Tailscale Systray

A system tray application (StatusNotifierItem) for managing Tailscale VPN connections on Linux systems.

Features

• Quick access to Tailscale status from the system tray
• Connect/disconnect to Tailscale with a single click
• View online peers and copy their IPs to the clipboard
• Configure and use exit nodes
• Advertise your device as an exit node
• Authentication via browser for easy login

Installation

Prerequisites

• Tailscale CLI installed
• A Linux desktop environment with StatusNotifierItem support

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/cataphact/tailscale-systray.git
cd tailscale-systray

# Build the application
cargo build --release

# Copy the binary somewhere
sudo cp target/release/tailscale-systray /usr/local/bin/

# Copy icons/.desktop files for current user (invoke the *copied* executable!)
tailscale-systray --install

Alternatively:

cargo install tailscale-systray
~/.cargo/bin/tailscale-systray --install

Usage

Command-line Arguments

Usage: tailscale-systray [OPTIONS]

Options:
      --tailscale-bin <TAILSCALE_BIN>
          Tailscale executable [default: tailscale]
      --install
          Locally install icons and desktop file
      --socket <SOCKET>
          Path to tailscaled socket
      --up-arg <UP_ARG>
          Extra arguments to pass "tailscale up"
      --refresh-period <REFRESH_PERIOD>
          Refresh period in seconds [default: 5]
  -v, --verbosity <VERBOSITY>
          Verbosity level (0-5, where 0=error, 1=warn, 2=info, 3=debug, 4=trace, 5=trace+) [default: 2]
  -h, --help
          Print help

System Tray Features

• Left-click: Opens the menu
• Status indicator:
  • Green checkmark: Tailscale is up and connected
  • Blue globe: Connected through an exit node
  • Red X: Tailscale is down or not connected
• Menu options:
  • Enable/Disable Tailscale
  • View online peers (click to copy IP)
  • Configure exit nodes
  • Advertise as an exit node

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Acknowledgements

• Tailscale for their excellent VPN service

• KSNI for the StatusNotifierItem implementation