Remotely

Project Overview

Remotely is maintained by immense as a self-hosted remote control and remote scripting platform. The server is written in .NET 8 with Blazor, each managed machine runs a resident agent, and the two sides hold a long-lived SignalR connection so an administrator sees every online device in one browser tab. Remote desktop, command line, file delivery and alerting share the same console, which makes it a lightweight entry point for do-it-yourself remote operations.

Item	Value
Runtime model	Self-hosted server plus agents plus a web console
Stack	.NET 8, Blazor, SignalR Core, Entity Framework Core 8.0.10
Default port	5000 inside the container
Default database	SQLite, switchable to SQL Server or PostgreSQL
License	GPL-3.0

A server, an agent and a browser console close the loop, putting remote support and scripted operations on one page.

Key Features

• Remote desktop: view and control Windows, Linux and macOS desktops in the browser, with monitor switching
• Remote terminal: PowerShell, CMD, Bash and zsh shells, / switches shell, Ctrl+Q clears the output
• Script delivery: save scripts, run them across devices or an organization, archive every result
• File transfer: upload and download files between server and device through the FileSharing endpoints
• Built-in chat: start a conversation from a device card while supporting a user
• Alert API: one POST /api/Alerts/Create writes an in-site notice, sends email and calls a third-party API
• Wake-on-LAN: send a magic packet to power on supported machines
• Device inventory: collect CPU, memory, disk and OS version, grouped by organization

Deployment Options

Option	Best for	Key point
Docker Compose	Quick single-host rollout	Image immybot/remotely:latest, data mounted at /var/www/remotely
Linux bundle	Servers without Docker	Remotely_Server_Linux-x64.zip in Releases is about 740 MB and runs after unzip
Build from source	Internal customization	Needs Visual Studio 2022 and the .NET 8 SDK, clone with --recurse for submodules

Interface and Operation

• Device grid: the home page lists every device by organization with online state, last response and system info
• Remote control page: a device card opens the Viewer, frames arrive over SignalR and the toolbar sends key combos
• Gestures on a phone: a single tap is a left click, a long press then release is a right click, a long press and drag drags
• Terminal panel: open Terminal from device details, commands run on the target and output streams back
• Server config: the ServerConfig page holds database, retention, two-factor and recording switches

Target Audience

• Small teams running their own support desk
• Corporate IT managing many endpoints
• Households with several remote machines
• Developers comparing remote control stacks
• Operations engineers needing on-premise tools

Quick Start

1. Run mkdir -p /var/www/remotely on the server and place the official docker-compose.yml in it
2. Run docker compose up -d in that folder and wait for the container to pass its health check
3. Open http://your-server:5000 in a browser and click Register on the home page
4. That account is both server admin and organization admin, the organization is created and self-registration closes
5. Go to Downloads, fetch the agent for each platform and install it on the machines to manage
6. Wait for devices to appear, click a card to start a session, and create a token under Account then API Access for API use

System Requirements

Item	Requirement
Server	Docker or Linux x64, the self-contained bundle ships the .NET 8 runtime
Database	SQLite by default, SQL Server or PostgreSQL optional
Managed devices	Windows 7 and later, Ubuntu LTS, macOS
Port	5000 fixed inside the container, host port configurable
Reverse proxy	Only Caddy facing the internet directly is supported

Notes

• Forwarded headers: behind a proxy, send X-Forwarded-Proto, X-Forwarded-Host and X-Forwarded-For and add the proxy IP to KnownProxies
• Single organization: MaxOrganizationCount defaults to 1, so registration closes after the first account, raise it or set -1 for multi-tenancy
• Retention: DataRetentionInDays governs logs and recordings, -1 keeps them forever, recordings land in /app/AppData/recordings
• Device bans: a device in BannedDevices receives an uninstall command as soon as it connects
• Linux client deps: the Ubuntu quick support client needs libx11-dev, libxrandr-dev, libc6-dev, libxtst-dev and xclip