pulse-remote-desktop

Electron desktop wrapper for pulse-remote-web - a WebSocket-based remote PulseAudio/PipeWire controller for Linux systems.

What is this?

This Electron app wraps the pulse-remote-web frontend in a native desktop window, providing a dedicated interface to control your Linux PC's audio remotely. It connects to the pulse-remote WebSocket server running on your Linux machine (default: http://localhost:8448).

Features

• Standalone Desktop App: Native Electron window for the web interface
• Always on Top: Configured as a floating toolbar window (useful for tiling window managers)
• Auto-hide Menu: Clean, distraction-free interface
• Skip Taskbar: Appears as a utility window
• Optimized for Linux: Custom WM_CLASS and window type settings for tiling WMs

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────┐
│  pulse-remote-desktop   │  ← This repo (Electron wrapper)
│   (Electron App)        │
└───────────┬─────────────┘
            │ WebSocket
            ↓
┌─────────────────────────┐
│   pulse-remote          │  ← Backend server (Go/WebSocket)
│   (localhost:8448)      │     https://github.com/undg/pulse-remote
└───────────┬─────────────┘
            │ PulseAudio API
            ↓
┌─────────────────────────┐
│  PulseAudio/PipeWire    │  ← Linux audio system
└─────────────────────────┘

Prerequisites

You need the pulse-remote server running on your Linux machine:

git clone https://github.com/undg/pulse-remote
cd pulse-remote
make run

The server will start on ws://localhost:8448/api/v1/ws

Installation

Install Dependencies

pnpm install

Development

pnpm run dev

Build

# Type check and build for production
pnpm run build

# Build and package for Linux
pnpm run build:linux

# Build unpacked (for testing)
pnpm run build:unpack

Configuration

The app is configured to:

• Load the web UI from http://localhost:8448
• Display as a 900x1200 floating toolbar window
• Stay always on top and skip the taskbar
• Use custom WM_CLASS: pulse-remote-electron

Edit src/main/index.ts to customize window behavior and server URL.

Related Projects

• pulse-remote: Go backend WebSocket server that communicates with PulseAudio/PipeWire
• pulse-remote-web: React/TypeScript web frontend (loaded by this app)

Development Stack

• Electron: Native desktop wrapper
• TypeScript: Type-safe development
• Vite: Fast build tooling via electron-vite
• ESLint + Prettier: Code quality and formatting

License

MIT