rdesktop-dev: Agent-first development server.
This crate provides a browser-based development mode for rdesktop applications. Instead of opening a native window, it serves the frontend as a web page that AI agents can interact with using mature browser automation tools.
Why Browser Mode for Development?
AI agents (Claude, GPT, etc.) have excellent browser automation capabilities via Playwright/Puppeteer MCP tools, but very limited native desktop control. By serving the app in a browser during development, agents can:
- Inspect the DOM directly (no screenshots needed)
- Query elements by CSS selector or text content
- Execute actions (click, type, scroll) with precise targeting
- Take snapshots of the full application state
- Run automated tests against the UI
Agent API Endpoints
When agent_mode is enabled, these endpoints are available:
GET /__rdesktop__/agent/dom- Full DOM snapshot as JSONGET /__rdesktop__/agent/elements?selector=...- Query elementsPOST /__rdesktop__/agent/action- Execute UI actionsGET /__rdesktop__/agent/state- Application state snapshotPOST /__rdesktop__/agent/ipc- Send IPC message from agentGET /__rdesktop__/agent/screenshot- Capture current view