Decky Sunshine

Stream your Steam Deck screen to another device with minimal effort.

Features

With Decky Sunshine you can:

• Install, set up, update, and launch the Sunshine streaming server from Game Mode
• Pair another device running the Moonlight app
• Start remote play with low latency

That’s it - easy streaming from your Steam Deck.

Installation & Setup

Follow these steps to get Decky Sunshine installed and ready.

Before You Start

Make sure:

1. You have Decky Loader installed
2. Your Steam Deck and the other device are on the same Wi-Fi or local network
3. Sunshine is not already manually installed

1. Install the Plugin

1. Open the Quick Access Menu (press the "…" / three-dots button)
2. Go to the Decky tab (the plug symbol)
3. Open the Decky Plugin Store
4. Search for “Decky Sunshine”
5. Install it
6. Return to the Decky tab

The plugin will handle installing Sunshine automatically.

2. Start Sunshine

1. In the Decky tab, select Decky Sunshine
2. Ensure the status is Running (it should be Running after the initial install)
3. If it is Stopped, press Start Sunshine

3. Install Moonlight on Your Other Device

1. Install Moonlight from your device’s app store or moonlight-stream.org
2. Open Moonlight on your device

4. Pair the Device

Option A: Automatic Discovery

1. In Moonlight, your Steam Deck should appear automatically as steamdeck (based on your host name)
2. Select it
3. Moonlight will display a PIN

Option B: Manual IP Entry

1. In Moonlight, choose Add (PC / +)
2. Enter your Steam Deck’s IP address (find it under Steam Deck → Settings → Internet → (your network) → Details)
3. Moonlight will display a PIN

Complete Pairing on the Deck

1. On your Steam Deck, go to Decky → Decky Sunshine and press Pair Client
2. Enter a client name (any label, e.g. LivingRoomTV) and the PIN shown in Moonlight
3. Press Pair to confirm

5. Start Streaming

1. In Moonlight, select Desktop
2. Your Steam Deck interface will appear on the other device
3. Play as normal - inputs will be sent back to the Deck

FAQs

I have an issue / the plugin does not behave as expected.

1. First, check the other FAQ entries - your question may already be answered.
2. If not, search the open and closed issues to see if your problem has already been reported or solved.
3. Review the logs located at /home/deck/homebrew/logs/decky-sunshine/.
4. If you still can’t resolve the issue, open an issue and describe:
   • What happened vs. what you expected
   • Relevant log excerpts (attach or paste them)

I manually installed Sunshine before. Can I still use Decky Sunshine?

This depends on how you ran Sunshine before.

If you installed Sunshine as the deck user (e.g. flatpak install dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine without sudo): The plugin will not detect this user-scoped installation and will install Sunshine system-wide instead, initializing it with a fresh set of credentials. Use the "Show credentials" button in the plugin UI to retrieve the generated credentials for the Web UI.

If you installed Sunshine system-wide or ran it as root (e.g. using sudo -i flatpak run): The plugin will detect the existing installation and you should be able to log in using the credentials from your initial setup. If this does not work, you can reset the credentials for the root user by running sudo -i flatpak run dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine --creds <username> <password> (note the sudo -i — running without it would reset credentials for the deck user instead, which has no effect on the plugin's Sunshine instance). Alternatively, uninstall Sunshine and delete its configuration (this includes all paired devices!) using sudo -i flatpak uninstall --delete-data dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine, then let Decky Sunshine reinstall it.

How do I open Sunshine’s Web UI?

Sunshine’s Web UI is available at https://<your-deck-ip>:47990 — or https://localhost:47990 in a browser on the Deck itself. Note the https://: browsers default to http:// and Sunshine does not redirect, so without it the page appears unreachable. Your browser will warn about a self-signed certificate; that is expected, proceed anyway. Log in with the credentials shown by the plugin’s Show credentials button.

Changing settings (not just viewing) from another device requires Sunshine’s CSRF protection to allow that address — the plugin takes care of this automatically when it starts Sunshine. If saving settings fails with a CSRF error (e.g. right after the Deck’s IP address changed), stop and start Sunshine once from the plugin.

Will you add feature X?

The goal of this plugin is to simplify setting up Sunshine in Game Mode and pairing Moonlight clients. If your idea supports that, feel free to open an issue. Features outside this goal will probably not be implemented, since they take development time and ongoing maintenance.

I want to change a setting in Sunshine. Will you add a feature for that?

If the setting improves the experience for many users, open an issue to discuss. Otherwise, just adjust it in Sunshine’s Web UI using the credentials displayed after clicking the Show credentials button. If you prefer editing the configuration file directly: it is located at /root/.var/app/dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine/config/sunshine/sunshine.conf — in the root user’s home, since the plugin runs Sunshine as root, not under /home/deck. Restart Sunshine afterwards for changes to take effect.

How can I see the Steam overlays on my device while playing?

You can stream the Steam overlays (three-dots / "STEAM" button menus) by enabling a developer setting. This may cause visual or performance issues; revert if you notice problems.

1. Press the STEAM button.
2. Open Settings.
3. Under System, enable Developer Mode (a Developer tab appears at the end).
4. Open Developer.
5. Enable Force Composite.
6. Restart your stream if it is already running.

To undo this, disable Force Composite.

The plugin asks for credentials.

If you manually installed Sunshine before, see the related FAQ entry. If you changed your Sunshine credentials e.g. from Sunshine's Web UI, enter these credentials.

How do I completely remove the plugin and Sunshine?

Uninstalling the plugin from the Decky menu stops Sunshine and cleans up everything the plugin placed outside its own folder. Following the usual convention, the Sunshine flatpak itself and its data (credentials, paired devices, configuration) are kept — a later reinstall of the plugin picks up right where you left off. If you want Sunshine gone too, run:

sudo -i flatpak uninstall --delete-data dev.lizardbyte.app.Sunshine

Note that --delete-data removes all paired devices and settings irrevocably.

I want to install a nightly version. How can I do that?

To install a nightly (or specific) version:

1. Open the Decky tab and press the cog to open Decky Loader settings.
2. In General, enable Developer mode (under OTHER).
3. Open the new Developer tab.
4. Either:
   • Download the desired ZIP to your Steam Deck, then use Browse under Install Plugin from ZIP File, or
   • Enter the direct ZIP URL in Install Plugin from URL and press Install.

Contributing

Ideas, issues, and improvements are welcome - open an issue or PR.

Thanks

Thanks to the Decky Loader, Sunshine, and Moonlight projects for making this possible.