Hostbeam

app.hostbeamPublished by hostbeam.appv0.1.4Updated Oct 24, 2026

Lets a coding agent read the screenshots you beam to its server with Hostbeam.

VerifiedSTDIODesktop onlyFiles & StorageDeveloper Tools

Overview

AI-generated overview

Hostbeam lets a coding agent on a remote server read the screenshots you beam there from your Mac or iPhone, without pasting paths.

What you can do
Retrieve the most recent beam as images, with how long ago it arrived, returning up to six files and naming the rest when several were sent at once. List recent beams with file names, sizes and times, without image data. Read a single delivered file by name. Only files Hostbeam delivered in one folder are visible; it never writes, moves or deletes anything.
When to use it
Use it when you run a coding agent on a remote server over SSH and want to show it screenshots from your Mac or iPhone without copying paths by hand. It is meant for visual feedback such as UI bugs or error screens.
Requirements
Runs as a local stdio process on the server where the agent runs, not on your Mac or phone. Needs Node 18 or later, or the dependency-free script copied over if npm is unreachable. Reads the beam folder, /tmp/hostbeam by default, or the folder set in HOSTBEAM_DIR.
Before you install
It reads image files from a shared folder on the server; it skips symlinks and refuses folders owned by another user or writable by any user. Images over 3.75 MB each, or formats other than JPEG, PNG, GIF and WebP, come back as a path rather than image data. It only reads and never writes, moves or deletes.

Installation

In SourceWeft

  1. Open Hostbeam in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
  2. Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.

Desktop only via STDIO. STDIO servers start a local process, so they need the SourceWeft desktop host.

Other MCP clients

Follow the launch instructions in the repository.

README

Hostbeam MCP server

Hostbeam sends a screenshot from your Mac or your iPhone to a server over SSH and puts the remote path on your clipboard, so you can paste it to a coding agent running there.

This MCP server runs on that server, next to the agent. The agent can ask for the screenshot you just beamed and read it, without you pasting the path.

Install

On the server your agent runs on, not on your Mac or your phone. Node 18 or later.

For Claude Code:

sh
claude mcp add -s user hostbeam -- npx -y @hostbeam/mcp

-s user makes it available in every project on that server.

For Codex:

sh
codex mcp add hostbeam -- npx -y @hostbeam/mcp

For other MCP clients, in their JSON config:

json
{  "mcpServers": {    "hostbeam": {      "command": "npx",      "args": ["-y", "@hostbeam/mcp"]    }  }}

If the server can't reach npm, copy hostbeam-mcp.mjs to it and run that instead. It has no dependencies.

sh
claude mcp add -s user hostbeam -- node /path/to/hostbeam-mcp.mjs

Hostbeam beams to /tmp/hostbeam unless you changed the folder for that host. If you did, give the server the same folder: -e HOSTBEAM_DIR=/your/folder for Claude Code, --env HOSTBEAM_DIR=/your/folder for Codex, or "env": { "HOSTBEAM_DIR": "/your/folder" } in JSON.

Tools

  • latest_screenshot returns the most recent beam as images, with how long ago it arrived. If you beamed several files at once, it returns all of them, up to six, and names the rest.
  • list_screenshots lists recent beams with file names, sizes and times. No image data.
  • read_screenshot returns one file by name.

What it reads

Only files Hostbeam delivered: names starting with hostbeam- with an image extension, in that one folder. It doesn't look in subfolders, and it refuses a name with a path in it. It never writes, moves or deletes anything.

It skips symlinks, and it won't read a folder that belongs to another user or that any user can write to, because a file there may not be one you beamed.

JPEG, PNG, GIF and WebP come back as images, up to 3.75 MB each. Other formats and larger files come back as a path instead: models only accept those four formats, and model APIs refuse bigger images. When a beam holds several files, latest_screenshot includes images up to 7.5 MB in total and names the rest.

Check it by hand

It speaks newline-delimited JSON-RPC on stdin and stdout:

sh
printf '%s\n' \  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{}}' \  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"list_screenshots"}}' \  | npx -y @hostbeam/mcp

License

MIT

Source: README.md at commit 0172e17

Tools

0
SourceWeft has not started this package in its sandbox yet, so its tools are not known.

Version history

2
  1. v0.1.4LatestOct 9, 2026
  2. v0.1.3Sep 16, 2026

Score

50% of the applicable checks met

How complete this listing is, computed from the registry entry, the endpoint and public sources. Not a rating of the server and not a statement that it is safe or working today: reachability is a dated check, and no installs or reviews go into the score.

  • Reached in the last 30 days25 pts

    Keep the endpoint answering the MCP handshake; SourceWeft probes it every 30 days.

  • Auth declared10 pts

    Declare the credential headers in the registry entry, or keep the endpoint answering the probe so its auth can be classified.

  • Tools listed15 pts

    Answer tools/list without a credential, or ship a package that starts in a sandbox without one.

  • DescriptionRequired15 pts
  • Logo10 pts
  • Documentation15 pts
  • License10 pts