Ubuntu

Install a Slipstream host on Ubuntu (Desktop or Server) by building a .deb from this repo, or by installing a release .deb from GitHub Releases when one is attached. There is no public apt registry. This page covers the distro-level setup, GPU driver, package, gamepad access. It works with either GNOME or KDE; how the host creates its virtual display and injects input is desktop-specific, so pick your desktop on the configure pages afterward rather than here.

New here? Read Security & Safe Use first, a streaming host is remote control of the machine, so keep it on a trusted LAN or VPN and require pairing.

Which releases. There is one universal host package. It bundles FFmpeg 8 and needs glibc 2.39 or newer, that's Ubuntu 24.04 LTS through 26.04, the range it's built and tested for. Check yours with ldd --version; below 2.39 the install fails and you build from source instead (appendix). The desktop client package is built on Ubuntu 26.04 and needs GTK4 ≥ 4.20 and SDL3, so it installs on 26.04 or newer only, the host has no such limit.

Debian isn't a supported target. The packages are built on Ubuntu images and their dependencies are resolved against Ubuntu's package names, and nothing in CI builds or tests on Debian. Debian 12 (bookworm) is below the glibc floor and cannot install them at all. A newer Debian may work, but it's untested, build from source (appendix) if you want to try. The debian packaging tree in the repo is the package format, not a supported Debian distro.

1. GPU driver

On NVIDIA, install the recommended driver.

sudo ubuntu-drivers install      # or: sudo apt install nvidia-driver-<version>

Then make sure the GL/EGL userspace is present, Wayland compositors on NVIDIA need it, and the base driver package doesn't always pull it in. Install the libnvidia-gl package matching your driver version:

sudo apt install libnvidia-gl-<version>   # e.g. libnvidia-gl-550

Reboot, then confirm the driver and KMS modeset:

nvidia-smi
cat /sys/module/nvidia_drm/parameters/modeset   # should print Y

If modeset is not Y:

echo 'options nvidia-drm modeset=1' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-drm.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u && sudo reboot

Secure Boot: on a machine with Secure Boot enabled, the NVIDIA kernel module won't load until you enrol its signing key. If nvidia-smi reports it can't talk to the driver, run sudo mokutil --import /var/lib/shim-signed/mok/MOK.der (set a one-time password), reboot, and choose Enrol MOK at the blue screen. Or disable Secure Boot in firmware.

On AMD/Intel none of the NVIDIA steps apply. Encode runs on the Mesa stack: Vulkan Video for HEVC and AV1 (mesa-vulkan-drivers), with VAAPI for H.264 and as the fallback, mesa-va-drivers on AMD, intel-media-va-driver on Intel, both of which the slipstream-host package recommends, so apt pulls the right one in with the host. Install mesa-vulkan-drivers too if it isn't already on the box.

2. Install the host (local `.deb`)

There is no public apt registry for Slipstream. Build a .deb from this repo (see packaging/debian/README.md), or download a .deb from GitHub Releases when assets are attached, then install it:

git clone https://github.com/vindeckyy/slipstream.git && cd slipstream
# Build (needs dpkg-dev). Prefer the noble+BUNDLE_FFMPEG path for a 24.04-26.04-compatible host:
# VERSION=0.23.0 BUNDLE_FFMPEG=1 bash packaging/debian/build-deb.sh
# Or follow packaging/debian/README.md for the Docker build that CI uses.
sudo apt install ./dist/slipstream-host_*.deb

slipstream-host Recommends the browser console (slipstream-web), so apt pulls it in by default when that package is available next to the host. The desktop client (slipstream-client) is a separate package for the machine you stream to, not installed on a host. The NVIDIA driver is not a dependency, you installed it out of band in step 1. Later updates: rebuild or download a newer .deb, install it the same way, then restart the running host so it picks up the new binary:

systemctl --user restart slipstream-host

Restart slipstream-web too (systemctl --user restart slipstream-web) if you run it and installed a newer console package.

Updating the Host covers the rest, the web console's Updates card, and the opt-in one-click update button whose slipstream-update group this package creates.

Channel notes (stable vs canary) for when you publish your own feeds are in Release Channels. For day-to-day use, pin a release tag or track main when you rebuild.

