Piik

Project Overview

Piik is a free, open-source screen sharing tool for games, movie nights, drawings and photos. Choose what to share and send an invitation; friends watch in their browsers. It supports sharing from a desktop app or a browser, and optional self-hosting is available.

Key Features

• Watch without installing: Friends join by invitation in a desktop or mobile browser.
• Share from Piik App or an existing Piik site: Choose a screen, window, browser tab or camera; available sources and audio depend on the platform.
• Direct connections first: Media travels between participants where possible (P2P). A self-hosted server can provide automatic media forwarding (SFU) as a fallback.
• Rooms you control: Invitations, room codes and optional room passwords, for one host and up to 20 viewers.
• Flexible viewing: Light and dark themes, playback controls, picture-in-picture and a connection topology view.
• One program to host a site: Web UI, room management and optional media forwarding are packaged together.

Target Audience

• Users who want to privately share their screen with friends
• Gamers and movie enthusiasts
• Developers and operations staff who need a self-hosted screen sharing service

Quick Start

• To watch: Open the invitation your friend sends you. Select Play if the picture does not start automatically.
• To share: Download the Piik App, extract and open it, choose Public invite to create a temporary room; you can also share from the online version.
• Self-hosting: Download the Linux x64 Server package, extract it, and run ./piik-server. Open http://localhost:8787 to try it locally.

Core Advantages

• Watch without installing — friends need no software
• P2P-first, with media traveling directly between participants
• Self-hosting support for full data control
• Free and open source under the MIT license

System Requirements

• OS: Windows x64, macOS (Apple silicon, macOS 13+ required), Linux x64
• Browser: Modern browser with WebRTC support

Notes

• Browser capture requires HTTPS or localhost.
• Windows App and desktop browser sharing are the primary tested paths; the macOS and Linux apps have not yet been tested on physical devices.
• P2P-only modes (including the App's temporary public link and the online version) may not connect on restrictive networks.