remote-desktop-testing-linux

name	remote-desktop-testing-linux
description	Test any GUI app or change on a Daytona Linux (Ubuntu xfce4 + noVNC) remote desktop sandbox. Use to launch a GUI program, sync a local project, take a screenshot, record a video, or share a clickable live-desktop link with a teammate. Generic — the only dependency is Daytona. For Windows, use remote-desktop-testing-windows.

Remote Desktop Testing on Linux

Overview

Generic Daytona Linux desktop sandbox driver. It creates (or reuses) a sandbox running an xfce4 desktop streamed over noVNC, and provides the primitives for visual testing of any GUI app: sync code, run shell commands, launch GUI programs on the live desktop, screenshot, record video, and mint a clickable desktop link a teammate can open to drive the app.

When to Use

• Demo or visually verify a GUI app (Electron, browser, native X11) on Linux without a local Linux desktop
• Produce a screenshot + video + clickable live-desktop link for a teammate
• Debug Linux-specific desktop behavior of a cross-platform app
• Run throwaway desktop sessions that are fully disposable (stop with cleanup)

Usage

Run the bundled script with Node from the skill directory:

node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs <command> [options]

Credentials: DAYTONA_API_KEY (and optionally DAYTONA_API_URL/DAYTONA_TARGET) from the environment or a dotenv file — ./.env by default, override with --env-path <file>. The script auto-installs @daytona/sdk under ~/.letta/skill-state/remote-desktop-testing-linux/ on first use and remembers the active sandbox id there, so later commands don't need --sandbox.

Typical flow

# 1. Start (or reuse) a desktop sandbox. Default: image daytonaio/sandbox:0.8.0, cpu 2 / mem 4 / disk 5.
node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs start

# 2. (Optional) push a local project to /home/daytona/remote-desktop/workspace
node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs sync --project-path ~/repos/my-app --sync-mode working_tree

# 3. Set up / build with shell commands (runs bash in the sandbox)
node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs shell \
  --command "cd /home/daytona/remote-desktop/workspace && npm install"

# 4. Launch the GUI app on the live desktop and verify its window appeared
node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs launch \
  --command "./my-app --some-flag" --label my-app --wait-window "My App"

# 5. Deliverables: screenshot, video, and a clickable live-desktop link
node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs screenshot --output /tmp/demo.png
node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs record --output /tmp/demo.mp4 --mp4 --duration 12
node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs preview

Always confirm the result visually (open the screenshot, or check windows / --wait-window) before reporting success — never report success from process existence alone. When sharing with a teammate, send the desktopUrl from preview (signed noVNC link, expires ~6h; re-run preview to refresh). Pass --port <n> to preview to also mint a signed URL for an app's HTTP port.

Commands

Command	What it does
start	Create/reuse a sandbox and start the desktop. --fresh forces a new one.
sync	Sync --project-path to /home/daytona/remote-desktop/workspace (git_archive = committed HEAD, working_tree = uncommitted too; preserves remote node_modules).
shell --command SH	Run a bash command. --timeout <s> for long ones.
launch --command CMD	Launch a GUI command on the xfce4 desktop (detached, DISPLAY set, logged to /home/daytona/remote-desktop/launch-<label>.log). --wait-window <regex> verifies a matching window title appears.
windows	List visible desktop windows.
screenshot	Save a PNG of the full desktop locally.
preview	Print signed desktopUrl (noVNC), plus appUrl if --port given.
record	Record the live desktop via Playwright + local Chrome (--duration <s>, --mp4).
recording-start/stop/download	Native Daytona recording (installs ffmpeg in-sandbox on first use).
snapshot --snapshot <name>	Bake the sandbox into a snapshot (stops, snapshots, restarts).
cleanup	Stop the active sandbox.

Sizing and snapshots

• Daytona's default Linux sandbox is tiny (cpu 1 / mem 1 / disk 3GB). This skill creates from the desktop-capable image daytonaio/sandbox:0.8.0 with --cpu 2 --memory 4 --disk 5 by default; raise them for big projects (--cpu 4 --memory 8 --disk 10). Disk is capped at 10GB per sandbox.
• resources cannot be combined with a snapshot — --snapshot <name> creates with whatever size was baked in. Use snapshot to bake a prepared box (deps installed, caches warm) so future start --snapshot <name> runs skip setup. Revert throwaway edits before baking.

Gotchas

• Electron/Chromium apps need --no-sandbox inside the container, and often --disable-gpu --disable-dev-shm-usage too; put those flags in your launch --command.
• launch runs the command detached with DISPLAY pointed at the live desktop (detected from /tmp/.X11-unix, falls back to :0). Check the launch log via shell if nothing appears.
• For the shareable link, send desktopUrl (the interactive desktop), not a raw app-port URL — the app URL only serves HTTP and shows nothing of the desktop.
• record runs Playwright locally: it resolves playwright/playwright-core from --project-path first, else auto-installs playwright-core into skill state, and drives the local Chrome binary (--chrome-path, default macOS Chrome). --mp4 needs local ffmpeg.
• The base image has xfce4-terminal, chromium, and xeyes available for quick desktop sanity checks (e.g. launch --command "xfce4-terminal" --wait-window Terminal).