Darpan

Stop paying for remote desktop.

A high-performance, lightweight remote desktop: use your Linux computer from a native Mac app. It feels local and stays private.

Download for Mac Download for Linux

Free and open source · No account with us · No subscription

Connecting from the Darpan Mac app, starting a training run on the Linux desktop, and switching to full screen

Get started

You sign in with the Google, Apple, GitHub or Microsoft account you already have, through Tailscale's free private network, which is built in. No Darpan account, no port forwarding, nothing to change on your router.

The Darpan window on Linux: Welcome to Darpan, finishing the sign-in in the browser, one click to allow secure addresses, and the password to connect with — On the Linux computer

Darpan on the Mac: the disk image, Welcome to Darpan, your computers, the password, and the tip that shows the toolbar — On the Mac

On the Linux computer, the one you connect to: download darpan_amd64.deb and double-click it. Open Darpan and click Get started. It shows you a password.
On the Mac, the one you connect from: download Darpan.dmg, drag Darpan to Applications and open it. The first time, macOS can't check Darpan, because it isn't notarized by Apple: click Done, then Open Anyway under System Settings → Privacy & Security.
Connect: sign in with the same account, click your Linux computer and enter its password.

In a browser instead: on any other computer, install Tailscale, sign in with the same account, and open the address shown in the Darpan window on Linux.

Linux: Ubuntu 24.04 or similar, in an X11 session. Mac: macOS 14 or later.

Why Darpan

Fast, light and private

Typing on the Mac shows up on the Linux computer at once — **Feels local**About 20–30 ms screen to screen, even Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi.

Darpan's CPU use drops to zero when the Mac disconnects — **Lightweight**0 % CPU on Linux when idle, about 5 % during a video.

Another device trying to reach the Linux computer is refused — **Private**Only your devices get in, encrypted, with no open ports.

Works like your Mac

A video plays on the Linux computer and its sound comes out of the Mac — **Sound**Whatever plays on the Linux computer plays on your Mac.

Copying in a Linux terminal and pasting on the Mac, then back — **Copy and paste**⌘C and ⌘V work both ways, in Linux terminals too.

Dictating on the Mac: the words land at the Linux cursor — **Dictation**Talk, and the words land at the Linux cursor.

Everything in reach

The Files window: a file sent from the Mac to Linux, and one received back — **Files**Send and receive files, or drop them on the window.

Picking one of two Linux computers in the Mac app's list — **Your computers**Switch between Linux computers with one click.

On another computer, the Linux desktop in a web browser — **Also in a browser**Away from your Mac? Open it in any web browser.

Light on both computers

Measured on a Linux PC with an RTX 4090 at 2560×1440, viewed from a MacBook over Wi-Fi.

	Linux computer	Mac app
Nobody connected	0 % CPU^*, no GPU memory	—
Everyday use	3 % CPU^*	8⁠–⁠10 % CPU^*
Full-screen video with sound	6 % CPU^*	32 % CPU^*
Screen to screen	about 27 ms over Wi-Fi

* A share of one CPU core: 100 % would be one core, fully busy.