library. It opens them as ordinary tabs with an agent badge.
  3. It acquires control before acting, looks at the screen, then clicks and types. Commands on SSH machines come back with their real exit code.
  4. If the screen changes after it looked, typing is refused with SCREEN_CHANGED and the agent has to look again.
  5. To step in, click into the pane. The agent is fenced out of that session and held keys are released.
  6. Password and certificate prompts always stay with you. The agent cannot read or supply a stored password.
1:18 · for security reviewers

Keep credentials and access in your hands

What you will learn: where DeskVNC keeps passwords, how first contact with a server is checked, what an agent can and cannot do, and how the other side ends a session.

Read it as steps
  1. Passwords are stored in Keychain on a Mac, Credential Manager on Windows and Secret Service on Linux. A test checks that the profile database holds no secrets.
  2. On first contact, an SSH server shows its fingerprint. Check it against ssh-keygen -lf on the server, then trust it.
  3. An RDP certificate is pinned the first time, with fingerprint words that are easy to read out. You are told if it changes.
  4. A password is remembered only after it works.
  5. In a support session, the person at the other end approves you and can stop control, stop commands or end the session.

Real screens

The app, as it is

Screenshots of the v0.31.1 release at twice normal resolution. Click any one to see it full size. The machines are invented, and anything that could identify a real network is covered.

Who it is for

Three kinds of people get the most from it

IT admins and MSPs

One library for every client's machines

  • Groups and tags by site and by role, with bulk select and drag onto a group.
  • Support sessions for machines behind someone else's router, approved on their screen.
  • Unattended access for paired helpers, up to eight at once, and on Windows and macOS even before anyone signs in.
  • Wake on LAN from a saved MAC address, and a network scan that finds VNC and RDP machines nearby.
Home lab and self hosting

The servers in the cupboard and the desktop upstairs

  • VNC to anything that speaks it: x11vnc, TigerVNC, QEMU, RealVNC and macOS Screen Sharing are all tested.
  • SSH terminals that survive a drop through tmux or psmux, with SFTP transfers and tunnels.
  • Pick one monitor of a multi head VNC desktop from the toolbar.
  • Free, with no account and no telemetry.
Teams running AI agents

Agents on real desktops, with a person in charge

  • An MCP server, dvv, ships with the app. Claude Code and OpenCode are verified over stdio and HTTP.
  • Nothing installed on the target. The agent uses the same VNC, RDP or SSH connection, which reaches Citrix, VDI and jump hosts.
  • Fenced clicks and typing. A stale screen is refused instead of misclicked.
  • Take the wheel by clicking into the pane. Ten machines are ten independent leases.

What it replaces

Fewer seat licences, one tool to learn

DeskVNC itself is free. The usual alternative is a connection manager per admin, plus a support tool per technician. Public list prices, checked 25 October 2026.

ToolWhat you paySource
Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager$400 per user per yeardevolutions.net/pricing
Royal TS or Royal TSXEUR 49 per user, one time, with a year of updatesroyalapps.com
Splashtop Remote Access$72 to $149 per user per yearsplashtop.com/pricing
Splashtop Remote Support SOSfrom $259 per technician per yearsplashtop.com/pricing
RustDesk Server Pro$11.88 to $23.88 a month, billed yearlyrustdesk.com/pricing
TeamViewer, AnyDeskper seat subscriptions, see their pagesteamviewer.com · anydesk.com
DeskVNCFree, MIT or Apache 2.0. Optional paid rollout and support from Ripeflow.github.com/psmux/DeskVNC

Work out your own number

$2,000

a year in list price licences, before any discount your vendor gives you. Your own price may differ; use it instead.

A fair comparison

How it sits next to the tools you know

Only what each project's own pages say. Every one of these is a good tool for the job it was built for.

DeskVNCRemminamRemoteNGRoyal TS / TSXRustDesk
Runs onWindows, macOS, LinuxLinuxWindowsWindows (TS), macOS (TSX)Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile
Speaks VNC, RDP and SSHYesYes, plus SPICE and X2GoYes, plus Telnet and moreYes, plus web and moreIts own protocol
Far end needs the vendor's appNo, for VNC, RDP and SSH. Support sessions use DeskVNC SupportNoNoNot statedYes, both ends run RustDesk
Reach a machine behind someone's routerYes, by invitation or machine IDNot listedNot listedNot listedYes
AI agent control plane (MCP)Yes, built inNot listedNot listedNot listedNot listed
Extra runtimeNoneNone.NET Desktop RuntimeShips its ownNone
Licence and priceMIT or Apache 2.0, freeGPL, freeGPL, freePaid, free Lite tierAGPL, free; paid Server Pro

Sources: remmina.org, github.com/mRemoteNG/mRemoteNG, royalapps.com, rustdesk.com and its docs, checked 25 October 2026. DeskVNC from its README and CHANGELOG.

Security

Know where the keys live

The code is open, so your security team can check every one of these. Each line points at where it is written down.

