tailscale

This MCP server provides read-only access to your Tailscale network by exposing a set of safe Tailscale CLI subcommands through MCP for Claude Desktop and other MCP-compatible clients. It runs the tailscale-mcp-server binary and forwards allowed commands to the local tailscale CLI, returning structured results rather than raw shell output. Available tools include: tailscale (to run safe generic tailscale commands), get-ip (retrieve Tailscale IP addresses), get-status (network status), network-check (connectivity diagnostics), list-exit-nodes (exit node availability), ip-lookup (information about a specific IP), ping-host (ping a host on the Tailnet), and dns-status (DNS diagnostic information). In addition, there are prompt-based workflows to diagnose connectivity, analyze peers, and get exit node recommendations. To use it, configure Claude Desktop (or another MCP client) to point to the tailscale-mcp-server binary and invoke these tools through natural language prompts or structured tool calls. Remember that the server exposes read-only access and executes commands with your user permissions, so treat it as a low-trust integration and review the warnings and safe subcommands documented in the README.

To interact with Claude Desktop, ensure the MCP configuration includes a server named tailscale and that tailscale-mcp-server is on your PATH. Then you can ask questions like: "What is my Tailscale IP address?", "Show me all devices on my tailnet", or "Ping my device named laptop". You can also request diagnostics such as: "Check Tailscale network connectivity" or "List available exit nodes". The server also supports predefined prompts such as diagnose-network, analyze-peers, and exit-node-recommendations to streamline common tasks.

Prerequisites:

• Go tooling installed (for building from source)
• Tailscale CLI installed and available on your PATH
• An MCP-compatible client (e.g., Claude Desktop)

Install from source (recommended):

# Install the latest tailscale-mcp-server binary
go install github.com/paulsmith/tailscale-mcp-server@latest

Run the server (after installation):

# Ensure the binary is in your PATH
which tailscale-mcp-server

# Start the MCP server (example)
tailscale-mcp-server

If you prefer a pre-built binary (when available):

• Download the appropriate binary for your OS
• Place it on your PATH or reference its full path in your MCP config (see mcp_config)

Claude Desktop configuration (example):

• Ensure Claude Desktop is installed and up-to-date
• Add the MCP server configuration (as shown below) to your Claude/desktop config and restart Claude:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tailscale": {
      "command": "tailscale-mcp-server"
    }
  }
}

Security and usage tips:

• This server provides read-only access to your Tailscale network. Only commands from the safe list are permitted (netcheck, ip, dns status, status, metrics, ping <peer>, version, exit-node list, whois <ip>). No configuration changes are performed by the server.
• Commands are executed with your user permissions, so avoid exposing this MCP endpoint to untrusted clients.
• Ensure the tailscale CLI is properly installed and accessible in your PATH before starting the server.
• If Claude Desktop cannot locate the tailscale-mcp-server, verify PATH settings or provide an absolute path to the binary in the configuration.
• When updating tailscale or the server, re-test critical commands to confirm compatibility.
• Monitor Claude logs for any anomalies or command errors, and restrict access to your MCP endpoints as needed.