It'd be useful to access the desktop environment of a workspace in Coder.

• Cross-platform browser testing
• Installing applications on Windows (it's hard to install packages on the Windows command line)
• Desktop application development
• Android and iOS development
• ... and I'm sure many more!

This would be implemented as a native access application, similar to the web terminal. A command would be added too, something like:coder desktop <workspace> orcoder open desktop <workspace>.

Implementation

VNC clients will usenoVNC through the browser. This should use noVNC APIs to hide the overlay user interface, making it feel like a native experience.

RDP clients don't currently have a web-based solution (💡 ideas are welcome here). An initial implementation could exclude Windows and still provide significant value, so this shouldn't be a hard blocker!

Although implementations with RDP and VNC are different, we should make this transparent to the user to deliver a consistent experience.

Linux and macOS

Specify a VNC server address in thecoder_agent resource (naming subject to change):

resource"coder_agent""dev" {vnc="tcp://localhost:5900"}

In the absence of a VNC server specified:

• On Linux, look forx11vnc on$PATH and start it with the agent when VNC is requested.
• On macOS,start the VNC server.

Expose the VNC connection through a new DataChannel protocol, and pipe it to a WebSocket endpoint.

Windows

Specify a RDP server address in thecoder_agent resource (naming subject to change):

resource"coder_agent""dev" {rdp="tcp://localhost:3389"}

In the absence of an RDP server specified, attempt to start it (I googled around a bit, but was unable to find much).

Expose the RDP connection through a new DataChannel protocol, and pipe it to a WebSocket endpoint.