Passwords in the system keychain

Keychain Services, Credential Manager or Secret Service, with an encrypted file under a master password for headless machines. A test asserts the profile database holds nothing sensitive.

README, SECURITY.md

First contact is checked

SSH host keys and RDP certificates are shown with their fingerprint on first contact and pinned. A changed certificate is flagged, not trusted.

docs/ARCHITECTURE.md

Nothing installed on the far end

VNC, RDP and SSH sessions use the servers those machines already run. No agent of ours sits on them.

README

Agents never see a password

An agent opens saved machines, but the credential comes from the keychain inside the app. Password and certificate prompts are answered by a person, by design.

docs/AGENTS.md

The other side stays in charge

Support needs approval on their screen. Viewing, control and running commands are separate choices, and they can stop control or end the session.

CHANGELOG 0.28.0

No account, no telemetry

Nothing to sign up for and nothing sent home. Every crate that parses remote bytes forbids unsafe code. macOS builds are notarized and Windows builds are signed.

README, SECURITY.md, docs/INSTALL.md

Who builds it

The team that builds it also rolls it out

DeskVNC is built by Ripeflow LLC of Manassas, Virginia. We build it, roll it out across fleets, support it and customise it. The same people have spent more than twenty years shipping production systems: streaming infrastructure, bonded network routers, broadcast head ends and the tools to run them.

The protocol engines for VNC, RDP and SSH are written from scratch in Rust in the DeskVNC repository, not wrapped around somebody else's library. That is why we can fix a problem at the wire level when a client's server behaves oddly.

Book a demoRead the source
In production

A US healthcare and broadcast client keeps the office Mac that builds and tests its apps behind a consumer router with no open ports. Our engineers reach it from another continent with DeskVNC Support, by machine ID, and it starts on its own at sign in.

In production

A live streaming company's support desk now sends customers a DeskVNC Support build instead of asking them to read out remote access codes.

Every day

We run our own office on it. Laptops and desktops on the LAN and over VPN, and AI agents use the same connections to operate them, Windows permission prompts included.

1,500+

streaming servers provisioned by the same team between 2018 and 2023, for about 1,100 broadcaster and organisation customers.

For MSPs and IT teams

We roll it out, train your people and stay on call

The software is free either way. If you would rather not do the rollout yourself, this is what Ripeflow does, on a fixed scope or a monthly plan.

01

Rollout

We import your machines into a shared library layout, set groups and tags, configure support sessions and unattended access, and check every machine connects.

02

Training

A working session for your admins and support desk on the library, support sessions, unattended access and the agent control plane, recorded for new staff.

03

Support

A direct line to the people who wrote the protocol engines, with priority fixes when one of your servers misbehaves.

04

Custom integrations

The agent control plane inside your own product, a hardened dvv, a private relay and code service, or protocol work on the Rust cores.

See it on your own machines

Thirty minutes on a call. Bring a Windows box, a Linux server and the machine nobody can reach.

Book a demo

Questions people ask first

FAQ

Is it really free?

Yes. DeskVNC is open source under MIT or Apache 2.0, with no paid tier holding a feature back. Ripeflow charges only for rollout, training, support and custom work, if you want them.

Do I have to install anything on the machines I connect to?

Not for VNC, RDP or SSH. DeskVNC uses the servers those machines already run. For a machine behind someone else's router, the person runs DeskVNC Support, which works without installing.

Which systems does it run on?

Windows, macOS and Linux. The macOS build is signed and notarized, the Windows installer is signed, and Linux has deb, rpm and AppImage packages.

Can it reach a Mac?

Yes, over VNC to Apple's built in Screen Sharing, which is one of the servers it is tested against, or through a DeskVNC Support session.

Which AI agents work with it?

Claude Code and OpenCode are verified over stdio and HTTP. Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, VS Code and plain Python agents are covered in the integration notes. Any MCP client can run dvv mcp --stdio.

Can an agent read my passwords?

No. The credential comes from the keychain inside the app, and an agent can neither read nor supply one. Password and certificate prompts stay with the person.

Does it need an account or a cloud service?

No account. Support sessions try a direct encrypted path first and use a relay when the networks block one. You can point it at your own relay or private network.

Is it finished?

It is before version 1.0 and moving quickly, with a release most weeks. The protocol cores are covered by tests, and every release is in the CHANGELOG. That pace is one reason teams take a support plan.

Download

Get version 0.31.1

All builds come from the GitHub release page, with checksums.

macOS

Universal build for Apple silicon and Intel, signed and notarized.

Download .dmg

Windows

Signed installer. SmartScreen may ask once while the certificate is new: More info, then Run anyway.

Download .exe.msi

Linux

x86_64 packages for Debian and Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE, or any distribution as an AppImage.

.deb.rpmAppImage

For the person you are helping: DeskVNC Support for macOS, Windows and Linux is on the same release page. Every release: github.com/psmux/DeskVNC/releases.