{"slug": "deskflow", "name": "Deskflow", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "Open-source software for sharing one keyboard and mouse across multiple computers.", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 5, "warners": 0, "score": 4.057, "rising": 1.02, "first": "2026-05-13", "latest": "2026-10-04", "why": "Recommended as a free, open-source alternative to Synergy for sharing a keyboard and mouse between Macs and PCs over LAN, with some preferring it to remote desktop.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["Free Synergy alternative", "Cross-platform"], "caveat": "No trackpad support", "short_quote": "Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/deskflow/deskflow", "official_url": "https://github.com/deskflow/deskflow", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Deskflow"], "verdict": [{"text": "Recommended as a free, open-source alternative to Synergy", "cites": [{"id": 799021057, "item_id": 49938816, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49938816", "by": "Terretta", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If free is your bag instead of supporting the nominal cost:", "excerpt": "Fwiw, this has been helpful for a couple decades now: https://symless.com/synergy/features Given that even a corp Mac can now (policy permitting) allow a personal AppleID along with the corporate login, it's easy enough to do the same with just native OS controls even with 2 logins. Something magical about opening an iPad next to a MacBook and pushing the cursor across ... or, alternatively, wirelessly (or USB-C) mak", "context": "", "use_case": "free keyboard and mouse sharing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}, {"id": 770962896, "item_id": 48185181, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48185181", "by": "smw", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "check out DeskFlow (oss)", "excerpt": "It's mentioned elsewhere, but check out DeskFlow (oss) https://github.com/deskflow/deskflow", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard/mouse across Macs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan"}, {"id": 770931184, "item_id": 48183199, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183199", "by": "a-dub", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing", "excerpt": "back in the '00s i used a hardware kvm that could be controlled by the keyboard with some weird key combo (~ ~ (1|2)? maybe?). these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing or just ordinary remote desktop for the secondary. (depends on the task, if you're just building for the secondary or reading email it doesn't really matter- but if you're developing interactive applications", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard/mouse across computers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan"}]}, {"text": " for sharing a keyboard and mouse between Macs and PCs over LAN,", "cites": [{"id": 799281152, "item_id": 49955072, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49955072", "by": "diebillionaires", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use deskflow between two mac\u2019s and a pc, but it doesn\u2019t support trackpads.", "excerpt": "i use deskflow between two mac\u2019s and a pc, but it doesn\u2019t support trackpads. so this is nice for those users", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard and mouse across machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}, {"id": 769957361, "item_id": 48122335, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48122335", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-05-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure.", "excerpt": "> I was doing this bit using a capture card and Photo Booth on macOS which doesn\u2019t actually support disabling the image-flip on the video feed I use OBS to monitor my video capture. This essentially lets me use my Mac as a monitor for my headless desktop (which does not have a monitor of its own). Maximum gaming. Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure. Especially when g", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard over LAN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Web Server on a Nintendo Wii"}]}, {"text": " with some preferring it to remote desktop.", "cites": [{"id": 769957361, "item_id": 48122335, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48122335", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-05-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure.", "excerpt": "> I was doing this bit using a capture card and Photo Booth on macOS which doesn\u2019t actually support disabling the image-flip on the video feed I use OBS to monitor my video capture. This essentially lets me use my Mac as a monitor for my headless desktop (which does not have a monitor of its own). Maximum gaming. Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure. Especially when g", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard over LAN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Web Server on a Nintendo Wii"}, {"id": 770931184, "item_id": 48183199, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183199", "by": "a-dub", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing", "excerpt": "back in the '00s i used a hardware kvm that could be controlled by the keyboard with some weird key combo (~ ~ (1|2)? maybe?). these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing or just ordinary remote desktop for the secondary. (depends on the task, if you're just building for the secondary or reading email it doesn't really matter- but if you're developing interactive applications", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard/mouse across computers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan"}]}, {"text": " Reported caveats include no trackpad support,", "cites": [{"id": 799281152, "item_id": 49955072, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49955072", "by": "diebillionaires", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use deskflow between two mac\u2019s and a pc, but it doesn\u2019t support trackpads.", "excerpt": "i use deskflow between two mac\u2019s and a pc, but it doesn\u2019t support trackpads. so this is nice for those users", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard and mouse across machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}]}, {"text": " occasional crashes and no SteamOS support.", "cites": [{"id": 794903440, "item_id": 49681465, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49681465", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes", "excerpt": "Are there any good KVMs for gaming? Right now, I use a capture card for video, connect the mouse directly to the destination, and use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes, so it'd be nice to have a hardware solution (also that can be used for BIOS/etc). And Deskflow also won't work if I install