Desktop at work

Slipstream is not only for games. A lot of people run the host on a powerful machine at home (or on a desk they left behind) and connect from a work laptop so they can use their real desktop: the same apps, same files, same GPU, same resolution as the client asks for.

This page is the Work path. It assumes you can already install a host and pair a client; if you cannot, finish Quick Start on a trusted LAN first, then come back here for the office setup. If the same host is also your game box, keep a separate Play settings profile - Play - and switch profiles instead of retuning mouse and picture every time.

Security first. A streaming host is remote control of the machine. Use a private VPN (Tailscale, WireGuard, or your router's VPN). Do not port-forward Slipstream to the public internet. Read Security & Safe Use and Network & VPN.

Who this is for

• You have a desktop or workstation you want to keep running (or wake) at home.
• You sit at an office laptop (or another machine on another network) and need that desktop for real work: IDEs, browsers, design tools, terminals, documents.
• You already accept that this is full desktop control, not a sandboxed remote app.

It is a poor fit if you need enterprise RDP features Slipstream does not claim (domain SSO, MDM policy packs, audited session recording). Slipstream is a private low-latency stream with PIN pairing on a network you trust.

The short checklist

Do these once on the host and once on the office client:

1. Host stays on a trusted network. Prefer a dedicated or workstation PC over a machine that holds your most sensitive personal data (Security).
2. VPN between office and home. Same private network as the host from Slipstream's point of view. Details: Network & VPN.
3. Pair with a native Slipstream client. Prefer native over Moonlight for work; turn GameStream off on the host if you do not need Moonlight (Security → GameStream, Moonlight).
4. Desktop (absolute) mouse. Capture mode is the default on desktop clients and fights remote desktop work. Switch to Desktop - see Mouse modes.
5. Clipboard on (host + client), usually text-only on the host - Clipboard.
6. Pick a display preset. Workstation or Hot-desk for most office cases - Virtual displays.
7. Picture for text. Prefer HEVC where available; turn on full chroma 4:4:4 when the host and client support it and your link can carry it - Picture quality, Client settings. PyroWave only on a wired LAN, not over a VPN.

Recommended host setup for work

Always available when you need it

• Run the host as a service so it comes back at login or boot: Running as a Service.
• On Linux, enable lingering if the host should stay up after you leave a local session, and prefer a real desktop session (KDE / GNOME / Hyprland / Sway) over gamescope for absolute mouse and normal desktop apps.

Headless vs logged-in

Office hosts usually fall into one of two shapes. Pick deliberately; the wrong shape is a common cause of "it worked at home, black screen from the office."

Practical rules:

• A locked GNOME session can block capture ("Session creation inhibited") - for always-on office hosts, follow the headless GNOME notes so lock does not kill the stream (Troubleshooting).
• Do not use a gamescope / Gaming Mode-only host as your office remote - see below.

Display policy and keep-alive for the office

Full policy reference: Virtual displays.

For "I left for the office and might reconnect hours later," raise keep-alive (or use a preset that already keeps the display) so reconnects do not reshuffle the desktop:

• Hot-desk and Workstation linger about five minutes after a drop - enough for a VPN blip or a laptop lid close, not enough to pin the display overnight.
• If you need apps and window layout to survive a long lunch or a commute, raise keep-alive under Custom, or use Forever and release the display from the console when you are done for the day (Keep alive).
• Forever keep-alive with Exclusive topology leaves physical monitors dark until you release - fine on a dedicated box, a bad surprise on a shared desk. Prefer Shared desktop when someone else still uses the screens in person.
• A deliberate quit from the client tears the display down immediately (linger skipped). A network drop uses the keep-alive window. Know which you did when debugging "why did my layout vanish?"

Gamescope / Gaming Mode warning

gamescope and Steam Deck Gaming Mode are excellent for games and a poor fit for office UI.

They cannot take absolute (Desktop) mouse. If your Work profile asks for Desktop mouse against a gamescope host, the session quietly stays in Capture mode - the pointer feels "stuck" or wrong for window chrome, text selection, and IDE tabs (Mouse modes, gamescope, Virtual displays → Office work and gamescope).

For remote work, run a full desktop session on the host (KDE, GNOME, Hyprland, Sway). Keep gamescope / Game Mode for the Play path on the same machine if you want both.

GameStream / Moonlight

For a work-oriented host:

• Prefer the native protocol and Slipstream clients.
• If you never use Moonlight, run the host without --gamestream (packages often enable it; turn it off). GameStream pairing uses legacy plain HTTP and belongs on a trusted LAN only - Moonlight → when not to enable, Security.

Clipboard

Enable on the host with an explicit policy:

SLIPSTREAM_CLIPBOARD=text-only

Restart the host after editing host.env. Then enable Share clipboard with this host on the office client's host edit sheet. Both switches must be on - Clipboard.

Controllers and audio at the desk

Office sessions almost never need a gamepad. Leave controllers alone unless you intentionally use one; details live on Controllers (Work section there). For sound:

• Host → client audio works for video calls on the host and system sounds; mute mid-stream when you need the laptop's own speakers (Audio).
• Stream microphone (client → host) is off in the Work profile table below unless you need it - it pipes office ambient noise into the host.

