Alpha Release

The Modern Linux RDP Client

A lightning-fast, secure, and lightweight Remote Desktop Protocol client built with Rust and Slint. Designed for seamless performance and modern Linux workflows.

Download AppImage How to Run
Vessel RDP
Vessel RDP Connection Manager interface preview running on Linux

Vessel RDP is in Alpha status

We are currently gathering feedback and testing performance. If you encounter bugs, regressions, or have usability suggestions, we would love to hear from you. The AppImage is fully portable and safe to run alongside your existing RDP setups.

Key Features

Engineered for speed, efficiency, and compatibility.

Powered by Rust

Vessel RDP is built from the ground up in Rust, inheriting modern memory safety, blazing-fast execution times, and low resource overhead.

Slint UI Toolkit

Leverages Slint, a state-of-the-art UI framework, to deliver a clean, hardware-accelerated, responsive dashboard that launches instantly.

Universal Portability

Packed exclusively as a single AppImage. Zero complex dependency issues. Simply download, make executable, and run on any Linux distro.

Secure Core

Implements robust RDP protocols, TLS encryption, and secure Network Level Authentication (NLA) to keep your remote sessions protected.

How to Run Vessel RDP

Get up and running in seconds. No installation required.

Method 1: Graphical Interface

  1. 1
    Download the latest AppImage binary.
  2. 2
    Right-click the downloaded file and select Properties.
  3. 3
    Go to the Permissions tab and check the box that says "Allow executing file as program".
  4. 4
    Double-click the AppImage to launch the client instantly.

Method 2: Command Line

For terminal power-users, execute these two quick commands:

bash
$ chmod +x VesselRDP-x86_64.AppImage
$ ./VesselRDP-x86_64.AppImage
Download VesselRDP-x86_64.AppImage Alpha Release v0.1.0 • Portable binary
Running the AppImage (System Requirements & Troubleshooting)

The prebuilt AppImage bundles FreeRDP (with AAD), its channel addins, the OpenSSL legacy provider, and audio support — but it still needs a few libraries from the host, because they are part of the desktop/graphics stack and can't be bundled portably:

  • GTK 3 + WebKitGTK 4.1 — the binary links these directly (it won't start without them), and the Azure AD login window runs against the host's WebKitGTK (a bundled WebKit can't launch its helper processes inside an AppImage).
  • FUSE 2 — required to mount the AppImage. Without it, run with ./VesselRDP-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run.
FUSE 2 Workaround (Extract & Run)

If your distribution does not have FUSE 2 installed, you can extract and run the application directly from the terminal without mounting:

$ ./VesselRDP-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run

1. Install the runtime libraries for your distro:

Distro Command
Fedora / RHEL
sudo dnf install gtk3 webkit2gtk4.1 fuse
Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install libgtk-3-0 libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 libfuse2
Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S gtk3 webkit2gtk-4.1 fuse2
Gentoo
sudo emerge x11-libs/gtk+:3 net-libs/webkit-gtk:4.1 sys-fs/fuse:0

2. Then make it executable and run it:

$ chmod +x VesselRDP-x86_64.AppImage
$ ./VesselRDP-x86_64.AppImage

Note: Most desktop installs already have GTK 3 and FUSE; WebKitGTK 4.1 is the one that is often missing and is only needed for Azure AD / Entra logins. Non-AAD (NLA/TLS) connections work without it as long as the app launches.