Frame Control

Manage your Valve Steam Frame from your computer.
See what the headset sees, install games and Android apps, move files and text across, and check battery and status, all over SSH.

Website · Download · Trailer · Features · Set up the headset · Feedback · Docs

_{The trailer: 66 seconds, with sound. Downloads the MP4 from the trailer release.}

_{Unofficial hobby project, not affiliated with Valve. Free and open source.}

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Features

👓 Headset view and Desktop Live video of what the lenses show, or of the app panel in use, flat and still however the wearer looks around. Turn on Control and tap or click right on it to use the Frame from your phone or computer.	🔋 Battery and status Charge, charging watts and time left, storage, memory, temperature, Wi-Fi, and what's running.
🎮 Steam games Everything you own with its Steam Frame rating. Install onto the headset with live progress, and search the store.	🤖 Android apps About 4,500 F-Droid apps rated for the Frame. One click installs each as its own app in your Steam library.
📁 Files, games and clipboard Drag files onto the window to send them. Drop a game's .zip, folder or .exe to add it to the Steam library, with Proton or the Linux runtime picked for you. Send text or your clipboard straight to the headset's desktop.	📸 Screenshots Browse the shots you take in the headset and save them to your Pictures folder. ⌨️ Keyboard and trackpad Type and point in the Frame's apps from your computer or phone, through KDE Connect, which Frame Control brings along and sets up on the Frame. Nothing else to install, anywhere.
🧩 Flatpaks and display Install desktop apps like Moonlight or VLC, and set each Android app's resolution and text size.	⚡ One-click tools SSH, SFTP, Steam Link, remote desktop, volume, sleep, restart and shut down.

Nothing is installed on the Frame for any of this: the app uses what SteamOS already ships (sideloading a game copies Valve's own devkit scripts to ~/devkit-utils, as Valve's Devkit Client does). How each feature works.

Install

	Download	Needs
macOS (Apple Silicon)	Frame-Control-mac-arm64.dmg	Nothing extra
Windows 10 / 11 (x64)	Frame-Control-Setup-x64.exe · portable .zip	Nothing extra
Linux (x64)	AppImage · .deb	ssh (most desktops have it)
Linux (arm64)	AppImage · .deb	ssh, and adb for Android apps (sudo apt install adb)

iPhone and iPad: the same features from your phone, with nothing to install on a computer. Build it from ios/ in Xcode; see docs/iphone.md.

The app brings its own Python and adb; SSH is built into macOS and Windows. From 0.4 it updates itself: when a new version is published, a banner offers Update and restart. It sends anonymous usage statistics, which you can turn off. Sharing compatibility results and error details is opt-in. See docs/privacy.md. Google doesn't publish adb for arm64 Linux, so that build uses your distribution's. If you already have adb, the app uses yours.

macOS: the app isn't notarized

There's no paid Apple developer account behind it, so macOS says the app is damaged or can't be checked. Drag it to Applications, then clear the download quarantine once:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Frame Control.app"

The first time, macOS also asks to allow local network access (for SSH) and control of Terminal (for the password prompts).

Windows: SmartScreen warning

The installer isn't code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may say it protected your PC. Choose More info → Run anyway. The portable .zip avoids the installer: unzip it anywhere and run Frame Control.exe.

Linux: running the AppImage

chmod +x Frame-Control-linux-*.AppImage && ./Frame-Control-linux-*.AppImage

If it complains about FUSE, install libfuse2 (Ubuntu 24.04+: libfuse2t64), or run it with --appimage-extract-and-run.

Set up the headset

You type one password on the headset, once. Everything else happens on your computer.

1. On the Frame: Steam Settings → System → Enable Developer Mode, then in the Developer section, Set User Password. Pick something short: you'll type it once more on your computer and then never again.

2. On your computer: open Frame Control. It offers to Set Up Connection, which finds the headset, creates an SSH key, and asks for that password once in a terminal window. If it can't find the Frame, type the IP address from the Frame's Quick Settings.

   Before asking for the password it tries Valve's SteamOS devkit pairing: in the headset, open Steam Settings → Developer → Pair new host and approve the request, and no password is needed. (The service and the pairing-mode step are verified on a Frame; the approval itself isn't yet. See SSH.)

