This app uses WebRTC to stream a desktop inside of a docker container, original author made this because [rabb.it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabb.it) went under and his internet could not handle streaming and discord kept crashing when his friend attempted to. He just wanted to watch anime with his friends ლ(ಠ益ಠლ) so he started digging throughout the internet and found a few *kinda* clones, but none of them had the virtual browser, then he found [Turtus](https://github.com/Khauri/Turtus) and he was able to figure out the rest.
Then I found [this](https://github.com/nurdism/neko) project and started to dig into it. I really liked the idea of having collaborative browser browsing together with mutliple people, so I created a fork. Initially, I wanted to merge my changes to the upstream repository, but the original author did not have time for this project anymore and it got eventually archived.
Neko started as a virtual browser that is streamed using WebRTC to multiple users.
- It is **not only limited to a browser**; it can run anything that runs on linux (e.g. VLC). Browser only happens to be the most popular and widely used use-case.
- In fact, it is not limited to a single program either; you can install a full desktop environment (e.g. XFCE).
- Speaking of limits, it does not need to run in a container; you could install neko on your host, connect to your X server and control your whole VM.
- Theoretically it is not limited to only X server, anything that can be controlled and scraped periodically for images could be used instead.
- Like implementing RDP or VNC protocol, where neko would only act as WebRTC relay server. This is currently only future.
Primary use case is connecting with multiple people, leveraging real time synchronization and interactivity:
- **Watch party** - watching video content together with multiple people and reacting to it (chat, emotes) - open source alternative to [giggl.app](https://giggl.app/) or [hyperbeam](https://watch.hyperbeam.com).
- open any third-party website or application, synchronize audio and video flawlessly among multiple participants.
- request rooms using API with [neko-rooms](https://github.com/m1k1o/neko-rooms).
Other use cases that benefit from single-user:
- **Personal workspace** - streaming containerized apps and desktops to end-users - similar to [kasm](https://www.kasmweb.com/).
- **Persistent browser** - own browser with persistent cookies available anywhere - similar to [mightyapp](https://www.mightyapp.com/).
- no state is left on the host browser after terminating the connection.
- sensitive data like cookies are not transferred - only video is shared.
- **Throwaway browser** - a better solution for planning secret parties and buying birthday gifts off the internet.
- use Tor Browser and [VPN](https://github.com/m1k1o/neko-vpn) for additional anonymity.
- mitigates risk of OS fingerprinting and browser vulnerabilities by running in container.
- **Session broadcasting** - broadcast room content using RTMP (to e.g. twitch or youtube...).
- **Session recording** - broadcast RTMP can be saved to a file using e.g. [nginx-rtmp](https://www.nginx.com/products/nginx/modules/rtmp-media-streaming/)
- have clean environment when recording tutorials.
- no need to hide bookmarks or use incognito mode.
- **Jump host** - access your internal applications securely without the need for VPN.
- **Automated browser** - you can install [playwright](https://playwright.dev/) or [puppeteer](https://pptr.dev/) and automate tasks while being able to actively intercept them.
Compared to clientless remote desktop gateway (e.g. [Apache Guacamole](https://guacamole.apache.org/) or [websockify](https://github.com/novnc/websockify) with [noVNC](https://novnc.com/)), installed with remote desktop server along with desired program (e.g. [linuxserver/firefox](https://docs.linuxserver.io/images/docker-firefox)) provides neko additionally:
- **Smooth video** because it uses WebRTC and not images sent over WebSockets.
- **Built in audio** support, what is not part of Apache Guacamole or noVNC.
- **Multi-participant control**, what is not natively supported by Apache Guacamole or noVNC.
It also offers zero-knowledge [installation script (with HTTPS and Traefik)](https://github.com/m1k1o/neko-rooms/#zero-knowledge-installation-with-https-and-traefik).
