Remote Desktop Testing on Windows
Overview
Generic Daytona Windows sandbox driver. It creates (or reuses) a Windows sandbox whose desktop is streamed over noVNC, and provides the primitives for visual testing of any GUI app: sync code, run PowerShell, launch GUI programs in the interactive desktop session, screenshot, record video, and mint a clickable desktop link a teammate can open to drive the app.
When to Use
- Demo or visually verify a GUI app (Electron, browser, native Win32) on Windows without a local Windows machine
- Produce a screenshot + video + clickable live-desktop link for a teammate
- Debug Windows-specific desktop behavior of a cross-platform app
- Run throwaway desktop sessions that are fully disposable (stop with
cleanup)
Usage
Run the bundled script with Node from the skill directory:
bashnode scripts/remote-desktop.mjs <command> [options]
Credentials: DAYTONA_API_KEY (and optionally DAYTONA_API_URL/DAYTONA_TARGET) from the
environment or a dotenv file — ./.env by default, override with --env-path <file>.
The script auto-installs @daytona/sdk under ~/.letta/skill-state/remote-desktop-testing-windows/
on first use and remembers the active sandbox id there, so later commands don't need --sandbox.
Typical flow
bash# 1. Start (or reuse) a Windows sandbox (default snapshot: "windows", the stock Daytona one) node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs start # 2. (Optional) push a local project to C:\Users\Public\remote-desktop\workspace node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs sync --project-path ~/repos/my-app --sync-mode working_tree # 3. Set up / build with PowerShell commands node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs shell \ --command "Set-Location C:\Users\Public\remote-desktop\workspace; npm install" # 4. Launch the GUI app in the interactive desktop session and verify its window appeared node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs launch \ --command "my-app.exe --some-flag" --label my-app --wait-window "My App" # 5. Deliverables: screenshot, video, and a clickable live-desktop link node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs screenshot --output /tmp/demo.png node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs record --output /tmp/demo.mp4 --mp4 --duration 12 node scripts/remote-desktop.mjs preview
Always confirm the result visually (open the screenshot, or check windows / --wait-window)
before reporting success — never report success from process existence alone. When sharing with
a teammate, send the desktopUrl from preview (signed noVNC link, expires ~6h; re-run
preview to refresh). Pass --port <n> to preview to also mint a signed URL for an app's
HTTP port.
Commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
start | Create/reuse a sandbox and start the desktop stream. --fresh forces a new one. |
sync | Sync --project-path to C:\Users\Public\remote-desktop\workspace (git_archive = committed HEAD, working_tree = uncommitted too; robocopy /MIR preserving remote node_modules). |
shell --command PS | Run PowerShell. --timeout <s> for long ones. |
launch --command CMD | Launch a GUI command in the interactive desktop session via schtasks /IT (logged to C:\Users\Public\remote-desktop\launch-<label>.log). --wait-window <regex> verifies a matching window title appears. |
windows | List visible desktop windows. |
screenshot | Save a PNG of the full desktop locally. |
preview | Print signed desktopUrl (noVNC), plus appUrl if --port given. |
record | Record the live desktop via Playwright + local Chrome (--duration <s>, --mp4). |
recording-start/stop/download | Native Daytona recording — unreliable on Windows (recordings can silently vanish); prefer record. |
snapshot --snapshot <name> | Bake the sandbox into a snapshot (Daytona snapshots Windows from STOPPED; stops, snapshots, restarts). |
cleanup | Stop the active sandbox. |
Snapshots
Cold Windows boxes are slow to set up. After installing your toolchain/deps once, bake a
prepared snapshot so future start --snapshot <name> runs skip setup:
bashnode scripts/remote-desktop.mjs snapshot --snapshot my-app-windows-dev-v1
Revert throwaway edits before baking. Keep install-skip markers or caches outside the
workspace directory (e.g. directly under C:\Users\Public\remote-desktop\) — sync mirrors
with robocopy /MIR, which deletes anything in the workspace not present locally.
Gotchas
- Daytona shell/process commands run as SYSTEM. GUI apps launched from
shellcan run invisibly.launchexists precisely for this: it wraps the command in a.cmdand runs it viaschtasks /IT /RU Administrator, which puts the window in the interactive session that the noVNC link shows. Always uselaunch(notshell) to start GUI apps. - Verify with
--wait-windoworwindows+screenshot— a running process is not a visible window. - For the shareable link, send
desktopUrl(the interactive desktop), not a raw app-port URL. recordruns Playwright locally: it resolvesplaywright/playwright-corefrom--project-pathfirst, else auto-installsplaywright-coreinto skill state, and drives the local Chrome binary (--chrome-path, default macOS Chrome).--mp4needs local ffmpeg.- Maintainer note: the launch
.cmdgeneration usesString.raw— keep it that way. A plain template literal turns Windows path backslashes (\node_modules,\bin) into JS escapes (\n,\b) and silently corrupts the launcher. - Native
schtasks /Deleteon a missing task writes to stderr, which PowerShell's$ErrorActionPreference='Stop'escalates — the script routes it throughcmd.exe /cto swallow that; do the same for any other best-effort native command you add.
