headscale/README.md

headscale

An open source implementation of the Tailscale coordination server.

Disclaimer

1. I have nothing to do with Tailscale, or Tailscale Inc. Just a fan of their tech.
2. The purpose of writing this was to learn a bit how Tailscale works. Hence the emojis in the log messages and other terrible code.
3. I don't use Headscale myself (their Solo plan + DERP infra is way more convenient).
4. Headscale adds all the machines under the same user. Be careful!

Running it

1. Compile the headscale binary

go build cmd/headscale/headscale.go 

2. Get youself a PostgreSQL DB running.

docker run --name headscale -e POSTGRES_DB=headscale -e \
  POSTGRES_USER=foo -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=bar -p 5432:5432 -d postgres

3. Sort some stuff up (headscale Wireguard keys & the config.json file)

wg genkey > private.key
wg pubkey < private.key > public.key  # although not strictly needed 
cp config.json.example config.json

4. Run the server

./headscale serve

5. Add your first machine

tailscale up -login-server YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL

6. Navigate to the URL you will get with tailscale up, where you can find your machine key.

7. Register your machine using the headscale CLI

./headscale register YOURMACHINEKEY