tailscale
Tailscale
Tailscale is a zero-config mesh VPN that creates a secure peer-to-peer network (called a tailnet) between your devices. It uses WireGuard for encryption and connects devices directly rather than routing through a central gateway.
Beyond the core VPN, Tailscale offers a family of products built on the same identity and networking layer. This skill covers all of them — consult the reference file for whichever topic is relevant.
How references work
References fall into two shapes depending on what the skill needs to do for the user.
Descriptive references (most files — aperture.md, containers.md, enterprise.md, device-management.md, session-recording.md, api.md, tsnet.md) help you describe a topic to a user: explain it, draft configuration, recommend an approach. These use a hybrid layout — stable mental model and load-bearing configuration shapes inline, plus a curated list of canonical tailscale.com/docs/... URLs to WebFetch for current detail. Follow the in-file instructions about when to fetch. When WebFetch is available, prefer the live page over the inline summary for specifics (configuration keys, environment variables, supported models, pricing). When WebFetch is unavailable, answer from inline content and tell the user which doc page to consult.
Operational references (currently cli.md) help you operate a tool on the user's machine — Claude actually invokes the commands. These keep concrete command/flag content inline because wrong flags break real systems. The fallback is local, not network: run tailscale help <subcommand> to verify a flag before suggesting it. The canonical docs URL is the second fallback, for when the tool isn't installed.
The remaining references (access-control.md, common-tasks.md, connectivity.md, exit-nodes.md, installation.md, subnet-routers.md) are smaller and self-contained — read the file, answer the question.