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noVNC

COLLAB
Velocity0.0

VNC client that runs in the browser using HTML5

novnc.com ↗

noVNC ships about once a year, and its betas and finals carry identical notes.

remote desktopvncannual cadencebrowser clientlocalization
◆Current state
noVNC released 1.7.0 in April 2026, six months after its beta and thirteen months after 1.6.0. Each release pairs a beta and a final whose release notes are word-for-word identical — 1.6.0 and its beta were even published sixteen seconds apart. The 1.7.0 highlights are modest: Croatian and Hungarian translations, a styling fix for near-invisible buttons, and a warning before closing a session tab when view-only is off.
◆Where it's heading
The project moves at roughly one release a year and spends it on polish and protocol compatibility rather than direction. The 1.6.0 cycle was the most substantial recently — declarative configuration through defaults.json and mandatory.json, relative WebSocket URLs, faster session resize — and 1.7.0 is lighter than that. This is infrastructure being kept correct, not extended.
◆Prediction
Expect the next release around a year out, again paired with a beta carrying the same notes, and again weighted toward translations, encoding compatibility and interface fixes. Nothing in these entries points to a structural change.

◆Recent moves

  1. 3mo ago

    1.7.0 adds translations and a tab-close warning

    The stable 1.7.0, six months behind its own beta. The user-facing changes are two new translations, a fix for buttons that were nearly invisible, and a browser warning before closing an active session tab — small, but the kind of thing that prevents lost work.

    View source ↗
  2. 9mo ago

    1.7.0 beta, identical notes to the final

    The beta whose release notes match the stable release word for word. It sat six months before being promoted, which is the clearest measure of this project's pace.

    View source ↗
  3. 1y ago

    1.6.0 beta, published alongside the final

    A beta posted sixteen seconds before the stable release it precedes, with the same notes. In practice it is a tag, not a testing phase.

    View source ↗
  4. 1y ago

    1.6.0 brings declarative config and faster resize

    The most substantial release in this window: settings move into defaults.json and mandatory.json, relative WebSocket URLs are supported, the interface is restyled, and session resize gets faster. Declarative configuration is what makes noVNC embeddable without patching, which matters more than the visual refresh.

    View source ↗
  5. 2y ago

    Tight gradient encoding and lock key syncing

    Support for the Tight gradient encoding improves compatibility with servers like QEMU, and lock keys begin staying in sync with the server. Protocol compatibility work of exactly the kind this project exists to do.

    View source ↗
  6. 2y ago

    1.5.0 beta, same notes as the final

    The beta preceding 1.5.0 by two weeks, again with identical release notes. The beta-then-final pairing is consistent across every version here.

    View source ↗