Running as a Service

Running serve --native in a terminal is fine for trying punktfunk out. To make a machine an always-available host, run it as a service. There are two cases.

A. A desktop you log into

If you sit at the machine (or it auto-logs-in to a desktop), run the host as a systemd user service that starts with your session:

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
cp scripts/punktfunk-host.service ~/.config/systemd/user/
# Put your host.env in place first — see the setup guide for your desktop.
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-host

The host now starts whenever you log in. Check it with systemctl --user status punktfunk-host.

B. A headless, always-on host

To run with no monitor and no login — a machine in a closet that's always ready — you need two things: a desktop session that comes up at boot, and the host service started without a login.

Start by making the host service start at boot even when nobody logs in:

sudo loginctl enable-linger "$USER"

Then bring up a session automatically, depending on your desktop:

Headless GNOME

Have GDM auto-login your user, so a GNOME Wayland session is always running:

# /etc/gdm3/custom.conf  (Ubuntu)   ·   /etc/gdm/custom.conf  (Fedora)
[daemon]
AutomaticLoginEnable = true
AutomaticLogin = your-user

Then disable the screen lock — a locked GNOME session blocks screen capture, and there's no one to unlock a headless box:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.screensaver lock-enabled false
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay 0

Enable the host user service (section A) and reboot. The host comes up on the auto-login session.

Headless KDE

punktfunk ships a unit that brings up a headless KWin/Plasma session with no display manager, so the host has a desktop to stream even with no monitor attached:

cp scripts/punktfunk-kde-session.service scripts/punktfunk-host.service ~/.config/systemd/user/
# host.env: PUNKTFUNK_COMPOSITOR=kwin, WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-kde
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable punktfunk-kde-session punktfunk-host
sudo loginctl enable-linger "$USER"
reboot

The session unit starts headless KWin; the host unit follows it and starts listening. (KWin only needs to be up by the time a client connects, so the ordering is soft.)

Headless Bazzite

On Bazzite, the host launches its own gamescope/Steam session per client, so you don't need a separate session unit — see Bazzite.

Verifying

After a reboot, from another machine on the network:

punktfunk-client-rs --discover     # or just look for the host in the Apple app / Moonlight

If the host is listed, it's up. If not, check journalctl --user -u punktfunk-host on the host.