SteamOS, once Nvidia works. I looked at making a solution myself, ", "context": "gamer", "use_case": "sharing keyboard across gaming machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "JetKVM Mini"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Free Synergy alternative", "summary": "Commenters point to it as the free, open-source version of Synergy.", "quotes": [{"id": 770931184, "item_id": 48183199, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183199", "by": "a-dub", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing", "excerpt": "back in the '00s i used a hardware kvm that could be controlled by the keyboard with some weird key combo (~ ~ (1|2)? maybe?). these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing or just ordinary remote desktop for the secondary. (depends on the task, if you're just building for the secondary or reading email it doesn't really matter- but if you're developing interactive applications", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard/mouse across computers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan"}, {"id": 799021057, "item_id": 49938816, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49938816", "by": "Terretta", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If free is your bag instead of supporting the nominal cost:", "excerpt": "Fwiw, this has been helpful for a couple decades now: https://symless.com/synergy/features Given that even a corp Mac can now (policy permitting) allow a personal AppleID along with the corporate login, it's easy enough to do the same with just native OS controls even with 2 logins. Something magical about opening an iPad next to a MacBook and pushing the cursor across ... or, alternatively, wirelessly (or USB-C) mak", "context": "", "use_case": "free keyboard and mouse sharing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}, {"id": 770962896, "item_id": 48185181, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48185181", "by": "smw", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "check out DeskFlow (oss)", "excerpt": "It's mentioned elsewhere, but check out DeskFlow (oss) https://github.com/deskflow/deskflow", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard/mouse across Macs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan"}]}, {"label": "Cross-platform", "summary": "Used to share input between Macs and PCs.", "quotes": [{"id": 799281152, "item_id": 49955072, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49955072", "by": "diebillionaires", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use deskflow between two mac\u2019s and a pc, but it doesn\u2019t support trackpads.", "excerpt": "i use deskflow between two mac\u2019s and a pc, but it doesn\u2019t support trackpads. so this is nice for those users", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard and mouse across machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}, {"id": 769957361, "item_id": 48122335, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48122335", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-05-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure.", "excerpt": "> I was doing this bit using a capture card and Photo Booth on macOS which doesn\u2019t actually support disabling the image-flip on the video feed I use OBS to monitor my video capture. This essentially lets me use my Mac as a monitor for my headless desktop (which does not have a monitor of its own). Maximum gaming. Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure. Especially when g", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard over LAN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Web Server on a Nintendo Wii"}]}, {"label": "Beats remote desktop", "summary": "Some prefer it over remote desktop, including for gaming.", "quotes": [{"id": 769957361, "item_id": 48122335, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48122335", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-05-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure.", "excerpt": "> I was doing this bit using a capture card and Photo Booth on macOS which doesn\u2019t actually support disabling the image-flip on the video feed I use OBS to monitor my video capture. This essentially lets me use my Mac as a monitor for my headless desktop (which does not have a monitor of its own). Maximum gaming. Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure. Especially when g", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard over LAN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Web Server on a Nintendo Wii"}, {"id": 770931184, "item_id": 48183199, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183199", "by": "a-dub", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing", "excerpt": "back in the '00s i used a hardware kvm that could be controlled by the keyboard with some weird key combo (~ ~ (1|2)? maybe?). these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing or just ordinary remote desktop for the secondary. (depends on the task, if you're just building for the secondary or reading email it doesn't really matter- but if you're developing interactive applications", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard/mouse across computers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "No trackpad support", "summary": "One user reports it does not support trackpads.", "quotes": [{"id": 799281152, "item_id": 49955072, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49955072", "by": "diebillionaires", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use deskflow between two mac\u2019s and a pc, but it doesn\u2019t support trackpads.", "excerpt": "i use deskflow between two mac\u2019s and a pc, but it doesn\u2019t support trackpads. so this is nice for those users", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard and mouse across machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}]}, {"label": "Occasional crashes", "summary": "A user says it occasionally crashes.", "quotes": [{"id": 794903440, "item_id": 49681465, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49681465", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes", "excerpt": "Are there any good KVMs for gaming? Right now, I use a capture card for video, connect the mouse directly to the destination, and use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes, so it'd be nice to have a hardware solution (also that can be used for BIOS/etc). And Deskflow also won't work if I install SteamOS, once Nvidia works. I looked at making a solution myself, ", "context": "gamer", "use_case": "sharing keyboard across gaming machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "JetKVM Mini"}]}, {"label": "No SteamOS", "summary": "A user says it won't work if they install SteamOS.", "quotes": [{"id": 794903440, "item_id": 49681465, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49681465", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes", "excerpt": "Are