Your machine & desktop
Connecting
Your machine is always on. Connecting to it is just opening a window onto a computer that's already running. There are two clients, and they reach the same machine.
Two ways in
| Native macOS app | Browser | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Daily driving | A quick session, or any non-Mac device |
| Install | Download once | Nothing, just log in |
| Feel | Local: native windowing, Finder drag/drop, system clipboard | Convenient: works anywhere with a browser |
Both give you real VM pixels, readable text, responsive typing, drag, scroll, right-click, and copy/paste. The native app can feel more local because it has deeper macOS integration.
For the everyday moves, copy and paste text and images, and transfer files in and out in both directions, see Files & clipboard. The client-specific essentials are summarized below.
Native macOS app
The Mac app is the accepted daily-driver client.
- Get it, download from wrkr.dev/download, drag it to Applications, and log in through your system browser. Your session is stored in the macOS Keychain, so a valid session reconnects without asking you to log in again.
- It updates itself, the app is signed, notarized, and self-updating, so you stay current without re-downloading. (We don't quote a version number here because it moves; the app keeps itself fresh.)
- Files, drag files or folders from Finder onto the desktop, or copy in Finder and press ⌘V, to send them into your machine's Files. Drag the other way to bring them back.
- Clipboard, text and images sync both ways. The app receiving the paste owns the paste shortcut: most Linux GUI apps use Ctrl-V, terminals use Ctrl-Shift-V, and Mac apps use ⌘V. Copy is the mirror: Ctrl-C in Linux GUI apps, Ctrl-Shift-C in terminals.
- Keyboard, your Mac keyboard maps naturally; Ctrl-click is a right-click. ⌘V on the desktop is reserved for Finder-style file paste; other ⌘ chords pass through to the machine.
- Open in Browser, hand off to the browser client anytime from the app.
Browser
Open wrkr.dev, log in, and your desktop resolves in the tab. Nothing to install, good for a fast session or when you're not at your Mac.
- Files, use the explicit Upload and Download actions to move files between your computer and your machine's Files folder.
- Clipboard, text and image copy/paste work within what the browser allows.
A browser can't offer Finder-style paste or unrestricted local file access, that's what the native app is for, but for getting in and working, it's fully capable.
Reconnecting
You can close the window, sleep your laptop, switch networks, or walk away. Your machine keeps running, this is the point of always-on. When you come back, the client reconnects and you pick up where you left off.
While connecting you'll see plain product states:
Connecting → Opening machine → Live
and if a connection drops, Reconnecting, or Session interrupted with a
Try again. After a long idle, the client refreshes the stream on its own when
you return, no forced restart.
Remember: the machine never sleeps. If anything looks dormant before you sign in, that's the desktop session, not the machine, your running apps and services are unaffected.
Multiple devices
It's one machine, so every client is a window onto the same thing. Connect from your Mac app in the morning and a browser on another computer in the afternoon, same desktop, same files, same running apps. You don't sync anything; there's only ever one machine to be in.