Recommended client settings for work

Create a Work settings profile on your office laptop and bind it to the home host:

Clipboard is not part of a profile - it stays a per-host trust toggle on the host record.

Save a second Couch or Play profile with Capture mouse, HDR as you like it, and game-oriented bitrate for the same host when you play at home - Play, Picture quality.

Soft text from the office

Muddy IDE fonts and fuzzy browser chrome over a VPN are almost always picture settings or bandwidth, not a broken host. Work this short list before changing display presets:

1. Confirm codec / chroma / bitrate on the stats overlay (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S).
2. Raise bitrate until text stops looking muddy, then stop. If the VPN cannot carry more, drop refresh or resolution.
3. Prefer HEVC; turn HDR off for SDR laptop panels; enable 4:4:4 only when the client advertises it and the host can encode it (the current Android and Steam Deck clients do not advertise full chroma; see Picture quality).
4. If text is sharp but the pointer fights you, that is mouse mode, not picture - switch to Desktop (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M).

Full recipes: Picture quality → Work. Do not reach for PyroWave over a VPN; it is a wired-LAN codec.

Day-in-the-life flow

1. At home, leave the workstation logged in (or configure headless / linger so the desktop session exists). Confirm the host service is running.
2. At the office, join your VPN. Confirm the host's VPN address (Tailscale IP, WireGuard peer, etc.).
3. Open the Slipstream client. If mDNS does not cross the VPN, add the host by IP - Network & VPN.
4. Connect. Switch to Desktop mouse if the stream starts in Capture (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M).
5. Work. Copy/paste across machines if clipboard is enabled. Release input with Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Q when you need your laptop's own desktop.
6. Disconnect. Your display policy decides whether apps stay arranged for a fast reconnect.

Day-2 VPN operations

After the first successful office stream, these are the habits that keep the path boring:

Before you leave home

• Confirm the host service is up (systemctl --user status slipstream-host).
• Note the address you will use from the office (Tailscale IP, WireGuard peer, or LAN IP reachable through the tunnel). Discovery will often fail over VPN - that is normal.
• If the machine sleeps, wake it before you leave or leave it on. Wake-on-LAN magic packets usually do not cross a VPN.
• Optional: open the web console once on the home LAN and confirm Preflight is clean, so you are not debugging capture from the office.

At the office, every connect

1. Join the VPN and wait until the host IP pings (or Tailscale shows the peer online).
2. Open the client → select the saved host (or Add host by VPN IP on first day).
3. If connect stalls with no picture, check UDP on the VPN path - see Network & VPN and Troubleshooting → Office / VPN.
4. Confirm Desktop mouse and your Work profile are active before blaming the host for "bad remote desktop feel."

Multi-device reconnect

One person, several clients (office laptop, home tablet, phone):

• Hot-desk - one session at a time; a second device is told the host is busy. Keep-alive helps when you close the laptop and open the tablet within the linger window.
• Workstation - extra clients can each get a separate virtual display; layout can stick per client. Use this when you intentionally want more than one stream into the same desktop arrangement.
• Reconnect to a kept display resumes the same surface without reshuffling, as long as you reconnect inside keep-alive (or under Forever until you release).
• Pair each device once (Pairing); revoke a lost laptop from the console rather than leaving it on the allow-list.

Do not expect one client window to show several host monitors in one session. Several clients can each receive a display.

File transfer alternatives

Clipboard file transfer is policy-ready on the host (SLIPSTREAM_CLIPBOARD=on) but no shipping client asks for it yet, and host backends do not offer file formats yet - so on and text-only behave the same in practice (Clipboard).

For real files between office laptop and home host, use something outside the stream:

• A folder share over the same VPN (SMB, NFS, Syncthing, Nextcloud, ...).
• scp / sftp / rsync to the host's VPN address.
• Cloud storage both machines already trust.

Text, HTML, rich text, and images can still cross on the shared clipboard when both switches are on - that is the shipping office path today.

Honest limits (today)

Call these out so Work expectations stay accurate:

• One client window cannot show several host monitors in one session. Several clients can each receive a display.
• Webcam / camera uplink for video calls on the host is not a finished product story yet.
• File transfer over clipboard is policy-ready on the host but no shipping client asks for it yet - use your VPN file share, scp, or cloud storage for large files.
• gamescope / Gaming Mode hosts are excellent for games and poor for absolute desktop mouse - use a full desktop session for office work (gamescope, input).
• Wake-on-LAN usually does not work across a VPN - wake the machine before you leave, leave it on, or use another wake path (Wake-on-LAN).
• 4:4:4 is not available in the current Android or Steam Deck clients. Keep it off for now; the host will continue to negotiate 4:2:0 (Picture quality).

Troubleshooting deeper

When the office path misbehaves, jump straight to the matching section rather than reinstalling:

Related pages

• Play - same host, game-oriented settings
• Network & VPN - how to reach the host from the office
• Picture quality - soft text, bitrate, 4:4:4
• Virtual displays - Workstation, Hot-desk, keep-alive
• Mouse, touch and pen - Desktop vs Capture mouse
• Shared clipboard
• Audio & microphone - Work mute and mic defaults
• Controllers - leave pads alone for desk work
• Profiles and links - Work vs Play profiles
• Security & Safe Use
• Running as a Service
• The Web Console
• Troubleshooting → Office / VPN