Is Neko self-hosted only, or is there a hosted version?

Neko is self-hosted; you run the Docker containers on your own infrastructure. There's no official hosted SaaS offering in the README, though the room-management companion tool neko-rooms helps automate multi-instance deployments.

What license does Neko use?

Neko is licensed under Apache-2.0, which permits commercial use, modification, and distribution with attribution.

What browsers and apps can I run inside Neko?

Prebuilt Docker images exist for Firefox, Chromium, Google Chrome, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Opera, Tor Browser, and Waterfox, plus desktop environments like XFCE and KDE, and apps like VLC and Remmina. Since it just runs any Linux program, other apps can be added via custom images.

How does Neko differ from Apache Guacamole or noVNC?

Neko streams video over WebRTC instead of sending images over WebSockets, giving smoother playback, built-in audio support, and native multi-participant control, none of which Guacamole or noVNC provide out of the box.

What do I need to run Neko?

You need Docker (and typically Docker Compose), a host with enough CPU and network bandwidth to encode WebRTC video, and an open UDP port range for the WebRTC connection to reach clients.

Can multiple people control the session at once?

Yes. Multiple users can join the same Neko room, watch the shared stream, and take turns controlling the mouse and keyboard, which is the project's primary use case for watch parties and collaborative work.

Neko: Self-hosted virtual browser in Docker

Neko packages a full browser (or desktop environment) inside a Docker container and streams it to your browser tab using WebRTC. Unlike a screen-share tool, everyone connected to a Neko room sees the same video and audio feed and can take turns controlling the mouse and keyboard. It's built for people who want a shared, isolated browsing environment: teams doing cobrowsing, friends running a watch party, or anyone who needs a throwaway or persistent browser that never touches their local machine.

The project is a Go backend paired with a Vue frontend, and it ships as prebuilt Docker images for various browsers (Firefox, Chromium, Chrome, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Opera, Tor Browser) and desktop environments (XFCE, KDE). Because the container just runs a Linux program under X, Neko isn't limited to browsers, it can run VLC, a full desktop, or automation tools like Playwright or Puppeteer inside the isolated container.

Key features

WebRTC streaming: smooth, low-latency video and built-in audio, unlike image-polling approaches used by VNC/Guacamole-style tools.
Multi-user control: several people can join the same session, watch together, and hand off keyboard/mouse control.
Browser and app agnostic: prebuilt images cover most major browsers, plus desktop environments and apps like VLC or Remmina.
Isolated sessions: cookies and browsing state stay inside the container; nothing persists on the client, and no local data leaks unless you configure persistence.
Room management add-on: neko-rooms lets you spin up and manage multiple Neko instances via an API, including zero-knowledge HTTPS setups.
Broadcast and record: sessions can be pushed out over RTMP for streaming to Twitch/YouTube or saved to file for tutorial recording.
Embeddable: the virtual browser can be embedded into your own web app, similar to hosted APIs like Hyperbeam.

Ideal use cases

Neko fits well for watch parties, interactive presentations where viewers can take control, collaborative debugging or brainstorming sessions, and teaching/support scenarios where you guide someone through a controlled environment. It also works as a personal disposable or persistent browser: useful for anonymous browsing with Tor, gift shopping without leaving local traces, or accessing internal apps as a jump host without setting up a VPN.

It's a poor fit if you just need a single-user remote desktop with no real-time collaboration requirement, since simpler VNC/RDP setups may be lighter weight. It's also not a managed SaaS product: you're responsible for hosting, scaling, and securing the containers yourself, and WebRTC connectivity requires opening a UDP port range, which can be tricky behind restrictive NATs or firewalls.

Installation

Neko runs entirely in Docker, so you need Docker (and ideally Docker Compose) installed on a host with enough CPU/network capacity to encode video streams. The general pattern is to pull one of the prebuilt browser or desktop images and run it as a container, exposing the web UI port and a UDP range for WebRTC:

docker pull ghcr.io/m1k1o/neko/firefox:latest

docker run -d --name neko \
  --shm-size=2g \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -p 52000-52100:52000-52100/udp \
  ghcr.io/m1k1o/neko/firefox:latest

Exact environment variables (passwords, screen resolution, ICE/WebRTC settings) and full docker-compose examples are covered in the official documentation, including a quick-start guide and configuration reference. If you need to manage multiple rooms or automate provisioning, use neko-rooms, which adds an API layer and supports zero-knowledge HTTPS installs. Check the supported browsers/apps list for the full set of available images beyond Firefox, and the neko-apps repo for community-contributed application images.