Connect over VNC

A Tektona sandbox can run a full graphical desktop and stream it to your browser. You don't install or run a VNC server inside the image. Tektona renders the display for you, so the image only needs the desktop and the apps you want to see.

Connect

Open a VNC session to a running sandbox:

tektona vnc <sandbox-id>

This opens a browser tab with the sandbox's desktop. Close the tab to disconnect. See the tektona vnc reference for connecting to several sandboxes at once and the full flag list.

Start the desktop on demand

A sandbox doesn't always have the desktop running. Start it as part of the connect step:

tektona vnc <sandbox-id> --start-desktop

Or manage it directly:

tektona sandbox desktop start <sandbox-id>
tektona sandbox desktop stop <sandbox-id>

The sandbox desktop commands target the official desktop-x11 image (or an image built from it). They have nothing to start on an image that doesn't ship a desktop.

Use a desktop image

VNC needs an image that ships a graphical environment. The recommended starting point is Tektona's official X11 desktop image, which includes an X session, a browser, and everything the desktop needs:

tektona sandbox create --image ghcr.io/tektona-ai/desktop-x11:0.4.3 --egress-policy tektona/open

See Manage Sandboxes → Choosing an image for published versions and pinning rules.

Building your own desktop image

You can build a custom desktop image instead of using the official one. Two things make this simpler than on most sandbox providers:

• No VNC server to install. You don't bundle or run x11vnc, TigerVNC, noVNC, or any VNC daemon. Tektona provides the streaming layer outside the image, so there's nothing to configure or keep running.
• The display is always :0. Tektona starts the virtual display at :0. Point your graphical apps at it with DISPLAY=:0 and they render on the streamed desktop.

The easiest path is to build from the official desktop image so you inherit a working X session and the right DISPLAY setup, then add your own apps on top:

FROM ghcr.io/tektona-ai/desktop-x11:0.4.3
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y your-gui-app

Push the image to a registry and boot it like any other. Private images need a registry credential. See Run a Custom Image for that flow.

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