SteamOS (Host)

Stream from a Steam Deck or any SteamOS 3 box to your other devices. To stream to a Steam Deck instead, see Install a Client.

SteamOS is read-only, so the host isn't a package: a script builds it on the device inside a distrobox and runs it as user services, and a check at boot rebuilds it if a SteamOS update breaks it. A host is remote control of the machine, so keep it on a trusted LAN or VPN (Security & Safe Use).

What you need

• SteamOS 3, such as a Steam Deck (LCD or OLED). A wired dock beats Wi-Fi.
• A sudo password. A stock deck account has none, so set one once with passwd. Without it the installer skips every root step: gamepad passthrough, UDP buffers, surviving OS updates, and running without a login.
• A real terminal: Konsole in Desktop Mode, or ssh -t. Without a TTY for the sudo prompt the same steps are skipped.
• distrobox. If distrobox isn't found, install it without root, then reopen the terminal so ~/.local/bin is on your PATH:

  curl -sfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/89luca89/distrobox/main/install | sh -s -- --prefix ~/.local

• About 20 minutes and 1 GB for the first build: ~15 minutes for the host, ~5 for the HDR gamescope. A re-run takes about a minute.

1. Install

git clone https://git.unom.io/unom/punktfunk ~/punktfunkbash ~/punktfunk/scripts/steamdeck/install.sh

One command instead? The guided installer (preview) runs the same two lines and also asks about Moonlight compatibility and the shared clipboard:

curl -fsSL https://punktfunk.unom.io/install.sh | sh

The script asks for your sudo password first, then builds; it is safe to re-run. It builds the host, the web console and the plugin runner, sets up gamepad access, UDP buffers and the input and punktfunk groups so they survive SteamOS updates, and starts the punktfunk-host and punktfunk-web user services, which run without anyone logged in.

2. Pair

1. Open https://<device-ip>:47992 from a browser on your network. It warns once about the self-signed certificate; continue.
2. Sign in with the PUNKTFUNK_UI_PASSWORD in ~/.config/punktfunk/web.env. Read it before your first sign-in: the console then keeps only a hash. To set your own, see Login password.
3. Go to Devices → Pair a device and enter the PIN on your client (Pairing).

Check the host with systemctl --user status punktfunk-host, and watch a client connect with journalctl --user -u punktfunk-host -f. The host streams Game Mode or the KDE desktop, whichever is live when a client connects; see Steam / gamescope.

HDR

The installer also builds punktfunk-gamescope, gamescope with 10-bit capture, and points the host at it. A 10-bit client with HDR on then streams HDR10 from Game Mode; anything else streams SDR. If that build fails, the rest works in SDR; run update.sh to retry. PUNKTFUNK_GAMESCOPE_HDR=0 in ~/.config/punktfunk/host.env forces SDR.

Check what the host resolved. Load host.env first, as the service does, or the probe describes the wrong environment:

( set -a; . ~/.config/punktfunk/host.env; set +a
  ~/punktfunk/target-steamos/release/punktfunk-host hdr-probe )

More in HDR on gamescope.

Updating

Press Update now on the console's Updates card, or run:

bash ~/punktfunk/scripts/steamdeck/update.sh --pull

Both rebuild on the device and keep your config and pairings. The build tracks main, the canary channel. After going back to a release, run git -C ~/punktfunk checkout main before the next update, which otherwise stops with "You are not currently on a branch." More in Updating.

Good to know

• SteamOS updates. The system tuning is on SteamOS's atomic-update keep list, and punktfunk-rebuild-check rebuilds the host at boot only if an update broke it. That first start takes a few minutes longer.
• Encoder. Picked automatically: Vulkan Video on the Deck's AMD GPU with VAAPI as fallback, NVENC on NVIDIA. The installer writes RADV_PERFTEST=video_encode to host.env; without it the Deck uses VAAPI. PUNKTFUNK_VULKAN_ENCODE=0 forces VAAPI.
• Wi-Fi. A Deck's Wi-Fi sends about 250 Mbps at best: enough for 1080p or 1440p60, not 4K. A wired dock lifts it.
• Keep it awake. Game Mode suspends on idle and drops the host off the network. Turn auto-suspend off under Settings → Power.
• Steam Deck controller. After the first-install reboot a client's pad arrives as a real Steam Deck controller, with paddles, trackpads and gyro. It needs the input and punktfunk groups; check with id -nG. Streaming to another Deck? Turn Steam Input off there.
• One mode at a time. Two clients asking for different resolutions fight over the Game Mode session.
• Plugins. The runner is installed but off. Turn it on with systemctl --user enable --now punktfunk-scripting when you use plugins.

Uninstalling

There is no uninstall script. The steps are in Uninstall → SteamOS.