PerritoDeck
Turn an old Android tablet or phone into a Stream Deck–style control surface for Windows, macOS and Linux. Free and open source, with no account and no cloud.
El gato has a deck. Now the perrito does too.
PerritoDeck has two parts:
- PerritoDeck on your computer: a tray app where you lay out buttons by dragging, and the host that draws them and runs their actions.
- Perrito on the tablet: a full-screen grid of live buttons and sliders. It runs on Android 5.1 and newer, including Amazon Fire tablets. An iPhone/iPad version is coming.
Status: pre-alpha. It works end to end, tested on Windows 11 with an Amazon Fire 7 and in CI on Android emulators. The first release, v0.1.0, is out for Windows and Android. Expect rough edges and breaking changes. The roadmap shows what's done.
Screenshots
The desktop app, in light or dark to match your system:
Features
- Drag-and-drop editor that mirrors your tablet's grid: pages, copy/paste, undo/redo, and a "Try it" button. Edits show up on the tablet as you make them.
- Actions: hotkeys (recorded by pressing them), typing text, media keys, opening websites, files and programs, running commands, multi-step keys and toggles.
- Built-in integrations: OBS Studio and Home Assistant.
- Sliders for system volume, Home Assistant light brightness, OBS audio sources, or any program.
- Live keys: CPU, memory, Home Assistant states, OBS scene and recording status, and values from plugins; toggles can follow them. Animated GIF icons.
- Profiles per tablet, switched automatically by the app in front (Windows, macOS and Linux on X11). Export and import as
.perritoprofile files.
- Plugins in Python or Node.js, with 24 first-party ones bundled with the app (Twitch, Spotify, OBS, Philips Hue, Elgato Key Light, audio devices, a soundboard, timers, a system monitor, Proxmox, TrueNAS, GitLab, Wake-on-LAN, weather and more; the full list) and an online catalogue.
- AI assistants (MCP): assistants that speak the Model Context Protocol, such as Claude Desktop and Claude Code, can look at your profiles and live values and, with your permission, press keys and build pages. It's off until you turn it on, and works only on this computer.
- Experimental: run many Stream Deck plugins (
.sdPlugin, Node.js), and act as a Bitfocus Companion Satellite surface.
- Private by design: pairing with a one-time code or QR, TLS with a pinned certificate, Wi-Fi or a USB cable. No telemetry. The app itself only goes online for the update check and the plugin catalogue, both opt-in.
- Command-line host for headless machines, and
fakedeck, a test client that needs no tablet.
Not there yet: the iOS app (written, not yet built), dials and touch strips as separate controls, plugins drawing their own key images, and signed installers.
Install
Everything is on the download page and on
GitHub Releases:
- Windows 10 or 11: the installer. It isn't signed yet, so SmartScreen asks first
(what to do).
- Perrito for Android (5.1 and newer, Amazon Fire tablets included): the APK. F-Droid
comes later; it isn't on Google Play for now.
- Linux: build from source (below). Linux and macOS join a later release once they've
been tried on real hardware.
Quick start
- Start PerritoDeck on your computer. It lives in the tray (menu bar on a Mac).
- Open Perrito on the tablet. It finds your computer on the local network.
- Choose Pair a tablet in the tray menu and scan the QR code with the tablet, or type the 6-digit code.
- Drag actions onto keys in the editor. They appear on the tablet straight away.
The user guide (source) covers
getting started, buttons,
integrations, plugins and
troubleshooting.
From source
You need Rust (the version in host/rust-toolchain.toml installs itself), Node.js 22+
for the desktop app, and JDK 17 for Android.
# Command-line host: prints a pairing code and QR
cd host && cargo run -p perritodeck-host -- --pair
# No tablet? Pair the test client with that code and watch the layout
cargo run -p perritodeck-fakedeck -- pair <code>
cargo run -p perritodeck-fakedeck -- watch
# Desktop app
cd host/app && npm ci && npx tauri dev
# Android app (debug APK in android/app/build/outputs/apk/)
cd android && ./gradlew assembleDebug
CONTRIBUTING.md lists the test commands for every part.
Repository layout
Plugins
Plugins are ordinary programs the host talks to over stdin/stdout, so you can write one
in any language. The Python and Node.js SDKs do the protocol work for
you; plugins/PROTOCOL.md documents it. The SDKs are MIT-licensed,
so your plugin can use any licence.
Contributing
Bug reports, plugin ideas and pull requests are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md
(sign off every commit with git commit -s for the DCO, and never take code from GPL
projects) and the
Code of Conduct. Please report security problems privately as
described in SECURITY.md.
Licence
PerritoDeck is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. The plugin SDKs and
first-party plugins in plugins/ are under the MIT License.
Third-party components and their licences are listed in
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.
Copyright PerritoDeck contributors. Not affiliated with Elgato, Corsair or Bitfocus.
"Stream Deck" is a trademark of Corsair Memory, Inc., used here only to describe compatibility.
