Files
punktfunk/crates/punktfunk-host
enricobuehlerandClaude Opus 5 2cfc82e96c fix(audio): budget the audio plane against the link, and close the review's gaps
Findings from the post-implementation review of design/audio-quality-and-latency.md.

**The bandwidth gap (highest).** Tier `High` (256 kbps) and the redundant `0xD2` plane were
added separately, each costed as "~1 % of the video budget", and nobody added them together:
256 kbps sent twice is 512 kbps — ~2.5 % of a 20 Mbps session but ~10 % of a 5 Mbps one. Audio
rides QUIC datagrams, OUTSIDE the ABR loop, so ABR could neither see that nor reclaim it; a
constrained link quietly handed a tenth of its bandwidth to audio while ABR carefully managed
the rest.

`plan_audio_budget` now makes tier and redundancy ONE decision against the session's resolved
video bitrate, ordered by preference rather than cost — transparent audio beats redundant audio,
since the field report was about quality and redundancy only pays under loss, so `High` alone
outranks `Standard`+redundancy even though they cost the same. It can lower what the operator
asked for, never raise it, and never goes below `Low`: a stream with unintelligible audio is
worse than one spending a few percent more.

**The Linux host kept the exact defect fixed on Windows.** `let _ = tx.try_send(samples)` —
silent, uncounted data loss, where the encoder concatenates across the hole, so every drop is a
click AND a permanent shift of everything after it. WP0.2 turned out to be Windows-only and had
not said so. Linux now shares `capture_policy::CaptureStats`: drops counted and warned, plus
per-window peak/RMS/delivered%. A Linux audio report was until now exactly as un-triageable as
the Windows one was on 2026-08-03.

**Apple's WP0.3 was half-done** — `bufferedMS` was added and wired to nothing. The drain thread
now logs buffer/target/underruns/sheds like the other three, from one locked snapshot so the
numbers in a line describe the same instant.

Also: the Linux "audio format negotiated" line now says WHICH mode produced it, because that
changes what it is worth — in stream-sink mode the host owns the sink so the mix cannot have
been narrowed upstream, but in legacy monitor mode a 16 kHz Bluetooth sink would still be
reported as a clean 48 kHz through PipeWire's resampler, the same way WASAPI's autoconvert hid
it on Windows. Reading the monitored node's own rate needs a registry lookup this stream does
not do; recorded as an open gap rather than implied to be covered.

Two stale docs: `audio_wasapi.rs` cited `clients/windows/src/audio.rs` (deleted) and still
described the pre-shared-policy "prime to ~3 quanta" behaviour. And the Apple ring's `prefill:`
parameter, dead since the depth moved into the ring, is gone.

Verified: clippy --all-targets -D warnings on Linux (docker) AND Windows (runner .133, forced
clean rebuild of punktfunk-host + pf-client-core); core 167 tests; host 57 audio tests on
Windows; Android clippy count identical to pristine (6, all documented arm64 artifacts); Apple
ring re-simulated. The host suite's `gamestream::stream::tests::sender_delivers_batches` fails
under qemu — the recorded environmental flake, unrelated to audio, green on the earlier
less-loaded run.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-04 17:58:17 +02:00
..

punktfunk-host

The streaming host — the program you run on the machine whose desktop or games you want to stream. For each client that connects, it spins up a virtual display sized to that device, captures it on the GPU, encodes with hardware NVENC/VAAPI/AMF/QSV, and sends it out over a low-latency transport — no physical monitor, no letterboxing, no rearranging your real screens.

It speaks two protocols from one process:

  • GameStream — so any Moonlight / Artemis client works day one.
  • punktfunk/1 — punktfunk's own faster protocol (QUIC control plane, GF(2¹⁶) FEC + AES-GCM data plane) that the native clients use.

Runs on Linux (the primary, most battle-tested path) and Windows (x64). The shared protocol, FEC, and crypto live in punktfunk-core; this crate is everything platform-facing around it.

