software catalog

content/software/tailscale.md

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+---
+title: "Tailscale"
+category: "Networking and remote access"
+tagline: "A private network between your devices, joined to your Core's own Tailscale server."
+source: "pacman"
+package: "tailscale"
+command: "tailscale"
+website: "https://tailscale.com/"
+code: "https://github.com/tailscale/tailscale"
+links:
+  - name: "Tailscale documentation"
+    url: "https://tailscale.com/kb"
+---
+
+## What it is
+
+Tailscale is a mesh VPN built on WireGuard. Each device you add gets a private address, and they reach each other directly and encrypted wherever they are, at home, in the office or on a phone hotspot, without opening ports on your router. A coordination server keeps track of which devices belong to your network; Tailscale's own service can do that, or a self-hosted server such as headscale.
+
+## Why it's here
+
+- **Reach your machines from anywhere.** SSH, file shares and web apps on your other devices work as if they were on the same LAN.
+- **Self-hosted.** On CoreDesktop it joins your Core's headscale server, not a third-party account.
+- **Nothing to forward.** Connections work through NAT and firewalls.
+
+## On CoreDesktop
+
+Tailscale is installed from pacman, and its daemon, `tailscaled`, is enabled and started at install. Run `configure tailscale` (after `configure core`) to join your Core's network: it signs you in through `https://headscale.<your Core's domain>` with a link it shows you, accepts the routes your Core advertises, and makes you Tailscale's operator so you can control it without `sudo`. If the machine was on another tailnet, it moves it to your Core's.
+
+The firewall lets in everything arriving over Tailscale, while other incoming connections stay blocked. CoreDesktop also installs the Tailscale GNOME extension (`tailscale-gnome@diskmth.fr`), which adds Tailscale to the Quick Settings menu, and the [Trayscale](/software/trayscale/) app. `update` keeps Tailscale current with the pacman packages.