README
¶
An open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server.
Join our Discord server for a chat.
Note: Always select the same GitHub tag as the released version you use
to ensure you have the correct example configuration. The main branch might
contain unreleased changes. The documentation is available for stable and
development versions:
What is Tailscale
Tailscale is a modern VPN built on top of Wireguard. It works like an overlay network between the computers of your networks - using NAT traversal.
Everything in Tailscale is Open Source, except the GUI clients for proprietary OS (Windows and macOS/iOS), and the control server.
The control server works as an exchange point of Wireguard public keys for the nodes in the Tailscale network. It assigns the IP addresses of the clients, creates the boundaries between each user, enables sharing machines between users, and exposes the advertised routes of your nodes.
A Tailscale network (tailnet) is private network which Tailscale assigns to a user in terms of private users or an organisation.
Design goal
Headscale aims to implement a self-hosted, open source alternative to the Tailscale control server. Headscale's goal is to provide self-hosters and hobbyists with an open-source server they can use for their projects and labs. It implements a narrow scope, a single Tailscale network (tailnet), suitable for a personal use, or a small open-source organisation.
Supporting Headscale
If you like headscale and find it useful, there is a sponsorship and donation
buttons available in the repo.
Features
Please see "Features" in the documentation.
Client OS support
Please see "Client and operating system support" in the documentation.
Running headscale
Please note that we do not support nor encourage the use of reverse proxies and container to run Headscale.
Please have a look at the documentation.
For NixOS users, a module is available in nix/.
Builds from main
Development builds from the main branch are available as container images and
binaries. See the development builds
documentation for details.
Talks
- Fosdem 2026 (video): Headscale & Tailscale: The complementary open source clone
- presented by Kristoffer Dalby
- Fosdem 2023 (video): Headscale: How we are using integration testing to reimplement Tailscale
- presented by Juan Font Alonso and Kristoffer Dalby
Disclaimer
This project is not associated with Tailscale Inc.
However, one of the active maintainers for Headscale is employed by Tailscale and he is allowed to spend work hours contributing to the project. Contributions from this maintainer are reviewed by other maintainers.
The maintainers work together on setting the direction for the project. The underlying principle is to serve the community of self-hosters, enthusiasts and hobbyists - while having a sustainable project.
Contributing
Please read the CONTRIBUTING.md file.
Have also a look at our AI_POLICY.md.
Requirements
To contribute to headscale you would need the latest version of Go and Buf (Protobuf generator).
We recommend using Nix to setup a development environment. This can
be done with nix develop, which will install the tools and give you a shell.
This guarantees that you will have the same dev env as headscale maintainers.
Code style
To ensure we have some consistency with a growing number of contributions, this project has adopted linting and style/formatting rules:
The Go code is linted with golangci-lint and
formatted with golines (width 88) and
gofumpt.
Please configure your editor to run the tools while developing and make sure to
run make lint and make fmt before committing any code.
The Proto code is linted with buf and
formatted with clang-format.
The docs are formatted with mdformat.
The rest (Markdown, YAML, etc) is formatted with prettier.
Check out the .golangci.yaml and Makefile to see the specific configuration.
Install development tools
- Go
- Buf
- Protobuf tools
Install and activate:
nix develop
Testing and building
Some parts of the project require the generation of Go code from Protobuf
(if changes are made in proto/) and it must be (re-)generated with:
make generate
Note: Please check in changes from gen/ in a separate commit to make it easier to review.
To run the tests:
make test
To build the program:
make build
Development workflow
We recommend using Nix for dependency management to ensure you have all required tools. If you prefer to manage dependencies yourself, you can use Make directly:
With Nix (recommended):
nix develop
make test
make build
With your own dependencies:
make test
make build
The Makefile will warn you if any required tools are missing and suggest running nix develop. Run make help to see all available targets.
Contributors
Made with contrib.rocks.
