Note

Deskflow is the official upstream project for Synergy. Purchasing a Synergy license is one way to support Deskflow’s growth and sustainability.

The Deskflow project was established to cultivate community-driven development where everyone can collaborate. Synergy sponsors the Deskflow project by contributing code and providing financial support.

More info: Relationship with Synergy

Deskflow is a free and open source keyboard and mouse sharing app. Use the keyboard, mouse, or trackpad of one computer to control nearby computers, and work seamlessly between them. It's like a software KVM (but without the video). TLS encryption is enabled by default. Wayland is supported. Clipboard sharing is supported.

            

To use Deskflow you can use one of our packages, install deskflow (if available in your package repository), or build it yourself from source.

Tip

For macOS users, the easiest way to install and stay up to date is to use Homebrew with our homebrew-tap.

Project Values

• Motivated by the community interests (not business-driven)
• Privacy by default (e.g. update check is off by default)
• Leading edge releases (we don't focus on supporting older systems)
• Decisions are discussed and documented publicly with majority rule
• Have fun; we don't need to worry about impressing anyone

Ways to get involved

Tip

Join us! Real-time discussion on Matrix: #deskflow:matrix.org

Alternatively, we have other ways to communicate.

Here are a few ways to join in with the project and get involved:

• Build the latest master version (see below) and report a bug
• Submit a PR (pull request) with a bug fix or improvement
• Let us know if you have an idea for an improvement

Build Quick Start

For instructions on building Deskflow, use the wiki page: Building

Operating Systems

We support all major operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Unix-like BSD-derived.

Windows 10 or higher is required.

macOS 12 or higher is required.

All Linux distributions are supported, primarily focusing on: Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, RHEL, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, Arch Linux, openSUSE, Gentoo.

We officially support FreeBSD, and would also like to support: OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly, Solaris.

Repology

Repology monitors a huge number of package repositories and other sources comparing package versions across them and gathering other information.

Note: We are working with package maintainers to have our new package name adopted.

Installing on macOS

When you install Deskflow on macOS, you need to allow accessibility access (Privacy & Security) to both the Deskflow app and the deskflow process.

If using Sequoia, you may also need to allow Deskflow under Local Network‍ settings (Privacy & Security). When prompted by the OS, go to the settings and enable the access.

If you are upgrading and you already have Deskflow or deskflow on the allowed list you will need to manually remove them before accessibility access can be granted to the new version.

macOS users who download directly from releases may need to run xattr -c /Applications/Deskflow.app after copying the app to the Applications dir.

It is recommend to install Deskflow using Homebrew from our homebrew-tap

To add our tap, run:

brew tap deskflow/homebrew-tap

Then install either:

• Stable: brew install deskflow
• Continuous: brew install deskflow-dev

Collaborative Projects

In the open source developer community, similar projects collaborate for the improvement of all mouse and keyboard sharing tools. We aim for idea sharing and interoperability.

• Lan Mouse - Rust implementation with the goal of having native front-ends and interoperability with Deskflow/Synergy.
• Input Leap - Deskflow/Synergy-derivative with the goal of continuing what Barrier started, after Barrier became a dead fork.
• Synergy - Downstream commercial fork and Deskflow sponsor, geared toward adapting to customer needs, offering business and enterprise licensing.

FAQ

What is the relationship with Synergy?

Synergy sponsors the Deskflow project by contributing code and providing financial support while maintaining its customer-oriented code downstream.

Learn more: Relationship with Synergy

Is Deskflow compatible with Synergy, Input Leap, or Barrier?

Yes, Deskflow has network compatibility with all forks:

• Requires Deskflow >= v1.17.0.96
• Deskflow will just work with Input Leap and Barrier (server or client).
• Connecting a Deskflow client to a Synergy server will also just work.
• To connect a Synergy client, you need to select the Synergy protocol in the Deskflow server settings.

Is Deskflow compatible with Lan Mouse?

We would love to see compatibility with Lan Mouse. This may be quite an effort as currently the way they handle the generated input is very different.

If I want to solve issues in Deskflow do I need to contribute to a fork?

We welcome PRs (pull requests) from the community. If you'd like to make a change, please feel free to start a discussion or open a PR.

Is clipboard sharing supported?

Absolutely. The clipboard-sharing feature is a cornerstone feature of the product and we are committed to maintaining and improving that feature.

Is Wayland for Linux supported?

Yes! Wayland (the Linux display server protocol aimed to become the successor of the X Window System) is an important platform for us. The libei and libportal libraries enable Wayland support for Deskflow. We would like to give special thanks to Peter Hutterer, who is the author of libei, a major contributor to libportal, and the author of the Wayland implementation in Deskflow. Others such as Olivier Fourdan and Povilas Kanapickas helped with the Wayland implementation.

Where did it all start?

Deskflow was first created as Synergy in 2001 by Chris Schoeneman. Read about the history of the project on our wiki.

Meow'Dib (our mascot)

Deskflow Contributors

Deskflow is made by possible by these contributors.

License

This project is licensed under GPL-2.0 with an OpenSSL exception.