Add KDEck to Plugin Store

[BRiAn3274]

Add KDEck to Plugin Store

KDEck is a Decky Loader plugin for Steam Deck game mode. It provides a focused KDE Connect-compatible bridge for clipboard text and file transfer.

This is a refreshed KDEck submission. The previous PR #1055 was closed as stale; this submission targets KDEck 0.9.6 with updated documentation, green CI, refreshed validation, and a fix for stale file-received toast notifications.

Scope:

• Receives KDE Connect clipboard text in the Decky quick access panel.
• Receives KDE Connect shared files into /home/deck/Downloads.
• Sends screenshots, recordings, logs, save files, and redacted diagnostic bundles from the Deck to paired KDE Connect devices.
• Shows file categories, thumbnails, target device online/offline status, progress, speed, and ETA.
• Does not provide notifications, SMS, remote input, media control, or the full KDE Connect desktop feature set.

Isolation and safety:

• Uses a separate KDEck device ID, certificate, trusted-device store, and plugin data directory.
• Does not register org.kde.kdeconnect.
• Does not write to desktop-mode KDE Connect pairing configuration.
• Pauses its game-mode receiver while Plasma desktop mode is active and resumes in game mode.
• Does not restart the system, modify system services, delete user downloads, or write to desktop KDE Connect configuration.

Root usage:

• _root is used for Decky backend process-state checks, starting/stopping the managed KDEck receiver, and controlled deck user session commands.
• The backend is Python; KDEck does not ship a custom native binary.

Validation:

• KDEck repository CI is green on commit 508c3e4.
• pnpm build passed.
• Python unit tests passed: 85 passed, 1 skipped.
• Python ruff check passed.
• Python compile check passed.
• Release package generated and version checked as 0.9.6.
• Real-device validation was performed for pairing, file send, file receive, diagnostics, and desktop-mode pause/resume paths.

Task Checklist

Developer

• I am the original author or an authorized maintainer of this plugin.
• I have abided by the licenses of the libraries I am utilizing, including attaching license notices where appropriate.
• Generative AI was NOT used to write a majority of the code I am submitting.

Plugin

• I have verified that my plugin works properly on the Stable and Beta update channels of SteamOS.
• I have verified my plugin is unique or provides more/alternative functionality to a plugin already on the store.

Backend

• No: I am using a custom backend other than Python.
• No: I am using a tool or software from a 3rd party FOSS project that does not have it's dependencies statically linked.
• No: I am using a custom binary that has all of it's dependencies statically linked.

Community

• I have tested and left feedback on two other pull requests for new or updating plugins.
• I have commented links to my testing report in this PR.

Testing

• Tested by a third party on SteamOS Stable or Beta update channel.

[github-actions]

Issues Found

No issues with your PR description were found.

Next Steps

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3. Once your description is correct, a maintainer will review your pull request as soon as possible.

Thank you for your contribution! If you need any help, please reach out on our Discord server. ❤️

[github-actions]

This pull request is stale as no updates or testing reports have been posted within the last 7 days. Please ensure you are actively recruiting testers or resolving the issues discussed. If you do not remove the stale label or comment, this will be closed in 7 days. Please close this pull request if you need more time to resolve issues so we can keep our repo healthy.

[BRiAn3274]

This PR is still active.

I am preparing a small store-review cleanup for KDEck before requesting testing store review:

• remove the hidden development self-update path from the store build;
• clarify _root usage around the isolated game-mode receiver and deck-user kdeconnectd process handling;
• keep the submitted plugin limited to clipboard and file transfer without system service modification or desktop KDE Connect config writes.

After pushing the updated KDEck commit and submodule pointer, I will post the validation results here and recruit a third-party SteamOS Stable/Beta tester for a properly formatted Plugin Testing Report.

[P0me1oo]

Plugin Testing Report

Plugin: KDEck
PR: #1067
Tester: Third-party tester
Device: Steam Deck
SteamOS channel: Stable
Decky Loader version: v3.2.6-pre1
Install method: Plugin Store testing environment / ZIP import from this PR build

Summary

I tested KDEck on a real Steam Deck in Game Mode. The plugin installed successfully, appeared in Decky Loader, and the main clipboard and file transfer features worked as expected.

Test Environment

• Steam Deck: real hardware
• Mode: Game Mode
• SteamOS channel: Stable
• Decky Loader: v3.2.6-pre1
• Network: same local network as the paired KDE Connect device
• Paired device: Windows PC running KDE Connect

Installation

• Installed KDEck through the Decky plugin testing flow.
• KDEck appeared correctly in the Decky quick access menu.
• The plugin opened without crashing.
• No Decky Loader restart loop or plugin load failure was observed.

Result: Pass

Pairing and Discovery

• Opened KDEck in Game Mode.
• Used the connection page and discovery/broadcast flow.
• The Windows KDE Connect client was able to discover KDEck.
• Pairing completed successfully.
• KDEck showed the paired Windows device in the plugin UI.

