Remote Desktop — DevMonk Connect

What is it?

Your screen, streamed to a browser tab

Remote desktop lets you see exactly what's on your computer's screen from anywhere. DevMonk captures your screen, compresses it, and streams it to your browser over a secure WebSocket connection. You can click, type, move the mouse — everything you'd do sitting in front of the computer. No installing TeamViewer, no account with a third-party company, no monthly fee. Your screen goes from your machine directly to your browser with nothing in between.

Use Cases

Why use Remote Desktop?

🏠

Control home PC from work

Left something running on your home computer? Access it from the office browser.

🖥️

Run GUI apps on a server

Run graphical applications on a headless VPS via a virtual display (Xvfb).

🍓

Manage Raspberry Pi with desktop

Pi running LXDE or XFCE? Access it from any device without a monitor or keyboard.

💼

Replace TeamViewer

No third-party account, no usage limits, no "commercial use" warnings.

Before You Start

Requirements checklist

✔DevMonk agent installed and running

✔Home PC / Mac: Nothing extra — your screen is already there

✔VPS (headless): Install xfce4 scrot xvfb to create a virtual display

✔A modern browser (Chrome recommended for best performance)

Step-by-Step

How to use Remote Desktop

1

Install the DevMonk agent

The agent detects your display automatically on home PC and Mac. No extra software needed.

2

Log in to DevMonk and click "Remote"

The Remote Desktop tab appears in the sidebar. Click it and your screen starts streaming immediately.

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │ │ ░░ [ Your Desktop — click to interact ] ░░ │ │ ░░ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ░░ │ │ ░░ │ Browser │ │ Terminal │ ... ░░ │ │ ░░ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ ░░ │ │ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

3

Click on the screen to interact

Mouse clicks, keyboard input, and scrolling all work. The stream updates at ~10fps, which is smooth enough for most tasks.

1

Install a desktop environment and virtual display

On your VPS (headless Linux), install XFCE and Xvfb to create a virtual screen.

$ apt install xfce4 scrot xvfb -y

2

Start the virtual display

Create a virtual display on :1 (so it doesn't conflict with any real display).

$ Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1280x800x24 &

3

Start the XFCE desktop on that display

$ DISPLAY=:1 startxfce4 &

4

Restart the DevMonk agent with DISPLAY set

The agent needs to know which display to capture.

$ DISPLAY=:1 devmonk-agent restart

5

Open the Remote tab in DevMonk

You'll now see your XFCE desktop streamed in your browser. Click around to interact with it.

Try it now

Open and interact with your desktop

In the DevMonk dashboard, click the "Remote" tab in the sidebar. Your screen will appear. Click anywhere on it to start interacting — try opening a terminal or moving a window.

# No command needed — just click the Remote tab in DevMonk
# For VPS: open a terminal inside the remote desktop and try:
xterm &

Common Questions

FAQ

A headless VPS has no physical display. You need to install a desktop environment (like XFCE) and start a virtual display with Xvfb before DevMonk can capture anything. Follow the VPS tab steps above.

It runs at ~10 frames per second using JPEG compression. This is fine for file management, running scripts, or working in text editors. It's not suitable for watching video or gaming. For terminal work, the Web Terminal is much faster.

Yes. Click on the remote screen first to give it focus, then type normally. Your keystrokes are forwarded to the remote machine in real time.

Yes, but the experience is limited on mobile — tapping replaces clicking, and you can't easily type long inputs. For mobile administration, the Web Terminal is much more practical.

Next Steps

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