Sunshine

Self-hosted game stream host for Moonlight.

ℹ️ About

Sunshine is a self-hosted game stream host for Moonlight. Offering low-latency, cloud gaming server capabilities with support for AMD, Intel, and Nvidia GPUs for hardware encoding. Software encoding is also available. You can connect to Sunshine from any Moonlight client on a variety of devices. A web UI is provided to allow configuration, and client pairing, from your favorite web browser. Pair from the local server or any mobile device.

LizardByte has the full documentation hosted on Read the Docs

• Stable Docs
• Beta Docs

🚀 Multi-session Window Capture (fork additions)

This fork extends Sunshine with generic multi-session window capture. A session group is the isolation boundary (one capture thread, and one RTSP port in per-group-port mode) and holds one or more sessions. A session is one independent stream picture: the set of windows it matches (the main window plus its menus/dialogs) is composited, by real Z-order, into that session's own frame. The session id is the Moonlight appid, which is how a client selects which application to stream.

Feature additions (step by step):

Step	Addition
6.4-1	GPU window capture backend — window frames stay in video memory and feed NVENC directly (no GPU→CPU round trip). Software encoders use the RAM backend.
6.4-2	Port modes — single-port (all groups share RTSP port 47989, routed by group name) or per-group-port (one dedicated RTSP port per group, allocated from a port_range), plus a configurable default group.
6.4-3	Popup composition — the backend binds to the process owning the matched window and composites all its visible top-level windows (menus, dialogs, tooltips) into one frame, so the full application appears in the stream.
6.4-4	GPU popup composition — the GPU-backed (hardware) window backend composites popups on the GPU, drawing them onto the capture texture after the anchor frame (no CPU round trip); falls back to CPU composition if GPU composition fails.
6.4r-1	Session model rework — a group now holds sessions[], each session carrying its own window matching rules and aux_exclude list. This is the first step of the rework that replaces the per-group "matched process" capture with per-session window-set composition and session-id (appid) routing.

The 6.4-1 … 6.4-4 rows predate the session model rework. The capture backend now composes, for each session, the windows matching that session's rules (regardless of the owning process); a client selects its session by appid.

Session groups are configured with a JSON file (session-groups.json) or command-line options (--port-mode, --port-range, --default-group, --group, --process, --title, --class, ...). The command line overrides the file. The configuration is only a preset template: groups and sessions can also be created and changed at runtime through the control channel.

For the full configuration reference, see docs/session_groups.md.

🎮 Feature Compatibility

Gamepad Emulation

Feature	FreeBSD	Linux	macOS	Windows
What type of gamepads can be emulated on the host. Clients may support other gamepads.
Generic	🟡1	✅	❌	✅
DualShock / DS4 (PlayStation 4)	🟡1	✅	❌	✅
DualSense / DS5 (PlayStation 5)	🟡1	✅	❌	✅
Nintendo Switch Pro	🟡1	✅	❌	✅
Xbox 360	🟡1	✅	❌	✅
Xbox One	🟡1	✅	❌	✅
Xbox Series	🟡1	✅	❌	✅

Note

¹ Missing motion, touchpad input, battery state, RGB LEDs, adaptive triggers, and raw HID output reports.

Encoding API

Encoding API	GPU Vendor	FreeBSD	Linux	macOS	Windows
AMF	AMD	➖	➖	➖	✅
Media Foundation	Qualcomm	➖	➖	➖	✅
NVENC	NVIDIA	➖	✅	➖	✅
QuickSync	Intel	➖	➖	➖	✅
VAAPI	AMD	✅	✅	➖	➖
	Intel	✅	✅	➖	➖
	NVIDIA	➖	✅	➖	➖
Video Toolbox	Apple	➖	➖	✅	➖
	Intel	➖	➖	✅	➖
Vulkan Video	AMD	🟡	✅	➖	➖
	Intel	🟡	🟡	➖	➖
	NVIDIA	➖	🟡	➖	➖
Software	Any	✅	✅	✅	✅

Screen Capture

Capture Method	FreeBSD	Linux	macOS	Windows
DXGI Desktop Duplication	➖	➖	➖	✅
KMS/DRM	✅	✅	➖	➖
NvFBC (X11 only)	➖	✅	➖	➖
ScreenCaptureKit	➖	➖	✅	➖
Wayland (wlroots)	✅	✅	➖	➖
Windows.Graphics.Capture	➖	➖	➖	🟡
↳ Portable	➖	➖	➖	✅
↳ Service	➖	➖	➖	❌
X11	✅	✅	➖	➖
XDG Desktop Portal	✅	✅	➖	➖
KWin Screencast	✅	✅	➖	➖

Capture → Encoding Compatibility (Linux/FreeBSD)

Capture Method	VAAPI	Vulkan Video	NVENC (CUDA)	Software
KMS/DRM	✅	✅	✅	✅
NvFBC	❌	❌	✅	❌
Wayland (wlroots)	✅	❌	✅	✅
X11	✅	❌	✅	✅
XDG Desktop Portal	✅	✅	✅	✅
KWin Screencast	✅	✅	✅	✅

Legend: ✅ Supported | 🟡 Partial Support | ❌ Not Yet Supported | ➖ Not Applicable

🖥️ System Requirements

Warning

These tables are a work in progress. Do not purchase hardware based on this information.

Minimum Requirements

Component	Requirement
GPU	AMD: VCE 1.0 or higher, see: obs-amd hardware support
	Intel:   FreeBSD/Linux: VAAPI-compatible, see: VAAPI hardware support   Windows: Skylake or newer with QuickSync encoding support
	Nvidia: NVENC enabled cards, see: nvenc support matrix
CPU	AMD: Ryzen 3 or higher
	Intel: Core i3 or higher
RAM	4GB or more
OS	FreeBSD: 15.1+
	Linux/Debian: 13+ (trixie)
	Linux/Fedora: 43+
	Linux/Ubuntu: 22.04+ (jammy)
	macOS: 14.2+
	Windows: 11+
Network	Host: 5GHz, 802.11ac
	Client: 5GHz, 802.11ac

4k Suggestions

Component	Requirement
GPU	AMD: Video Coding Engine 3.1 or higher
	Intel:   FreeBSD/Linux: HD Graphics 510 or higher   Windows: Skylake or newer with QuickSync encoding support
	Nvidia:   FreeBSD/Linux: GeForce RTX 2000 series or higher   Windows: Geforce GTX 1080 or higher
CPU	AMD: Ryzen 5 or higher
	Intel: Core i5 or higher
Network	Host: CAT5e ethernet or better
	Client: CAT5e ethernet or better

HDR Suggestions

Component	Requirement
GPU	AMD: Video Coding Engine 3.4 or higher
	Intel: HD Graphics 730 or higher
	Nvidia: Pascal-based GPU (GTX 10-series) or higher
CPU	AMD: Ryzen 5 or higher
	Intel: Core i5 or higher
Network	Host: CAT5e ethernet or better
	Client: CAT5e ethernet or better

❓ Support

Our support methods are listed in our LizardByte Docs.

👥 Contributors

Thank you to all the contributors who have helped make Sunshine better!

GitHub

CrowdIn

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