Result: Pass

Clipboard Receive

• Sent clipboard text from Windows KDE Connect to KDEck.
• KDEck received the clipboard content successfully.
• No duplicate stale clipboard notification was observed during this test.

Result: Pass

File Receive

• Sent a file from Windows KDE Connect to KDEck.
• KDEck received the file successfully.
• The received file was saved on the Steam Deck as expected.

Result: Pass

File Send

• Sent a file from KDEck to the paired Windows KDE Connect device.
• The transfer completed successfully.
• The file appeared correctly on the Windows side.

Result: Pass

Persistence

• Restarted Decky Loader and checked KDEck again.
• KDEck remained available after restart.
• Pairing/device state remained usable.

Result: Pass

Desktop KDE Connect Isolation

• KDEck was tested as a Game Mode KDE Connect-compatible bridge.
• No issue was observed with normal Desktop Mode KDE Connect pairing/configuration during this test.
• KDEck did not appear to overwrite the Desktop Mode KDE Connect configuration.

Result: Pass

Issues Found

No blocking issues found during testing.

Final Result

Pass.

KDEck worked correctly for the tested clipboard and file transfer workflows on a real Steam Deck.

[BRiAn3274]

Community testing reports posted:

• AirDeck: TODO_COMMENT_LINK
• Mixer: TODO_COMMENT_LINK

KDEck is updated to ce1a63a, and this PR branch is updated to d5aa880.

A third-party Plugin Testing Report has also been posted by @P0me1oo.

The current workflow appears to be waiting for approval to deploy to testing_env:

• Build plugin (KDEck, true)

Could a maintainer please approve the workflow when available?

[github-actions]

This pull request is stale as no updates or testing reports have been posted within the last 7 days. Please ensure you are actively recruiting testers or resolving the issues discussed. If you do not remove the stale label or comment, this will be closed in 7 days. Please close this pull request if you need more time to resolve issues so we can keep our repo healthy.

[matthieupoupin3704-alt]

Hi! I finally have enough time to test KDEck:

Plugin Testing Report

Installed Plugins

• KDEck - 0.9.6
• AirDeck - 0.2.0
• DeckyOstMusic - 1.8.1
• EmuDecky
• PowerTools
• SDH-CssLoader
• SuggestMe-decky-plugin
• decky-brightness-bar
• decky-lsfg-vk
• decky-steamgriddb
• decky-storage-cleaner
• hltb-for-deck
• protondb-decky

Specifications

• SteamOS 3.8.11 (Stable)
• Steam 1782533657 (Stable)
• Decky 3.2.6 (Stable)

Test setup

Steam Deck OLED 512GB paired with a Mac running the desktop KDE Connect client (v26.04) over the same Wi-Fi. Tested against a desktop client, not a phone.

What worked

• Device discovery and pairing
• File transfer in both directions (Deck to Mac and Mac to Deck)
• Receiving clipboard text: text copied on the Mac did show up in the KDEck clipboard section

Issues

Has the following major blocking issue(s): None

Has the following minor non-blocking issue(s):

• Clipboard receive works but feels unreliable. It came through at least once, but when I tried to reproduce it a few times afterwards nothing showed up. In the logs the session often opens (TLS handshake and identity exchange succeed) then closes right away with reason: session_closed, which might explain why delivery is hit-or-miss.
• The plugin repeatedly logs trusted_devices_write_failed ... [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '.../trusted-devices.tmp' -> '.../trusted-devices.json'. Looks like a race on the atomic write/rename when multiple connections come in at once. Everything still works, but it spams the log.
• On first launch, the settings folder (managed-kde) was not created automatically, so pairing wouldn't persist until I created it manually.
• One file send appeared to hang/spin once without completing.

Relevant logs (clipboard from Mac to Deck, one of the failed attempts)

peer_tls_handshake_done {..., 'duration_ms': 23}
secure_identity_received {..., 'device_name': 'mac.home', 'protocol_version': 8}
connection_state_changed {..., 'from': 'connected', 'to': 'trusted', 'reason': 'session_closed'}
trusted_devices_write_failed {'error': "[Errno 2] No such file or directory: '.../managed-kde/trusted-devices.tmp' -> '.../managed-kde/trusted-devices.json'"}
secure_identity_received {..., 'device_name': 'mac.home', 'protocol_version': 8}
connection_state_changed {..., 'from': 'connected', 'to': 'trusted', 'reason': 'session_closed'}

When it fails, the session seems to close right after the identity exchange, before the clipboard packet gets through.

Summary

Tested on a Steam Deck OLED 512GB paired with a Mac desktop KDE Connect client on the same Wi-Fi. Discovery, pairing, and file transfer in both directions all worked well. Clipboard receive did work (text from the Mac showed up in KDEck) but felt inconsistent: I couldn't reliably reproduce it, and the logs show sessions frequently closing right after the handshake. No blocking issues though. There's also a recurring trusted-devices write error in the logs that looks like a write race. Happy to export full logs via :kdeck export logs if helpful. Nice work overall!