KVM Console for macOS and iPadOS

A native SwiftUI client for hardware KVM-over-IP devices and RFB/VNC hosts. It started as a client for Sipeed NanoKVM, and now also supports PiKVM-shaped GLKVM devices such as the GL.iNet Comet GL-RM1, macOS Apple Screen Sharing, and generic VNC servers.

I started this after using NanoKVM to drive my spare Mac in the closet for AI-agent workflows. The goal is a KVM client that feels closer to sitting at the machine: shortcuts arrive at the remote host, pointer and scroll input behave predictably, and the video path stays low-latency.

Features

• Manage multiple KVM devices, each with its own URL, port, device type, and credentials
• Per-device passwords stored securely in the Apple Keychain
• Native NanoKVM H.264 streaming with hardware-accelerated VideoToolbox decode
• GLKVM device profiles and control path for PiKVM-style keyboard, mouse, clipboard, and ATX power controls
• Apple Screen Sharing support over RFB with macOS account/password authentication
• Generic VNC support over RFB with standard VNC password authentication
• Lower-latency native video and input path than driving the KVM through a browser
• Full keyboard capture, including shortcuts such as Cmd-W that browsers normally intercept
• More reliable scrolling and absolute-positioning mouse input over HID WebSocket or RFB input events
• iPadOS support with better hardware keyboard, modifier-key, pointer, and scrolling behavior
• Pinch-to-zoom on the remote video with a bottom-right minimap; pinching also pans (the grabbed video point follows the fingers), and the viewport follows the remote cursor toward the edges when zoomed in
• Local cursor overlay for RFB sessions when the remote server does not include a cursor in the framebuffer
• Direct latest-frame rendering for RFB sessions to reduce visible keyboard and mouse echo latency
• macOS fullscreen viewer with triple-Escape to exit
• Connection heartbeat with automatic state surfacing in the UI

Supported connection types

• NanoKVM (Lite): IP-based NanoKVM with native H.264 video and HID control
• NanoKVM USB (macOS only): Sipeed USB capture stick — UVC video plus CH9329 serial keyboard/mouse over USB
• GL.iNet Comet: GLKVM/WebRTC video, keyboard/mouse input, clipboard, and ATX power controls
• Apple Screen Sharing: macOS built-in Screen Sharing on port 5900 using a macOS account and password
• VNC: standard RFB/VNC password authentication for compatible VNC servers

Requirements

• macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later for the Mac app
• iPadOS 26 or later for the iPad app
• A supported KVM device or RFB/VNC host reachable over the network

Install

For macOS, download KVMConsole-<tag>.dmg from the latest GitHub Release, open it, and drag KVM Console into the Applications folder.

Build from source

The Xcode project is generated from project.yml with XcodeGen:

brew install xcodegen
xcodegen generate
open KVMConsole.xcodeproj

To run the unit tests from the command line without signing:

xcodebuild test \
  -project KVMConsole.xcodeproj \
  -scheme KVMConsole \
  -destination 'platform=macOS' \
  CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO CODE_SIGNING_REQUIRED=NO \
  CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY= DEVELOPMENT_TEAM=

To run the iPadOS unit tests in Simulator:

xcodebuild test \
  -project KVMConsole.xcodeproj \
  -scheme KVMConsoleiPad \
  -destination 'platform=iOS Simulator,name=iPad Pro 11-inch (M5)'

To produce a locally signed build (no notarization):

NOTARIZE=0 Scripts/build-developer-id.sh

The app is mostly built on Apple frameworks (SwiftUI, AppKit/UIKit, AVFoundation, VideoToolbox, CoreMedia, CoreVideo, Security, Network). GLKVM WebRTC support uses the stasel/WebRTC Swift package. RFB/VNC support is implemented in Swift over plain TCP with Apple Diffie-Hellman and standard VNC authentication, ZRLE/Raw/CopyRect decoding, and a direct latest-frame render path for decoded framebuffers.

Project layout

KVMCore/     Shared Swift package for networking, sessions, RFB/VNC, video, input, UI, and persistence
KVMConsole/
  App/           macOS SwiftUI entry point
  UI/            macOS viewer windows
  Input/         macOS keyboard capture
  Video/         macOS video render view
  Resources/     macOS Info.plist, entitlements
KVMConsoleiPad/
  App/           iPadOS SwiftUI entry point
  UI/            iPad viewer and modifier-key controls
  Input/         iPad keyboard and pointer capture
  Video/         iPad video render view
  Resources/     iPadOS Info.plist, entitlements
KVMConsoleTests/    macOS XCTest unit tests
KVMConsoleiPadTests/  iPadOS XCTest unit tests
Scripts/         Signed/notarized macOS build pipeline

Releasing

See DeveloperRelease.md for the Developer ID signing and notarization workflow used by the GitHub Actions release pipeline.

License

KVM Console for macOS and iPadOS is released under the MIT License.