tailscale

rustscale — Tailscale MCP Server

rustscale is a Rust binary named tailscale that bridges Claude (and any MCP client) to the Tailscale REST API via the Model Context Protocol.

It exposes a single MCP tool called tailscale with an action parameter. Actions cover reading device/network state, authorizing devices, and (with explicit opt-in) deleting devices.

What is a tailnet?

Every Tailscale account belongs to a tailnet — the private network that connects all your devices. The tailnet identifier is either:

• "-" — personal accounts (default)
• "example.com" — organization accounts (your org's domain)

Set it once via TAILSCALE_TAILNET; all API paths are scoped to it automatically (/api/v2/tailnet/<tailnet>/...).

Quickstart

1. Get a Tailscale API key

Go to https://login.tailscale.com/admin/settings/keys and create an API key.

2. Configure environment

export TAILSCALE_API_KEY="tskey-api-..."
export TAILSCALE_TAILNET="-"          # personal, or "example.com" for orgs
export TAILSCALE_MCP_TOKEN="$(openssl rand -hex 32)"

3. Run as stdio MCP server (Claude Desktop)

tailscale mcp

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tailscale": {
      "command": "/path/to/tailscale",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "TAILSCALE_API_KEY": "tskey-api-...",
        "TAILSCALE_TAILNET": "-"
      }
    }
  }
}

4. Run as Streamable HTTP MCP server

tailscale serve

The server starts on 0.0.0.0:7575. Connect your MCP client to http://localhost:7575/mcp with Authorization: Bearer <your-token>.

Actions

All actions are dispatched via the single tailscale MCP tool with an action string argument.

Read

Action	Parameters	Description
devices	—	List all devices in the tailnet
device	id (required)	Single device details
device_routes	id (required)	Subnet routes for a device
keys	—	API keys in the tailnet
acl	—	ACL policy (JSON format)
dns	—	DNS nameservers, search paths, and MagicDNS preferences (aggregated)
users	—	Users in the tailnet

Write (non-destructive)

Action	Parameters	Description
authorize_device	id (required)	Approve a device for the tailnet

Destructive

Action	Parameters	Description
delete_device	id (required), confirm=true	Permanently remove a device

Destructive actions require both conditions:

1. TAILSCALE_ALLOW_DESTRUCTIVE=true set on the server
2. confirm=true passed in the tool call arguments

Meta

Action	Description
help	Built-in action documentation

Device IDs

The id parameter accepts either the stable node ID (e.g. n1234abc) or the legacy numeric device ID. Use action=devices to list all devices with their IDs.

CLI usage

The binary also works as a direct CLI against your tailnet:

tailscale devices [--json]
tailscale device <id> [--json]
tailscale routes <device-id> [--json]
tailscale keys [--json]
tailscale acl [--json]
tailscale dns [--json]
tailscale users [--json]
tailscale authorize <device-id> [--json]
tailscale delete-device <device-id> --confirm [--json]

All commands print pretty-printed JSON.

Auth modes

Bearer token (default)

Set TAILSCALE_MCP_TOKEN to a static secret. MCP clients authenticate with Authorization: Bearer <token>.

TAILSCALE_MCP_TOKEN="$(openssl rand -hex 32)" tailscale serve

OAuth (Google)

Set TAILSCALE_MCP_AUTH_MODE=oauth. The server runs a full OAuth 2.0 / PKCE flow and issues JWTs with scopes tailscale:read, tailscale:write, and tailscale:admin.

TAILSCALE_MCP_AUTH_MODE=oauth \
TAILSCALE_MCP_PUBLIC_URL=https://tailscale.example.com \
TAILSCALE_MCP_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=... \
TAILSCALE_MCP_GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=... \
[email protected] \
tailscale serve

Loopback / no-auth

Binding to 127.* or setting TAILSCALE_MCP_NO_AUTH=true disables all auth. Suitable for local development only.

Transports

Mode	Command	MCP endpoint
stdio	tailscale mcp	stdin / stdout
Streamable HTTP	tailscale serve	http://<host>:<port>/mcp

Environment variables