Aether

One keyboard. One mouse. Every machine on your desk.

Aether lets you share a single keyboard, mouse, or trackpad across multiple computers. Move your cursor off the edge of one screen and it appears on the next. Copy and paste between systems. All traffic encrypted with TLS. No hardware, no KVM switch, no cloud account.

Website | Download | Docs | Releases

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Table of contents

• Why Aether
• Quick start
• Download and install
• Getting started
• Features
• System requirements
• Build from source
• Documentation
• Changelog
• Roadmap
• Security
• License
• Credits

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Why Aether

• No KVM switch. Software-only. Install on each machine and connect over your LAN.
• No cloud. Direct peer-to-peer. Nothing leaves your network.
• No subscription. Free and open source under GPL-2.0 with OpenSSL exception.
• Compatible. Works with existing Synergy and Barrier peers.

Quick start

1. Download Aether from the releases page.
2. Install on the machine with the keyboard and mouse you want to share. Set it as Server.
3. Install on the other machines. Set them as Clients.
4. On the server, arrange the screen grid to match your physical desk layout.
5. Start the server. Connect from the clients.
6. Move your cursor to the edge of the screen. It appears on the next machine.

That's it. No accounts, no configuration files, no network setup.

Download and install

Prebuilt installers and packages are available on the releases page or from the download page.

Windows

1. Download aether-<version>-win-x64.msi (recommended) or the .exe bootstrapper.
2. Run the installer. Administrator privileges are required.
3. Launch Aether from the Start menu.
4. On the first PC choose Server, on the others choose Client.
5. Arrange your screens in the GUI to match your physical layout.
6. Start the server.

A portable .7z archive is also available if you prefer not to install.

Linux

• Debian, Ubuntu, Mint: download the .deb and run sudo apt install ./aether-*.deb
• Fedora, openSUSE: download the .rpm and run sudo dnf install aether-*.rpm or sudo zypper install aether-*.rpm
• Other distributions: extract the .tar.gz archive and run the binary directly

Aether supports both X11 and Wayland. The correct backend is selected automatically based on your session type.

macOS

macOS support is planned. See the roadmap for details.

Getting started

After installing, you need at least two machines:

1. Pick one machine as the server (the one with the keyboard and mouse you want to share).
2. Install Aether on the other machines and set them as clients.
3. On the server, open Aether and arrange the screen grid to match your physical desk layout.
4. Enter the client computer names in the grid to match their hostnames.
5. Start the server on the main machine and connect from the clients.
6. Move your cursor to the edge of the server screen and it appears on the client.

See the help guide for detailed setup instructions.

Features

Input sharing

• One keyboard, mouse, or trackpad controls all machines
• Cursor moves seamlessly across screens by dragging to the edge
• Hotkeys for jumping to a specific screen
• Configurable screen layout with drag-and-drop grid

Cross-platform

• Windows 10 or later (x64)
• Linux with X11 or Wayland (x64)
• macOS support planned
• Same protocol works with Synergy and Barrier peers

Clipboard sharing

• Copy text between machines
• Copy images between machines
• Synchronized clipboard state across all connected systems

Security

• TLS encrypted network traffic between server and clients
• Fingerprint-based peer verification
• Configurable firewall rules on Windows

Quality of life

• System tray integration with quick start/stop
• Auto-start on login (optional)
• Version checker with update notification
• Multi-language UI (English, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Chinese)

System requirements

• Windows 10 or later, or a modern Linux distribution with X11 or Wayland
• All machines on the same local network
• Port 24800 accessible (TCP) between machines
• Qt 6.7+ and OpenSSL 3.0+ (bundled in prebuilt packages)

Build from source

See the build guide for the complete instructions. Quick start:

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build

Requirements: CMake 3.24+, Qt 6.7+, OpenSSL 3.0+. Most other dependencies are fetched automatically by CMake.

Documentation

• Configuration
• Auto-update
• Help guide
• Build guide
• Protocol reference
• Security policy
• Issue reporting
• About

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for the full version history. Each release is linked to its GitHub tag.

Roadmap

Aether is evolving from a keyboard and mouse sharing tool into a Unified Distributed Workspace: multiple computers cooperating as one workspace, with each device contributing its own CPU, GPU, memory, and display.

• Phase 1: Strengthen the foundation (auto-updater, network resilience, clipboard modernization, macOS, dark mode, mDNS discovery)
• Phase 2: Aether Display (virtual display streaming, true extended desktop)
• Phase 3: Hybrid Workspace (multi-display, file drag and drop, audio streaming, mobile companion)
• Phase 4: Remote Application Research (remote execution, resource-aware placement)
• Phase 5: Distributed Workspace (unified resource model, workload scheduling)

See the full roadmap and the vision document for details.

Security

Security issues should follow the policy in docs/Security.md.

License

Aether is distributed under GPL-2.0 with an OpenSSL exception. Source code is licensed under GPL-2.0-only with OpenSSL exception, or as noted per file. See LICENSE and LICENSES/ for details.

Credits

Aether is a fork of the Synergy codebase, rebranded and maintained by Rimora Studio (developer: Xeleste). The original Synergy and Barrier projects deserve credit for the protocol and core implementation.