omv 0.2.1

Self-hosted control plane and CLI for monitoring hosts and launching native remote-access clients.

OMV

OMV is a self-hosted control plane for personal machines. One CLI installs everything a user needs to run the three roles in the system:

• hub: the central FastAPI server and embedded web UI
• client: the native-client launcher that opens Moonlight, VNC, SSH, or browser fallbacks on the machine you are sitting at, and reports viewer-machine telemetry back to the hub
• host: the reporting agent that pushes telemetry, screenshots, and protocol metadata to the hub

The PyPI package is the product. End users install only the CLI:

uv tool install omv

That gives them the omv command with the backend, embedded frontend, launcher service, and host agent bundled inside the same package.

User model

There are three machine roles:

1. Central hub Hosts the website and API. Usually one stable machine on your tailnet or home network.
2. Native client Runs on the device that should launch native apps like Moonlight, Screen Sharing, or a terminal. This can be the same machine as the hub.
3. Hosts The machines you want to watch and connect to. Each host runs a lightweight agent and advertises the protocols it supports.

Typical layout:

• Home mini PC: hub + client
• Workstation: host
• Mac Mini: host
• Laptop on the road: client

Install

CLI only

uv tool install omv
omv --help

Upgrade later

uv tool upgrade omv

Remove

uv tool uninstall omv

Quick start

1. Set up the hub

On the machine that should host the dashboard:

omv hub init --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
omv hub start

Optional background service:

omv hub service-install

Open http://127.0.0.1:8000 locally or the machine's overlay-network IP from another device.

2. Set up a native client

On any machine that should open native apps when you click Launch in the dashboard:

omv client init --hub-url http://YOUR-HUB:8000
omv client install moonlight
omv client start

Optional background service:

omv client service-install

If the hub and the viewing machine are the same box, run both hub and client there.

The client service now reports viewer-side telemetry to the hub: CPU, memory, load average, network throughput, latency to the hub, best-effort GPU/power data, and recent launcher errors/logs.

3. Set up a host

On each machine you want to monitor:

omv host init --hub-url http://YOUR-HUB:8000
omv host start

For Linux hosts that should stream over Moonlight:

omv host install sunshine

For a persistent agent:

omv host service-install

Common workflows

All-in-one machine

One machine can run both the hub and the native client:

omv hub init
omv client init
omv hub service-install
omv client service-install

Check local status

omv status

Example output:

hub:        configured=yes listen=0.0.0.0:8000 health=ok
client:     configured=yes listen=127.0.0.1:32145 service=darwin
host:       configured=no
tools:      moonlight=yes sunshine=no tailscale=yes

Inspect a specific role

omv hub doctor
omv client doctor
omv host doctor

List nodes from the hub

omv nodes --base-url http://127.0.0.1:8000

Launch a node from the terminal

omv launch atlas-bot-lab --base-url http://127.0.0.1:8000

Dry-run a launch

omv launch atlas-bot-lab --base-url http://127.0.0.1:8000 --dry-run

Config files

OMV writes role-specific config files under ~/.config/omv/ on macOS and Linux.

• ~/.config/omv/hub.toml
• ~/.config/omv/client.toml
• ~/.config/omv/host.toml

Use the CLI to create them instead of hand-writing them:

omv hub init
omv client init
omv host init --hub-url http://127.0.0.1:8000

Native protocol support

The hub only orchestrates. Real sessions are handed off to native tools on the current viewing device.

• moonlight: launches the local Moonlight binary
• vnc: opens the local OS handler for vnc://...
• ssh: opens a terminal on the current machine and runs ssh
• guacamole: opens a browser fallback URL

This boundary is deliberate: browsers cannot directly spawn arbitrary local applications.

Dependency install commands

Install external tools from the CLI:

omv install moonlight
omv install sunshine
omv install tailscale

Role-scoped variants are also available:

omv client install moonlight
omv client install tailscale
omv host install sunshine
omv host install tailscale

Operational notes

A few steps still depend on the target platform and cannot be fully automated away:

• Tailscale still needs user authentication, usually via tailscale up
• Sunshine still needs its own permissions and pairing flow with Moonlight
• macOS VNC requires Screen Sharing or Remote Management to be enabled
• macOS screenshot capture may require Screen Recording permission for the host agent

The CLI surfaces these boundaries through omv client doctor and omv host doctor instead of pretending everything is finished when it is only installed.

Service management

User-level services are supported on:

• macOS via launchd
• Linux via systemd --user

Commands:

omv hub service-install
omv hub service-uninstall
omv client service-install
omv client service-uninstall
omv host service-install
omv host service-uninstall

Development

End users do not need Node or pnpm. They only need uv tool install omv.

For repo development:

uv sync
cd frontend && pnpm install
cd frontend && pnpm build
uv run --with pytest --with httpx pytest

Verification

Useful smoke checks:

omv --version
omv status
omv capabilities
omv hub doctor
omv client doctor
omv host report --dry-run