Directories
¶
| Path | Synopsis |
|---|---|
|
cmd
|
|
|
dev
command
cmd/dev starts a local headscale development server with a pre-created user and pre-auth key, ready for connecting tailscale nodes via mts.
|
cmd/dev starts a local headscale development server with a pre-created user and pre-auth key, ready for connecting tailscale nodes via mts. |
|
gen-openapi
command
Command gen-openapi emits a Headscale OpenAPI document from the authoritative Huma definitions in hscontrol/api/v1 and hscontrol/api/v2.
|
Command gen-openapi emits a Headscale OpenAPI document from the authoritative Huma definitions in hscontrol/api/v1 and hscontrol/api/v2. |
|
headscale
command
|
|
|
hi
command
|
|
|
mapresponses
command
|
|
|
vendorhash
command
vendorhash maintains the Nix SRI hash for the Go module vendor tree and stores it in flakehashes.json alongside a content fingerprint of go.mod and go.sum.
|
vendorhash maintains the Nix SRI hash for the Go module vendor tree and stores it in flakehashes.json alongside a content fingerprint of go.mod and go.sum. |
|
gen
|
|
|
client/v1
Package clientv1 provides primitives to interact with the openapi HTTP API.
|
Package clientv1 provides primitives to interact with the openapi HTTP API. |
|
client/v2
Package clientv2 provides primitives to interact with the openapi HTTP API.
|
Package clientv2 provides primitives to interact with the openapi HTTP API. |
|
api/v1
Package apiv1 is the code-first Huma implementation of the Headscale v1 API.
|
Package apiv1 is the code-first Huma implementation of the Headscale v1 API. |
|
api/v2
Package apiv2 is Headscale's v2 HTTP API, served at /api/v2.
|
Package apiv2 is Headscale's v2 HTTP API, served at /api/v2. |
|
assets
Package assets provides embedded static assets for Headscale.
|
Package assets provides embedded static assets for Headscale. |
|
db/sqliteconfig
Package sqliteconfig provides type-safe configuration for SQLite databases with proper enum validation and URL generation for modernc.org/sqlite driver.
|
Package sqliteconfig provides type-safe configuration for SQLite databases with proper enum validation and URL generation for modernc.org/sqlite driver. |
|
policy/policyutil
Package policyutil contains pure functions that transform compiled policy rules for a specific node.
|
Package policyutil contains pure functions that transform compiled policy rules for a specific node. |
|
scope
Package scope models the OAuth capability scopes the Headscale v2 API enforces and the rule for whether a granted set of scopes satisfies a required one.
|
Package scope models the OAuth capability scopes the Headscale v2 API enforces and the rule for whether a granted set of scopes satisfies a required one. |
|
servertest
Package servertest provides an in-process test harness for Headscale's control plane.
|
Package servertest provides an in-process test harness for Headscale's control plane. |
|
types/change
Package change declares the Change type: a compact description of what must land in a tailcfg.MapResponse.
|
Package change declares the Change type: a compact description of what must land in a tailcfg.MapResponse. |
|
types/testcapture
Package testcapture defines the on-disk format used by Headscale's policy v2 compatibility tests for golden data captured from a Tailscale-hosted control plane by an external capture tool.
|
Package testcapture defines the on-disk format used by Headscale's policy v2 compatibility tests for golden data captured from a Tailscale-hosted control plane by an external capture tool. |
|
util/zlog
Package zlog provides zerolog utilities for safe and consistent logging.
|
Package zlog provides zerolog utilities for safe and consistent logging. |
|
util/zlog/zf
Package zf provides zerolog field name constants for consistent logging.
|
Package zf provides zerolog field name constants for consistent logging. |
|
k3sic
Package k3sic wraps a single-container k3s cluster (server + agent) as a privileged sibling container on the host docker daemon, like the DERP-in-container wrapper in the dsic package.
|
Package k3sic wraps a single-container k3s cluster (server + agent) as a privileged sibling container on the host docker daemon, like the DERP-in-container wrapper in the dsic package. |
|
tsric
Package tsric provides a TailscaleRustInContainer (tsric) implementation that runs the tailscale-rs axum example inside a Docker container for integration testing with headscale.
|
Package tsric provides a TailscaleRustInContainer (tsric) implementation that runs the tailscale-rs axum example inside a Docker container for integration testing with headscale. |
|
wasmic/wasmclient
command
This package only does something when built for GOOS=js (see main.go).
|
This package only does something when built for GOOS=js (see main.go). |
|
tools
|
|
|
capver
command
|