Butterfly Desktop Environment — Progress

Overview

A remote desktop environment with a Rust (Actix) backend and Angular 21 frontend. The system mimics a traditional Windows-like desktop in the browser, receiving display/audio from VM agents with minimal lag.

Architecture

┌─────────────┐     WebSocket      ┌──────────────────┐     WebSocket      ┌─────────────┐
│  Angular 21 │◄──────────────────►│  Rust Actix Server│◄──────────────────►│ VM Agent exe │
│  (Browser)  │   display/audio    │  (REST + WS)      │   display/audio    │  (Rust)      │
│             │   HUD commands     │                    │   HUD commands     │             │
└─────────────┘                    └──────────────────┘                    └─────────────┘

Checklist

Phase 1: Rust Backend ✅ (builds & runs)

server/Cargo.toml — Dependencies: actix-web 4, actix-ws 0.4, actix-cors, dashmap, parking_lot, serde, uuid, chrono
server/src/main.rs — Actix HTTP server with CORS, compression, static file serving, SPA fallback
server/src/config.rs — Env-based config (BUTTERFLY_HOST, BUTTERFLY_PORT, etc.)
server/src/models.rs — Session, AgentConnection, WsMessage enum (serde-tagged), ApiResponse, HealthInfo
server/src/state.rs — AppState with DashMap sessions/agents, FrameBuffer ring buffer for late-joiners
server/src/api/ — REST endpoints: GET/POST/DELETE /api/sessions, GET /api/health, POST /api/sessions/{id}/hud
server/src/ws/ — WebSocket handler: agent/viewer connect, display/audio frame relay, HUD forwarding, heartbeat timeout
server/src/stream/ — StreamStats tracker (frame count, byte relay, uptime)
server/static/index.html — Placeholder loading page
cargo build succeeds, cargo check clean (only dead_code warnings for future-use types)

Phase 2: Angular 21 Frontend ✅ (builds & serves)

Project scaffold with Angular CLI 21
Windows-like desktop shell (taskbar, start menu, window manager)
Remote display component (WebSocket canvas frame rendering, FPS counter)
HUD overlay (mouse click/move/wheel, keyboard down/up forwarding)
Window Manager service (open, close, focus, minimize, maximize, drag, resize)
WebSocket service (typed message streams, heartbeat, auto-reconnect)
API service (health, sessions CRUD, HUD command forwarding)
Built-in apps: File Explorer, Terminal, Text Editor, Settings, Web Browser
Session picker dialog (create/connect to remote sessions)
Production build: 328KB total (85KB gzipped), output to dist/browser/
Dark theme with animated gradient desktop background

Phase 3: VM Agent Executable 🔲 (next)

Rust desktop agent that captures display and audio
Streams display frames (JPEG/PNG) and audio (Opus/PCM) via WebSocket
Receives HUD commands (mouse, keyboard, resize)
Low-latency design for LAN usage

Phase 4: Integration & Polish 🔲

End-to-end testing (agent → server → browser)
Session management UI
Multi-session support
Authentication (JWT)
Performance optimization

Recent Commits

dcfaceb desktop: production build works (328KB, 85KB gzip)
f4b7e25 desktop: fix build errors (FormsModule, nativeWindow, provideHttpClient)
8a9429c desktop: components/desktop — main shell
eea8197 desktop: components/apps/browser
6beb93b desktop: components/apps/settings
0048eab desktop: components/apps/file-explorer
283e53d desktop: components/apps/text-editor
7496fbe desktop: components/apps/terminal
6b4c641 desktop: components/remote-display
8ad129e desktop: components/start-menu
490317b desktop: components/taskbar
b5e23e1 desktop: components/window
9d8aaa5 desktop: services/window-manager.service
4041625 desktop: services/api.service
710560d desktop: services/websocket.service
7991237 desktop: app root component
2b05373 desktop: scaffold Angular 21 project
bae17ae server: fix pong bytes — backend compiles

4.3 KiB Raw Blame History