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Some work only happens on a graphical desktop — a Windows service console, an installer, a management tool with no command line. Studio’s RDP viewer brings that Windows host into a tab, next to your terminals, diagrams, and Copilot, so a quick GUI task doesn’t pull you out of the workspace.
This page covers Windows RDP, opened from a host protocol with a Key Chain credential. For organization-enrolled Altostrat Remote Agent devices, use Managed Remote Desktop. Studio Remote is the separate mobile chat and approval companion.
The session is a live desktop. Frames stream as the screen changes, your clicks and keystrokes go straight to the host, and you can take it fullscreen for detailed work. It opens from the host’s protocol list — the same way you open a terminal — and signs in from the Key Chain entry attached to the protocol. Copilot can work the desktop alongside you. It reads the screen, finds the buttons, fields, and menus, and acts on them by element rather than guessing at coordinates — so “open Services and restart the print spooler” is something you can hand off instead of clicking through yourself.

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Opening a session

1

Open a host and choose RDP

From the Hosts activity, open a Windows host and pick its RDP protocol from the protocol list.
2

Studio opens the desktop in a new tab

The tab takes focus and the connection starts immediately. A progress indicator shows the negotiation stages while the desktop comes up.
3

Sign in from Key Chain

The session authenticates with the username, password, and domain on the protocol, resolved from its attached Key Chain entry. See hosts and credentials for how protocols and Key Chain entries fit together.
4

Work the desktop

Once connected, the desktop is live and interactive.
Hosts that require Network Level Authentication need the Windows domain set on the RDP protocol. If sign-in fails on an otherwise reachable host, check the domain first.

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The live desktop

The desktop streams as a live image, and only the regions that change are sent — so interaction stays responsive even on a busy screen. Click and move the pointer directly on the desktop, focus it and type, and use key combinations like Ctrl+A or Alt+F4 — they pass through to the remote session. The toolbar expands the desktop to fullscreen for detailed work. A session indicator in the status bar shows while a remote desktop is live. Closing the tab ends the session.

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Copilot on the remote desktop

Copilot can see and operate a remote desktop the same way it works with your terminals. To read the screen, Copilot captures the desktop and detects the interactive elements on it — buttons, text fields, menus, list items — and numbers them. It then acts on those elements directly: click the OK button, type into the search field. Working by element is far more reliable than raw coordinates, because the element is located again each time the screen changes. This works automatically. Screen reading uses the same AI that powers the rest of Copilot — there is nothing to switch on and no separate credentials to set up. As long as you’re signed in to Studio, Copilot can read any RDP session you open. Reading the screen is an observation; clicks and keystrokes can change the remote host. Check the exact RDP target and your current mode before handing over work. Do not assume every RDP click or keystroke will produce an approval prompt. Use Ask or Planning to review an unfamiliar task before execution, and see AI Copilot for modes and approvals.

Hosts and credentials

Add a Windows host, configure its RDP protocol, and attach a Key Chain entry.

AI Copilot

Modes, approvals, and how Copilot works alongside your sessions.