Chirpremote help

Download it.Run it.Send your chirp.

Remote help between two people who trust each other. Nothing to install, no account, and nothing happens on your screen until you press Allow.

Download Chirp Other systems

Free. One file, nothing to install, the same download for everyone.

In development Chirp isn't out yet. Two Chirps already find each other, ask for consent and share the screen. Trying it between two machines comes next.
Chirp's window: your code, 482-913-5071, with a hint to read it only to someone you called, buttons to copy the link or get a new code, and a Help someone form to type another person's code. Chirp's window in dark mode: your code, 482-913-5071, and the Help someone form.

Shown signalling over Nostr (CHIRP_NOSTR): the last four digits are known only to the two Chirps. With a relay alone, the code is the first six.

How it works

Three steps, and the last one is yours.

  1. Run Chirp

    One program, the same for everyone: no installer, no account, no technician edition. It opens on your chirp, a short code, and a link you can send instead.

  2. Send your chirp to someone you trust

    They type it into their own Chirp, or paste your link. Every use of the link makes a fresh single-use code, so a code that leaks after it was used opens nothing.

  3. You decide

    Your Chirp asks you, on your own screen, who is asking and for what, and you choose what they can do. Nothing starts until you press Allow, and you can end the session at any moment.

Whoever types the code controls. Whoever shared it decides.

And on the helper's side, Chirp will make its one sound when the other person lets them in. It will never play on the computer being helped.

Safety

A prompt that is easy to say no to

Remote-help tools are a favourite of phone scammers. Chirp's consent prompt is built so that an unexpected request is easy to decline.

Chirp's consent prompt: Someone wants to control this computer. They say they're “João da TI”. Chirp can't check names. They're asking to see your screen, which is on and always is, and to use your mouse and keyboard and send and receive files, each a switch that is off. Turn on only what this call needs. A warning: allow only if you asked this person for help just now; banks, government agencies and big tech companies never ask for this. Declines by itself in 1:40. Allow (3), still locked, and Decline. The same consent prompt in dark mode.
  • Decline has the focus.Allow only becomes clickable after three seconds, so neither a reflexive Enter nor a stray click lets anyone in.
  • The name is a claim.“They say they're João da TI.” Chirp can't check names, says so, and cleans the name so it can't pass for a line of the prompt.
  • You choose each permission.Only See your screen starts on. The mouse and keyboard and files stay off unless you turn them on, and you can take them back during the session.
  • Doing nothing declines.Closing the prompt, or letting it run out of time, says no.

Didn't expect a request? Press Decline. Nobody gets in without you.

This is the one screen in Chirp without the bird. A cheerful prompt is what a scammer counts on, so it stays plain.

Promises

What Chirp never does

The things a remote-help tool could do, and Chirp won't.

  • Neverinstalls itself, or starts with your computer
  • Neverreads your clipboard unless you paste
  • Neverlets anyone in without you pressing Allow on your own screen
  • Neverputs screen sharing, control, files, clipboard or multiple monitors behind a payment

Quitting Chirp cancels your code and link at once. If it can't reach its server as it closes, the server drops them on its own within about two minutes. Until then nobody can get in, because there is no Chirp left to ask you.

Free for good

The whole thing, free, permanently

Screen sharingMouse and keyboardMultiple monitorsFilesClipboard

No tiers, no trial, no licence check. Chirp is open source under the AGPL-3.0, so a hosted copy has to share its changes too.

Run your own

Your server, no strings

Anyone may run their own relay, with no restrictions. Chirp's hosted server is a convenience, never a requirement.

# on a machine you control
chirp-relay
# point both Chirps at it
CHIRP_RELAY=https://relay.example.org chirp
# or signal over Nostr: the code gains four digits the relay never sees
CHIRP_RELAY=https://relay.example.org \
CHIRP_NOSTR=wss://nostr.example.net chirp

Bring your own STUN/TURN for now; coturn works. When Chirp runs a public server, it will be blind: it finds the other computer from the first part of your code and never sees the rest.

Download

One file. Run it, and you're ready.

Your system may warn you the first time. Here is what it says, and what to press.

Windows

Download for Windows

SmartScreen may say “Windows protected your PC”. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

macOS

Download for macOS

macOS says it could not verify Chirp. Close the warning, then in System Settings → Privacy & Security choose Open Anyway, again with each new version. Then allow Screen Recording and Accessibility for Chirp, once: they stay after updates.

Linux

Download for Linux

Make it executable and run it. On Wayland, after you press Allow, the system asks once more which screen to share.

Every copy is identical. Check yours against the SHA-256 and signature published with each release. sha256 · published with the first release

Nothing to download yet

Chirp is in development. What already works:

  • the window, with your code and link, and the form to help someone;
  • the consent prompt, and your answer reaching the relay;
  • sharing the screen and the mouse and keyboard, with a bar on your screen for as long as it lasts, tried so far on one machine;
  • with signalling over Nostr, a code whose last four digits only the two Chirps know, never the server;
  • the app in English and Brazilian Portuguese, following your system's language;
  • a relay you can host yourself.

Trying it between two machines is next. Follow the progress.