Beam brings individual app windows from remote Macs into your local workspace

Beam, a fresh macOS utility created by serial founder Hiten Shah (Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics) and Sam Asante through their company Noats, solves a practical problem for developers working with AI agents on remote machines. Rather than requiring full-screen remote desktop access, Beam extracts individual windows from a distant Mac and displays them seamlessly on your local machine.

How It Works#

The mechanics are straightforward: select a single window running on another Mac—whether that's a Terminal session, browser tab, or any other application—and it appears on your primary computer with its own Dock icon and accessibility via the Command+Tab switcher. The window behaves as if it's running locally; resizing works across machines, keyboard shortcuts respond normally, files can be dragged between systems, and audio plays through your speakers. Meanwhile, the actual application continues executing on the original machine.

Beam requires Apple Silicon Macs running macOS Sonoma or later on both ends. Machines discover each other over the same Wi-Fi network, or Tailscale enables connection across any distance. The company asserts that all window data, keystrokes, clipboard content, and audio transmit directly between devices in encrypted form, never routing through company servers.

For sharing without Beam installed, users can generate a browser-shareable link offering view-only access (with optional control enabled) that expires within a configurable timeframe—anywhere from one hour to seven days.

Targeting the Agent Infrastructure Boom#

The timing reflects a broader trend: Mac Minis are increasingly becoming the backbone of AI workflows. These machines run agents and local models continuously without requiring a human operator present. The Mac Mini's affordability and capability have made it the default choice, gaining adoption from projects like OpenClaw and services such as Perplexity. Apple itself acknowledged this shift on its recent earnings call, highlighting agentic computing as a growing workload category.

Shah positions Beam squarely within this ecosystem, noting that developers typically resort to cumbersome Screen Sharing sessions to monitor agent activity. By isolating the window that matters, Beam eliminates that friction.

Pricing and Availability#

The business model varies by use case. Hosting a Mac and accepting shared windows remain free. Operating from your own Mac costs nothing for up to 20 minutes daily; beyond that, pricing scales to $12 monthly, $84 annually, or $199 for lifetime access. Native iOS and Android applications are in development.