What it does

  • Per-client virtual displays at the exact WxH@Hz. Linux uses per-compositor backends — KWin, gamescope, Mutter, and Sway/wlroots; Windows uses its own all-Rust IddCx virtual display, even on the secure desktop (UAC / lock screen).
  • GPU zero-copy capture → encode. dmabuf → CUDA/Vulkan → NVENC on Linux; on Windows the host pushes frames straight into its own IDD (sealed IDD-push, no screen-scraping) → GPU encode. Encoders auto-select by GPU vendor: NVENC (NVIDIA), VAAPI (Linux AMD/Intel), AMF/QSV (Windows AMD/Intel), or software H.264 as a floor. HDR/10-bit and HEVC 4:4:4 supported.
  • Input injection. Mouse/keyboard (libei / gamescope EIS / wlr / Windows SendInput) and virtual gamepads — Xbox 360/One, DualSense, DualShock 4 — with rumble and HID feedback back-channels.
  • Audio both ways. Opus audio host→client, plus a virtual microphone the client can talk into.
  • Trust & discovery. A persistent host identity, SPAKE2 PIN pairing (default) or TOFU, and mDNS auto-advertisement so clients find the host without typing an IP.
  • Management API + web console. A REST API (mgmt.rs, OpenAPI at api/openapi.json) drives status, paired devices, and on-demand pairing; the browser UI is in web/.

Run it

punktfunk-host serve runs inside your desktop session. Bare serve is the secure native-only default (punktfunk/1 + the management API); add --gamestream on a trusted LAN to also accept stock Moonlight clients.

# Linux, from the repo root (see the repo README "Running on this box" for the headless recipe):
cargo run -rp punktfunk-host -- serve                 # native-only (secure default)
cargo run -rp punktfunk-host -- serve --gamestream    # + Moonlight compatibility

Then pair from the web console (https://<host-ip>:47992) or the client app.

Most people should install a package rather than run from source — see packaging/ (apt · rpm/COPR/bootc · Arch/sysext · Windows installer) and the per-platform guides at docs.punktfunk.unom.io/docs/install.

Subcommands

Command Purpose
serve The host (native punktfunk/1 + mgmt API; --gamestream adds Moonlight).
punktfunk1-host Standalone native-protocol listener for testing/measurement (--source virtual, --max-sessions).
openapi Print the management-API OpenAPI spec (regenerates api/openapi.json).
library Inspect the multi-store game library.
service · driver · web Windows: SCM service, driver install, bundled web console.
*-test / *-selftest / *-probe Diagnostics (input, zero-copy, HDR, compositor, gamepads).

--help lists them all.

Layout

src/
  main.rs            CLI + subcommand dispatch
  config.rs · session_plan.rs · session_tuning.rs · pipeline.rs   session setup + the frame pipeline
  vdisplay/          per-compositor virtual outputs (kwin · gamescope · mutter · wlroots)
  capture/ · capture.rs    screen/dmabuf capture (+ Windows IDD-push)
  encode/ · encode.rs      per-GPU encoders (nvenc · vaapi · ffmpeg_win (AMF/QSV) · sw)
  linux/zerocopy/    dmabuf → CUDA → NVENC bridges (EGL/GL tiled, Vulkan LINEAR)
  inject/ · inject.rs      input backends (libei · wlr · uinput gamepads · UHID DualSense/DS4)
  audio/ · audio.rs        Opus out + virtual mic (PipeWire / WASAPI)
  gamestream/        Moonlight compat: nvhttp · pairing · rtsp · control · stream · gamepad · apps
  native.rs      the native punktfunk/1 host (QUIC control + native-thread UDP data plane)
  mgmt.rs · native_pairing.rs · stats_recorder.rs   management API, pairing, perf capture
  hdr.rs · library.rs      HDR metadata; multi-store game library
  linux/ · windows/  platform-confined backends
  • punktfunk-core — the shared protocol · FEC · crypto core
  • Clients — the apps that connect (Apple · Linux · Windows · Android · probe)
  • Packaging & docs — install & operate
  • punktfunk-planning (internal planning repo) — architecture rationale and deep-dive plans