Headscale can be configured to expose its web service via TLS. To configure the certificate and key file manually, set the `tls_cert_path` and `tls_cert_path` configuration parameters. If the path is relative, it will be interpreted as relative to the directory the configuration file was read from.
To get a certificate automatically via [Let's Encrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/), set `tls_letsencrypt_hostname` to the desired certificate hostname. This name must resolve to the IP address(es) headscale is reachable on (i.e., it must correspond to the `server_url` configuration parameter). The certificate and Let's Encrypt account credentials will be stored in the directory configured in `tls_letsencrypt_cache_dir`. If the path is relative, it will be interpreted as relative to the directory the configuration file was read from.
For `HTTP-01`, headscale must be reachable on port 80 for the Let's Encrypt automated validation, in addition to whatever port is configured in `listen_addr`. By default, headscale listens on port 80 on all local IPs for Let's Encrypt automated validation.
If you need to change the ip and/or port used by headscale for the Let's Encrypt validation process, set `tls_letsencrypt_listen` to the appropriate value. This can be handy if you are running headscale as a non-root user (or can't run `setcap`). Keep in mind, however, that Let's Encrypt will _only_ connect to port 80 for the validation callback, so if you change `tls_letsencrypt_listen` you will also need to configure something else (e.g. a firewall rule) to forward the traffic from port 80 to the ip:port combination specified in `tls_letsencrypt_listen`.
For `TLS-ALPN-01`, headscale listens on the ip:port combination defined in `listen_addr`. Let's Encrypt will _only_ connect to port 443 for the validation callback, so if `listen_addr` is not set to port 443, something else (e.g. a firewall rule) will be required to forward the traffic from port 443 to the ip:port combination specified in `listen_addr`.
Headscale uses [autocert](https://pkg.go.dev/golang.org/x/crypto/acme/autocert), a Golang library providing [ACME protocol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Certificate_Management_Environment) verification, to facilitate certificate renewals via [Let's Encrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/about/). Certificates will be renewed automatically, and the following can be expected:
- Certificates provided from Let's Encrypt have a validity of 3 months from date issued.
- Renewals are only attempted by headscale when 30 days or less remains until certificate expiry.
- Renewal attempts by autocert are triggered at a random interval of 30-60 minutes.
- No log output is generated when renewals are skipped, or successful.
#### Checking certificate expiry
If you want to validate that certificate renewal completed successfully, this can be done either manually, or through external monitoring software. Two examples of doing this manually:
As these log lines are from the autocert library, they are not strictly generated by headscale itself.
```plaintext
acme/autocert: missing server name
```
Likely caused by an incoming connection that does not specify a hostname, for example a `curl` request directly against the IP of the server, or an unexpected hostname.
```plaintext
acme/autocert: host "[foo]" not configured in HostWhitelist
```
Similarly to the above, this likely indicates an invalid incoming request for an incorrect hostname, commonly just the IP itself.
The source code for autocert can be found [here](https://cs.opensource.google/go/x/crypto/+/refs/tags/v0.19.0:acme/autocert/autocert.go)
