Quick Start

Five steps, each linking to the detail only if you need it. Punktfunk is built for a trusted home network — keep the host on your LAN or a VPN, never open it to the internet (why).

1. Install the host

On the PC you want to stream from, follow the one-page guide for its system — each one is the install command, the group to join, and nothing else:

Not sure your machine qualifies? Requirements is the checklist.

2. Start it

• Windows and SteamOS: nothing to do — the installer started the host and the web console, and they come back on every boot.

• Linux packages: from a terminal inside your desktop session, start the host and the console once; they restart at every login from then on:

  systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-host punktfunk-web

  On Arch install punktfunk-web first (your install page says how). Running a firewall? Your install page has the one line that opens it.

The host announces itself on your network, so clients find it by name. It works out which desktop you run by itself — there is nothing to configure for a first stream.

3. Open the web console

The console is where you admit new devices. Open https://<host-ip>:47992 in a browser (the certificate is the host's own, so your browser warns once — continue) and log in:

• Linux: the password was generated on first start — print it with sed -n 's/^PUNKTFUNK_UI_PASSWORD=//p' ~/.config/punktfunk/web-password (SteamOS: the install script printed it; it's in ~/.config/punktfunk/web.env).
• Windows: the wizard showed it on its last page. Installed with winget, or silently? There was no wizard, so print it from an elevated PowerShell with punktfunk-host web password.

Lost it? Forgot your password. Everything else about the console: The Web Console.

4. Install a client and pair it

On the device you want to stream to, install the app — Install a Client has the link for every device (Mac, iPhone/iPad/Apple TV, Linux, Windows, Android, Steam Deck), and any Moonlight client works too once you turn GameStream on.

Open the app: your host is already in the list.

Select it and connect, then click Approve next to the device in the console's Pairing page — no PIN to type. (Prefer a PIN? Pair a device shows a 4-digit code to type into the client.) Pairing happens once; the device reconnects on its own from then on. Details: Pairing & Trust.

5. Stream

Select the host, start streaming. The host creates a display at your device's exact resolution and refresh rate; mouse, keyboard and controllers flow back. On a desktop client the stream takes your mouse and keyboard — Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Q (⌃⌥⇧Q on a Mac) hands them back.

The next launch opens on the host list. Now that one host is paired, Start in can send it straight to that host's games, or into the stream.

Now that it works

• Launch installed games straight into the stream — Game library (install the plugin for each launcher you use).
• Tune resolution, bitrate, codec and HDR per device — Client settings.
• Copy here, paste there — Shared clipboard. Wake a sleeping host — Wake-on-LAN.
• Run the host headless, with nobody logged in — Running as a service.
• Already running Sunshine or Apollo? Switching from Sunshine.
• Stuck? Troubleshooting starts from the symptom.