Connect with Moonlight

Punktfunk speaks the GameStream protocol, so Moonlight connects to it like any GameStream host — no punktfunk-specific app needed. A good option for a browser, a smart TV, or any device without a native client.

Many platforms also have a native Punktfunk client with lower latency and built-in discovery/pairing — including Windows and Android (phone and Android TV). See Clients before reaching for Moonlight.

1. Make sure the host is running with GameStream enabled

Moonlight needs the GameStream planes, which are opt-in on every install route (the default is the secure native-only host):

• Linux packages (apt / dnf / pacman / sysext) — add PUNKTFUNK_GAMESTREAM=1 to ~/.config/punktfunk/host.env and systemctl --user restart punktfunk-host — see What the unit starts. (Installs from before the opt-in change served Moonlight by default; an upgrade switches them to native-only until you set the knob.)

• NixOS — set services.punktfunk.host.gamestream = true; (also opens the GameStream firewall ports).

• SteamOS / Steam Deck — run the installer with --gamestream (re-running it is safe and keeps the rest of your config).

• Windows — tick the installer's Enable GameStream (Moonlight) compatibility checkbox, or turn it on afterwards from an elevated prompt (=off puts it back) — see Windows Host:

  punktfunk-host service install --gamestream=on
  punktfunk-host service restart

• Running serve by hand — add the flag yourself:

  punktfunk-host serve --gamestream

(Bare serve is the secure native-only default and stock Moonlight clients can't connect to it; the native plane is always on, and --gamestream adds the Moonlight-compat surface.) Video, audio and input are all encrypted on this path, but GameStream still pairs over plain HTTP, so enable it on a trusted LAN. See Running as a Service for the bundled unit. The host advertises itself on the network, so Moonlight usually finds it on its own.

2. Add the host in Moonlight

Open Moonlight. Your host should appear automatically on the same network. If not, use Add Host manually and enter the host machine's IP address.

Still nothing? Two causes account for almost all of it:

• The GameStream ports aren't open on the host. They are TCP 47984 / 47989 / 48010 and UDP 47998 / 47999 / 48000, plus mDNS on UDP 5353. On Linux the packages ship a ready-made rule for your distro's firewall but never enable it:

  sudo ufw allow punktfunk-gamestream                               # ufw
  sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=punktfunk-gamestream  # firewalld
  sudo firewall-cmd --reload

  On Windows the installer adds these rules itself — but only for Private and Domain networks, unless you ticked Allow connections on Public networks during setup.

• Another GameStream host is running on the same machine. Sunshine, Apollo and their forks bind the same fixed ports and advertise the same mDNS name, so the wrong host answers (or neither does). Run punktfunk-host detect-conflicts on the host machine — it lists any it finds.

Both are covered in more detail in Troubleshooting.

3. Pair

Moonlight's PIN is typed in on the host side, so you need the host's web console running — the only UI where a Moonlight PIN can be entered.

1. Open the console at https://<host-ip>:47992 and go to Pairing.
2. In Moonlight, select the host and choose Pair — it shows a 4-digit PIN.
3. The console's Moonlight (GameStream) pairing card now says a client is waiting. Type the PIN there and press Submit PIN.

The device then appears under Paired devices, and Moonlight remembers the host. See Pairing & Trust for the full picture.

4. Stream

Moonlight lists Desktop plus the games the host found installed (Steam, Epic, GOG, Xbox), with cover art — the same library the native clients show. Pick one and start streaming. While a session of yours is running, Moonlight offers Resume and Quit for it — resuming re-attaches to the session you left (only the device that started it sees this). The host creates a virtual display at the resolution and frame rate Moonlight requests (set these in Moonlight's settings), encodes it on the GPU, and streams it. Mouse, keyboard, and controllers flow back to the host — and a Moonlight client that sends pen events, an iPad's Apple Pencil included, drives the same host-side tablet a native client would, with pressure and tilt intact (see Pen and stylus).

That Desktop entry is the operator base list. An apps.json in the host's config directory replaces it (it doesn't add to it), so put every entry you want in that file if you write one.

Tips

• Set your resolution and frame rate in Moonlight's settings before connecting — the host matches whatever Moonlight asks for, creating the virtual display at that exact mode.
• Codec: HEVC (H.265) is a good default; AV1 is available if your client supports it.
• HDR: Moonlight only offers its HDR toggle when the host advertises a 10-bit codec, which it does only when its capture path and its encoder can really deliver 10-bit BT.2020 PQ. If the toggle is there, turn it on and pick HEVC or AV1 — H.264 stays SDR. Setting PUNKTFUNK_10BIT=0 in host.env withdraws the offer entirely; it is on by default.
• Bitrate: the number you set is a wire budget, not an encoder setting — the host fits the video plus its error-correction inside it, so "20 Mbps" means about 20 Mbps on the wire. Start moderate and raise it. For very high bitrates, the native clients have a built-in speed test; with Moonlight, set the bitrate manually.
• The host adapts to your link. Moonlight reports packet loss back to the host, and Punktfunk acts on it: error correction is added when loss appears and wound back down when the link is clean, and sustained loss also eases the bitrate off (recovering as things settle). Nothing to configure — and it is why a marginal Wi-Fi link degrades rather than stuttering.
• Your video is encrypted. The host offers per-packet video encryption and Moonlight turns it on by itself, so the stream is encrypted end to end — audio and the control channel always were. The host also offers the GameStream protocol's newer control-encryption scheme, which Moonlight likewise turns on by itself; it gives each direction of the control channel its own nonce, which the older scheme does not. Nothing to configure.
• Moonlight uses the GameStream protocol, so it doesn't get Punktfunk's native-protocol extensions — no client-side speed test, no jumbo frames. Error correction and encryption are not on that list any more: both are in every stream. On a good link the two protocols feel the same; a native client still has more headroom on a bad one.
• Comparing Moonlight's performance overlay with a Punktfunk client's stats HUD? The numbers measure different slices of the pipeline — see Understanding the Stats Overlay for a line-by-line comparison matrix before drawing conclusions.