OpenUSB

Share any USB device over your network — no limits, no licenses, fully open source.

OpenUSB is an open-source USB over IP solution. It lets you share USB devices connected to one machine (like a Raspberry Pi) with any other machine on your network, as if the device were plugged in locally.

Why OpenUSB?

Commercial USB-over-IP solutions charge per-server licenses and lock features behind paywalls. OpenUSB gives you everything for free:

• Unlimited devices, servers, and clients — always free
• Auto-discovery via mDNS/Bonjour — servers appear automatically
• One-click connect — Windows tray app with device tree
• Auto-reconnect — devices come back after network blips
• TLS encryption + mutual certificate auth — secure over any network
• REST API + WebSocket — full programmatic control
• Web dashboard — manage everything from a browser

Quick Start

Server (Raspberry Pi / Linux)

curl -fsSL https://get.openusb.dev | bash

The server shares all connected USB devices and advertises itself on the network.

Client (CLI)

openusb list                         # Discover servers + devices
openusb use living-room-pi.1-1.3    # Attach a device
openusb stop living-room-pi.1-1.3   # Detach

Project Status

OpenUSB is under active development. See the roadmap for what's coming.

Component	Status
Server daemon (openusbd)	Scaffolded
Shared library	Scaffolded
CLI tool	Scaffolded
Client library	Scaffolded
Windows GUI client	Planned (Phase 2)
Web dashboard	Planned (Phase 4)

Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     OPENUSB ECOSYSTEM                     │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                          │
│  ┌─────────────┐    mDNS / API    ┌───────────────────┐ │
│  │  Pi Server  │◄────────────────►│  Client (CLI/GUI) │ │
│  │  (openusbd) │    USB/IP TCP    │                   │ │
│  │             │◄────────────────►│                   │ │
│  └──────┬──────┘                  └───────────────────┘ │
│         │ REST/WS                                        │
│         ▼                                                │
│  ┌──────────────┐                                        │
│  │ Web Dashboard │                                       │
│  └──────────────┘                                        │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Building from Source

Requires Rust 1.85+.

git clone https://github.com/kman1898/openusb.git
cd usb-passthrough
cargo build

Roadmap

• Phase 1 — Core server: USB enumeration, USB/IP binding, hotplug, mDNS, REST API
• Phase 2 — Windows client: tray app, device tree, auto-connect, installer
• Phase 3 — Security: TLS, mutual auth, ACLs, reverse connections
• Phase 4 — Web dashboard: React UI, device management, logs, scheduling
• Phase 5 — Distribution: Pi image, Docker, .deb/.rpm packages, auto-updater
• Phase 6 — Beyond: mobile app, Home Assistant, MQTT, Tailscale integration

Technology

Component	Technology
Server	Rust (tokio, axum)
Client	Rust (clap, mdns-sd)
Dashboard	React + TypeScript + Vite
USB transport	Linux kernel USB/IP + usbip-win2
TLS	rustls
Database	SQLite

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and guidelines.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.