Screens

Connect to the computers you use in Screens 5 from Raycast, plus ad-hoc VNC and SSH connections to machines that aren't in your list.

Setup

Add connections by hand, or import them from Screens. Screens keeps its library in CloudKit with no local file to read, so importing goes through an archive you export:

1. Open Screens
2. Go to Settings → Archives → Export… and save the .screens file
3. Run Import Connections in Raycast, choose that file, and pick which connections to keep

Screens lists every machine it discovers on your network, so an archive is usually mostly hosts you would never open. The import step preselects the ones you have actually connected to and lets you adjust from there. Quick Connect needs no archive.

Commands

Search Connections

Lists what you have, grouped by type and ordered by how often and how recently you connect from Raycast. Search matches a connection's name or the address it opens. Filter by type from the dropdown in the top right.

• Return connects
• ⌘⇧E connects in Observe Mode, watching a VNC connection without controlling it
• ⌘⇧G connects as Guest, skipping the credentials saved for a VNC connection
• ⌘N adds a connection
• ⌘E edits a connection, to rename it or change what it opens
• ⌃X removes a connection from Raycast, leaving Screens untouched

The action panel also copies a connection's address or the URL it opens, and opens Import Connections.

Import Connections

Picks an archive and selects what to keep. Running it again updates the connections that archive covers, adding new ones and dropping the ones you deselect, and leaves anything you added by hand alone. Your previous choices come back preselected.

Quick Connect

Connects to a machine that isn't in your list. Type a host straight into the root search bar, in any form a URL would take: desk-imac.local, admin@10.0.0.4:5901, ssh://192.0.2.10, or [2001:db8::1]. A second argument chooses VNC or SSH, and a scheme typed into the host itself wins over it. Launch it with the host empty for a form with protocol, port, username, Observe Mode, and Guest.

How Connections Are Addressed

Screens' URL scheme addresses a saved connection by name or hostname, never by id. When a name or hostname uniquely identifies one connection, this extension opens it through Screens, which carries its stored settings and credentials. When neither does, it connects to the machine's address instead. Those rows carry an arrow icon, and the address is shown as the subtitle so you can see exactly what a row will open.

Three different machines sharing one name leave Screens no way to know which you mean, so it picks one. Addressing them directly reaches the right machine. Editing a connection lets you override either choice.

RDP connections have no ad-hoc URL scheme to fall back on, so a duplicate-named RDP connection shows a warning icon and lets Screens choose.

Limitations

Snapshot Imports

An import is a snapshot, so adding or renaming a connection in Screens does not change what you imported. Run Import Connections again to pick it up, or edit the connection in Raycast.

No Write-Back

Screens imports archives through a UI flow, so this extension only reads. It also can't list, disconnect, or control a running session. Screens exposes no scripting interface, and its URL schemes are one-way.

Credits

The Screens icon is used with permission from Edovia. The Tailscale mark is a trademark of Tailscale Inc., used here to label connection types.