Astropad’s Workbench reimagines remote desktop for AI agents, not IT support

Demand for Apple’s Mac Mini has surged, especially in China, where the mini computer has become an ideal platform for experimenting with standalone AI clients like OpenClaw and others. Now, a company called Astropad is building a remote desktop solution specifically for this use case.

On Tuesday, Astropad CEO Matt Rung introduced Astropad Workbench, a remote desktop solution for Apple devices that he touts as designed for the “age of artificial intelligence.”

While an AI agent running on a Mac Mini may not need a monitor, its operator (a human) will want to log in occasionally to see what’s happening in order to check logs, monitor output, or restart stuck tasks, he says.

The new remote desktop solution offers a variety of features, including HD streaming; The ability to dictate prompts and commands with your voice; Support for other input methods such as keyboard, Apple Pencil, or touch; And clients for both iPad and iPhone – the latter essentially puts a remote desktop solution in your pocket for access on the go.

If you’re running AI agents across multiple Macs, Workbench provides a device selector so you can move between them.

The idea came about because it was something the Astropads wanted for themselves, and their friends wanted.

“We relied heavily on AI at Astropad, and we were using agents,” Rung says. “Sometimes, you have an agent working on a long mission, and you want to check on them.” “There’s no great way to do this… There were tools out there for remote desktop, but nothing was created specifically for that purpose,” he continues. “There were also ways you could use a terminal, or there are things like Telegram chats, but they’re limited. I mean, there are times when you have to see what’s happening on your Mac. You have to approve a dialog or save something, or just visually see what’s going on.”

Workbench also leverages the company’s proprietary low-latency rendering protocol, called LIQUID, which supports workflows used by creative professionals. It retains full resolution, even with retina resolution, Astropad claims, and doesn’t distort lines or pixelate data. The protocol already powers other Astropad products, like Luna Display, which turns your iPad into a second display, and Astropad Studio, which lets you use your iPad as a professional drawing tablet.

While AI agent monitoring may not always need a high-fidelity solution, Rong points out that it’s a good thing to have — especially if you approve of the designs or models your AI agent has done.

Of course, remote desktop software has been around for some time, which means Astropad has established competitors like Jump Desktop, RustDesk, AnyDesk, Parsec, VNC-based solutions, and many more.

But Rong points out that those programs were not designed to meet the specific needs of using remote desktop software to monitor AI agents. With Workbench, it’s easy to check the status of logs to see the progress your AI agents are making in order to detect issues, restart stopped tasks, and make other changes, but what’s more, you can do it from your iPhone or iPad.

“We’ve been doing iPad stuff for years — it’s been our entire company for the last 10 years. So we have a lot of experience making good iPad apps,” Rong says. “We know how to build good iOS apps…so we did that, and then we also added a voice model.”

The technology uses Apple’s voice model so you can talk into your phone and direct your AI agent to do something with the push of a microphone button.

“It’s a very natural way to work with agents. This is the kind of feature found in Remote Desktop.” [apps] It just doesn’t have it — it’s designed for traditional, enterprise-style remote desktop.

As a new release, there will still be some bugs and improvements needed, but the team continues to work on the product. Next, they plan to launch Windows and Linux support and improve the iPhone app.

The new software runs on macOS 15 and later and iOS 26, and is available as a free download for 20 minutes of access per day. For unlimited access, the cost is $10 per month, or $50 per year.

Astropad, a small, profitable tech company, has more than 100,000 customers, including those who have purchased iPad accessories and software. With Workbench, Rong believes the company has the potential to reach both AI enthusiasts and businesses as remote support for AI agents becomes more common.

“I absolutely believe companies will buy it. I mean, the productivity gains that I’m seeing from it myself — those are all going to companies. They’re very powerful,” he points out.