Sunshine

A self-hosted host that streams games from your own PC to Moonlight clients on phones, tablets, TVs and other computers, with GPU encoding.

43.3k stars, 2.4k forks C++ On GitHub since December 2021

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

Sunshine at a glance

Open sourceYes, GPL-3.0No paid parts in the repository
Health84 of 100Actively developed
Self-hostingDesktop apps, MobileOne-click in Unraid
AppsLinux, Android, macOS, Windows, including ARMBuilds in GitHub releases
Interface17 languagesIncluding English, German and French
Issue repliesWithin ~2 hoursMedian first reply; 38% of recent issues answered

What is Sunshine?

Sunshine runs on the computer that has your games and sends its screen, sound and controller input over the network to any Moonlight client. Video is encoded on AMD, Intel or Nvidia graphics hardware, with a software encoder as a fallback, and capture works through methods such as DXGI on Windows, KMS/DRM, X11 or Wayland on Linux, and ScreenCaptureKit on macOS. Configuration and pairing with client devices happen in a browser-based admin page. It can emulate common gamepads, including Xbox, DualShock, DualSense and Switch Pro controllers. The interface is translated into 17 languages.

Good fit if

  • You want to play PC games from the couch, a laptop or a phone without paying for a cloud gaming subscription.
  • Your gaming machine has a recent AMD, Intel or Nvidia GPU with hardware video encoding.
  • You already use Moonlight and need a host that is not tied to one GPU brand.

Look elsewhere if

  • You want to stream over a slow or crowded network: the README asks for 5 GHz Wi-Fi at minimum and wired Ethernet for 4K.
  • You need full controller features such as motion, touchpad and adaptive triggers on every system without extra software.

Before you adopt it

Sunshine is licensed under GPL-3.0, and the repository holds no paid parts. Some gamepad profiles, though, depend on a separately installed and licensed Virtual HID Broker, so check the compatibility table for your platform. It is maintained by the LizardByte organization with about two dozen recent contributors, and ready-made builds exist for Windows, macOS and Linux. The README warns that its hardware requirement tables are still a work in progress.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 7 November 2026. Report a correction

How to run Sunshine yourself

One-click install

  • Unraid

Not listed in Umbrel, YunoHost, TrueNAS, CasaOS, Runtipi, Proxmox VE Helper-Scripts and Coolify. Checked against each panel’s app catalog on 12 November 2026.

Ways to install

Docker files
None in the repository
Compose file
None in the repository
Setup effort
Not rated: no compose file to judge from
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Packages
AUR, Gentoo, Nix and Scoop versions on Repology
Desktop and mobile
Builds for Linux, Android, macOS, Windows, including ARM in GitHub releases
Interface languages
17 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and Japanese
Show all 17

Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

Install instructions: sunshine.lizardbyte.dev or the README on GitHub. Docker images and packages are checked weekly.

Sunshine health: is it still maintained?

84 of 100, actively developed

Release rhythmEvery ~18 days3 releases in 12 months; latest v2026.914.233613
Issue repliesWithin ~2 hoursMedian first reply; 38% of recent issues answered
Bus factorLow riskThe most active of 26 authors wrote 47% of recent commits
  • Activity
    356 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 12 November 2026.
    30 / 30
  • Contributors
    26 people wrote the latest 100 commits; the most active wrote 47% of them.
    19 / 20
  • Releases
    3 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v2026.914.233613, on 15 September 2026.
    15 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 38% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 2 hours.
    15 / 20
  • Security practices
    No OpenSSF Scorecard for this repository yet, so this part gets a neutral score.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 12 November 2026. How the score works

Sunshine security

Security advisories are the vulnerabilities the maintainers disclosed on GitHub, with the versions that fix them; many advisories can mean careful disclosure as much as weak code.

Security advisories15 published2 critical, 6 high; all list a fixed version

Latest advisories

All 15 advisories on GitHub

Advisories read from GitHub on 12 November 2026.

Sunshine license: is it open source?

Sunshine uses GPL-3.0, an open-source license approved by the OSI.

  1. December 2021First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayGPL-3.0.

Sunshine for developers

Written in

  • C++ 80%
  • Vue 6%
  • CMake 5%
  • Objective-C++ 3%
  • JavaScript 2%
  • Other 4%

Getting involved

Help wanted2Open, labelled “help wanted”Contributing guideYescontributing.mdOpen issues112On GitHub
Authors, 90 days26Of the latest 100 commits
Donations3 waysGitHub Sponsors, Patreon, own page

Language shares are GitHub’s count of the code in the repository.

Alternatives to Sunshine

  • LinuxGSMThe command-line tool for quick, simple deployment and management of Linux dedicated game servers. 71 health · MIT · 4.9k stars
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All 7 projects in Games & game servers

Questions about Sunshine

Is Sunshine open source?

Yes. Sunshine is published under GPL-3.0, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is Sunshine still maintained?

Its health score is 84 of 100 (actively developed). It had 356 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 12 November 2026, and its latest release came out on 15 September 2026.

How do I run Sunshine?

You can run it as an app for Linux, Android, macOS, Windows, including ARM and in one click from Unraid. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What is Sunshine written in?

Sunshine is written mainly in C++ (80% of the code), with Vue (6%), by GitHub’s count of the repository.

What languages is Sunshine available in?

The repository has interface translations for 17 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian.

What are the alternatives to Sunshine?

Close alternatives in the Games & game servers category include LinuxGSM, Pterodactyl, RomM.