Supported URL Schemes

Screens supports three different URL schemes. All three will prompt for a username and a password, if they are required and not specified in the URL. Screens complies with the RFC 2396 URL schemes specification.

SCREENS://

Use the screens:// prefix to open a saved screen.

Usage:

screens://[ip address|hostname|name]

Examples:

screens://10.0.1.10

screens://Johns-MacBook-Pro.local

screens://John's MacBook Pro

screens://john:sekret@John's MacBook Pro

VNC://

Use the vnc:// prefix to connect to a computer not included in your saved "screens" list.

Usage:

vnc://[username:password@]address|hostname[:port]

Examples:

vnc://10.0.1.10

vnc://10.0.1.10:5900

vnc://john@Johns-MacBook-Pro.local

vnc://john:sekret@Johns-MacBook-Pro.local

vnc://bill@192.168.1.14:5801

Note 1: if no username or password is present in the URL, Screens will assume that the authentication method is VNC password. It is recommended to add a username (with or without a password) in the URL when connecting to a Mac as Screens will then use Mac User as the authentication method.

Note 2: Screens treats both vnc:// and screens:// equivalently on macOS.

SSH://

The ssh:// prefix requires the same parameters as the vnc:// prefix, but establishes a secure network connection for your Screens session.

Usage:

ssh://[username:password@]address|hostname[:port]

Examples:

ssh://10.0.1.10

ssh://10.0.1.10:22

ssh://john@Johns-MacBook-Pro.local

ssh://john:sekret@Johns-MacBook-Pro.local

ssh://bill@192.168.1.14:222

Supported Parameters

Screens also supports additional query parameters that can be appended to the URL. Parameters must be added after a ? and multiple parameters can be combined using &.

Screens 5.8 and up

• ssh://...?ssh-key=[Stored SSH Key Name]
  Selects an SSH key stored in Screens. The key name must exactly match the name shown in Screens’ SSH Keys settings.

Example:

ssh://john@server.example.com?ssh-key=My Work Key

Screens 5.8.1 and up

• vnc|screens|ssh://...?guest=true
  Initiates the connection to a Mac as a Guest user (when Guest access is enabled on the remote Mac).

• vnc|screens|ssh://...?observe=true
  Initiates the connection in Observe mode.

Examples:

screens://Johns-MacBook-Pro.local?guest=true

vnc://john@192.168.1.14:5900?observe=true

Notes:

• Parameter names are case-sensitive.
• If credentials are not provided in the URL, Screens will prompt for them as needed.
• When combining parameters, separate them with & and ensure they are properly URL-encoded if they contain spaces or special characters.