3. That's it. The app now reaches the headset whenever it's awake and on the same network. For anywhere else, see Tailscale.

What it changes: only what you click. Installs go to your user account on the Frame (--user Flatpaks, Lepton instances, Steam downloads, sideloaded games in ~/devkit-game), and nothing needs sudo except the power buttons. On your computer it adds a Host frame entry to ~/.ssh/config and keys at ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_frame and ~/.ssh/id_rsa_frame_devkit (the pairing service only takes RSA keys).

Feedback

This is a first public test, so reports are really useful, especially from Windows and Linux. The quickest way is Report a problem in the app (the warning-sign button at the top, or Help → Report a Problem…). It adds diagnostics with personal details removed, shows you exactly what's included, and sends it privately to the maintainer; nothing is published. Without the app, use the feedback form. Please include:

• what you tried and what happened
• your computer's OS and your SteamOS build (Steam Settings → System)
• the server log: Frame → Show Server Log in the app

Issues and PRs opened directly on GitHub by new contributors are auto-closed until a maintainer approves them; see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Going further

This repo also holds the scripts behind the app and field notes on how the Frame's software fits together, all checked against a real headset and labelled verified or inferred.

Frame Control in detail	Every feature, how it works, per-platform notes, building
Scripts and headset setup	The command-line helpers, minimum typing, streaming options, floating panels
How the Frame works	SteamVR → gamescope → Plasma, verified facts, debugging
Android apps (Lepton)	Sideloading, the rated F-Droid catalogue, per-app instances
Sideloading Linux and Windows games	A .zip, folder or .exe as a Steam Devkit Game, runtime detection
Install links for websites	frame-control://install links and manifests, the rules, a button to paste
Steam games · VR video · WebXR in Chromium	Installing and buying, watching VR180/360, the Chromium build
Mac in the headset	Mac windows and screens as panels in the Frame, with laser and keyboard input
VR mods and custom songs	Per-game feasibility, real-Frame results and blockers; no installer yet
SSH · Streaming · Files · Panels · Tailscale	Topic notes
Frame Control for iPhone	The iPhone and iPad app, how it runs the server on the Frame, pairing
Recovery and OS images	Where to download the Frame's OS, what's inside, testing without the headset
AI agents and assistant	Key-free MCP tools, human approvals, and an opt-in assistant panel
Testing	Unit tests, end-to-end tests against a fake Frame in Docker, and the headset smoke test
Open questions	What's still unchecked

Security notes

• With Developer Mode on, sshd, ADB and xrdp are all reachable on your LAN. Each running Lepton (Android) instance opens its own ADB port in 5555–5599, listening on 0.0.0.0 rather than only loopback. This was seen on the device on 2026-09-25, so anyone on the network can reach it. Use trusted networks only, and turn Developer Mode off when you don't need it.
• Frame Control reaches ADB and the Steam client's DevTools port (Frame loopback 127.0.0.1:8080) only through SSH tunnels. The compatibility database key (maintainer-only) is never written to the repo.
• steamos has sudo, protected by the same Developer Mode password. Once you've switched to key auth, a short password still protects sudo and RDP, so pick one that isn't trivially guessable.
• Don't port-forward 22, 3389, or 5555–5599 from your router. For remote access, use Tailscale: scripts/tailscale-on-frame.sh (no sudo). In its userspace mode every Frame port is reachable from your tailnet, including Steam's DevTools on loopback 8080; see docs/tailscale.md.

Development

python3 -m unittest discover -s tests   # server tests; no headset needed
scripts/e2e.sh                          # end-to-end against a fake Frame (Linux with Docker)
cd app && npm install && npm start      # run the app from the checkout

The server is Python stdlib only; the app is Electron. GitHub Actions runs the tests on macOS, Windows and Linux, and a v* tag builds all three installers into a draft release, which reaches users once published. See building and releasing.

License

MIT. The apps also ship other people's software under its own licence, notably KDE Connect (GPL) for the keyboard and trackpad; see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. Steam, Steam Frame and SteamVR are trademarks of Valve Corporation. This project isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Valve.