there any good KVMs for gaming? Right now, I use a capture card for video, connect the mouse directly to the destination, and use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes, so it'd be nice to have a hardware solution (also that can be used for BIOS/etc). And Deskflow also won't work if I install SteamOS, once Nvidia works. I looked at making a solution myself, ", "context": "gamer", "use_case": "sharing keyboard across gaming machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "JetKVM Mini"}]}, {"label": "No BIOS access", "summary": "Software sharing can't replace hardware for BIOS work or frequent reboots.", "quotes": [{"id": 794903440, "item_id": 49681465, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49681465", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes", "excerpt": "Are there any good KVMs for gaming? Right now, I use a capture card for video, connect the mouse directly to the destination, and use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes, so it'd be nice to have a hardware solution (also that can be used for BIOS/etc). And Deskflow also won't work if I install SteamOS, once Nvidia works. I looked at making a solution myself, ", "context": "gamer", "use_case": "sharing keyboard across gaming machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "JetKVM Mini"}, {"id": 770931184, "item_id": 48183199, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183199", "by": "a-dub", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing", "excerpt": "back in the '00s i used a hardware kvm that could be controlled by the keyboard with some weird key combo (~ ~ (1|2)? maybe?). these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing or just ordinary remote desktop for the secondary. (depends on the task, if you're just building for the secondary or reading email it doesn't really matter- but if you're developing interactive applications", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard/mouse across computers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan"}]}], "who": [{"by": "LoganDark", "context": "gamer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49681465", "date": "2026-09-13"}], "tags": ["for mixed Mac/PC setups", "for gaming setups", "open source"], "use_cases": ["sharing keyboard and mouse across machines", "free keyboard and mouse sharing", "sharing keyboard across gaming machines", "sharing keyboard/mouse across macs", "sharing keyboard/mouse across computers", "sharing keyboard over lan"], "compared": [{"slug": "synergy", "name": "Synergy", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49935038", "title": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48156186", "title": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49681152", "title": "JetKVM Mini", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48078452", "title": "Web Server on a Nintendo Wii", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 799281152, "item_id": 49955072, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49955072", "by": "diebillionaires", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use deskflow between two mac\u2019s and a pc, but it doesn\u2019t support trackpads.", "excerpt": "i use deskflow between two mac\u2019s and a pc, but it doesn\u2019t support trackpads. so this is nice for those users", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard and mouse across machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}, {"id": 799021057, "item_id": 49938816, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49938816", "by": "Terretta", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If free is your bag instead of supporting the nominal cost:", "excerpt": "Fwiw, this has been helpful for a couple decades now: https://symless.com/synergy/features Given that even a corp Mac can now (policy permitting) allow a personal AppleID along with the corporate login, it's easy enough to do the same with just native OS controls even with 2 logins. Something magical about opening an iPad next to a MacBook and pushing the cursor across ... or, alternatively, wirelessly (or USB-C) mak", "context": "", "use_case": "free keyboard and mouse sharing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}, {"id": 794903440, "item_id": 49681465, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49681465", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes", "excerpt": "Are there any good KVMs for gaming? Right now, I use a capture card for video, connect the mouse directly to the destination, and use a piece of software called Deskflow to transmit my keyboard. But Deskflow occasionally crashes, so it'd be nice to have a hardware solution (also that can be used for BIOS/etc). And Deskflow also won't work if I install SteamOS, once Nvidia works. I looked at making a solution myself, ", "context": "gamer", "use_case": "sharing keyboard across gaming machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "JetKVM Mini"}, {"id": 770962896, "item_id": 48185181, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48185181", "by": "smw", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "check out DeskFlow (oss)", "excerpt": "It's mentioned elsewhere, but check out DeskFlow (oss) https://github.com/deskflow/deskflow", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard/mouse across Macs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan"}, {"id": 770931184, "item_id": 48183199, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183199", "by": "a-dub", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing", "excerpt": "back in the '00s i used a hardware kvm that could be controlled by the keyboard with some weird key combo (~ ~ (1|2)? maybe?). these days i strongly prefer deskflow (oss version of synergy) for this sort of thing or just ordinary remote desktop for the secondary. (depends on the task, if you're just building for the secondary or reading email it doesn't really matter- but if you're developing interactive applications", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard/mouse across computers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan"}, {"id": 769957361, "item_id": 48122335, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48122335", "by": "LoganDark", "date": "2026-05-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure.", "excerpt": "> I was doing this bit using a capture card and Photo Booth on macOS which doesn\u2019t actually support disabling the image-flip on the video feed I use OBS to monitor my video capture. This essentially lets me use my Mac as a monitor for my headless desktop (which does not have a monitor of its own). Maximum gaming. Deskflow lets me use my Mac as a keyboard over LAN, too. Beats remote desktop for sure. Especially when g", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard over LAN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Web Server on a Nintendo Wii"}]}