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

macOS Support

On macOS, it is possible that URL schemes vnc:// and ssh:// may be reserved by the operating system. In those cases, it is recommended to use the Open Link functionality (File > Open Link... or ⌘O) in Screens instead of clicking on a link, which may open another system application instead.