3. Grant gamepad access

Virtual gamepads inject through /dev/uinput, which is gated by the input group. Add yourself and re-login so the new group membership takes effect:

sudo usermod -aG input "$USER"     # re-login to apply

4. Check it installed

Before moving on, confirm the binary is there and nothing else is competing for the same job:

slipstream-host --version           # the binary is on PATH
slipstream-host detect-conflicts    # exits 1 if Sunshine/Apollo is also installed

If detect-conflicts reports another streaming host, remove it before going further, two hosts on one machine is the most common reason a clean install never streams. See Troubleshooting -> another streaming host is installed.

Once you've enabled the service on your desktop page below, these are how you watch it:

systemctl --user status slipstream-host      # active
journalctl --user -u slipstream-host -f      # watch a client connect

5. Open the firewall (if you have one)

Ubuntu installs ufw but leaves it inactive, so out of the box there is nothing to open. If you did enable one, common on Ubuntu Server, the package ships the openers for both, because a package never edits your firewall itself.

The packaged unit runs serve --gamestream, the .deb installs it as it ships and only rewrites the binary path, so a host you enabled with systemctl --user enable --now slipstream-host serves both the native slipstream/1 plane and stock Moonlight clients, and needs both openers:

# ufw:
sudo ufw allow slipstream-native
sudo ufw allow slipstream-gamestream

# firewalld:
sudo firewall-cmd --reload                                        # load the installed definitions
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=slipstream-native
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=slipstream-gamestream
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Switched the host to native-only, dropped --gamestream with a systemctl --user edit slipstream-host drop-in, or you run slipstream-host serve by hand? Then open slipstream-native alone and leave slipstream-gamestream closed. systemctl --user cat slipstream-host shows which one yours is.

slipstream-native opens UDP 9777 (QUIC control), UDP 5353 (mDNS discovery) and TCP 47990 (the mgmt/library API, HTTPS + mTLS, read-only off loopback). slipstream-gamestream opens the fixed Moonlight ports, TCP 47984, 47989 and 48010, UDP 47998-48000, plus the same mDNS. The media data plane uses an ephemeral UDP port the client opens with a hole-punch, so there is nothing fixed to open for video.

Running the web console (slipstream-web) and want to reach it from another device? Open it too, that's TCP 47992:

sudo ufw allow slipstream-web                                                             # ufw
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=slipstream-web && sudo firewall-cmd --reload  # firewalld

Full port lists are in packaging/debian/README.md.

Configure your desktop

How the host creates its virtual display and injects input depends on your desktop, not your distro. Continue on the page for the desktop you run, it covers your host.env, any compositor quirks, and starting the host:

Then bring up The Web Console to arm pairing and connect your first client. To run the host at boot, including fully headless, see Running as a Service.

Next steps

Keep it current, Updating the Host.
Remove it again, Uninstalling.
Something not working?, Troubleshooting.

Appendix, build from source

If your release is older than the supported range above, or you want to track main directly, compile the host yourself (no clean updates / no packaged units, you wire those up by hand).

Install the build toolchain and runtime libraries. The packaged host is built against FFmpeg 8: Ubuntu 26.04's libavcodec-dev is FFmpeg 8, but 24.04's is FFmpeg 6.1, on 24.04 build FFmpeg 8 yourself first (that's what ci/rust-ci-noble.Dockerfile does, and the shipped .deb bundles the result) or stick with the packaged host.

sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config cmake clang libclang-dev nasm git curl \
  pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber libpipewire-0.3-dev libspa-0.2-dev \
  libwayland-dev wayland-protocols libxkbcommon-dev libopus-dev \
  libdrm-dev libgbm-dev libgl-dev libegl-dev libgles-dev mesa-common-dev libva-dev \
  ffmpeg libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev libswscale-dev libavfilter-dev libavdevice-dev \
  libnvidia-egl-wayland1 libnvidia-egl-gbm1 libei-dev

Install Rust if you don't have it, then build:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
git clone https://github.com/vindeckyy/slipstream.git && cd slipstream
cargo build --release --locked \
  --features slipstream-host/nvenc,slipstream-host/vulkan-encode \
  -p slipstream-host

Those two features are what the packaged build uses, without them the host has no direct NVENC (NVIDIA) and no Vulkan Video encode (AMD/Intel), and falls back to the slower libav backends.

The host binary lands at target/release/slipstream-host. Configure your desktop as above, then run it from inside your session:

cargo run --release --locked \
  --features slipstream-host/nvenc,slipstream-host/vulkan-encode \
  -p slipstream-host -- serve --gamestream

(The native plane is always on; --gamestream adds the Moonlight-compat surface, trusted LAN only. Drop it for a secure native-only host.)

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