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authorBrad Fitzpatrick <bradfitz@tailscale.com>2026-04-22 21:08:16 +0000
committerBrad Fitzpatrick <bradfitz@tailscale.com>2026-04-22 21:53:46 +0000
commite369a547bd6afdce66cc3f504d40e847a70dd3db (patch)
tree279ad9997c27dd4f719a2067a5f0abbcdbe58e7e /tsnet/README.md
parentf289f7e77c66c4870897eb21f1b3a0ba6e83bb14 (diff)
downloadtailscale-bradtest.tar.xz
tailscale-bradtest.zip
misc/genreadme,tempfork/pkgdoc,tsnet: generate README.md files from godocbradtest
Adds a CI check and Makefile target to keep opted-in directories' README.md files in sync with their package godoc. For now tsnet (and its sub-packages under tsnet/example) is the only opted-in tree. The list of directories lives in misc/genreadme/genreadme.go as defaultRoots, so CI and humans both just run `make genreadme` with no arguments. The genreadme workflow runs `make genreadme` and fails if any README.md is out of date, pointing the user at the same command. Along the way: - tempfork/pkgdoc now emits Markdown instead of plain text: headings become level-2 with no {#hdr-...} anchors, and [Symbol] doc links resolve to pkg.go.dev URLs, including for symbols in the current package (which the default Printer would otherwise emit as bare #Name fragments with no backing anchor in a README). Parsing no longer uses parser.ImportsOnly, so doc.Package knows the package's symbols and can resolve [Symbol] links at all. - genreadme also emits a pkg.go.dev Go Reference badge at the top of a library package's README; suppressed for package main. - tsnet/tsnet.go's package godoc is expanded in idiomatic godoc syntax — [Type], [Type.Method], reference-style [link]: URL definitions — rather than Markdown-flavored [text](url) or backtick-quoted identifiers, so that both pkg.go.dev and the generated README.md render cleanly from a single source. Fixes #19431 Fixes #19483 Fixes #19470 Change-Id: Iade21dc87921ab2bbb65951e5fb373b597fed29e Signed-off-by: Walter Poupore <walterp@tailscale.com>
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+<!-- README.md auto-generated by misc/genreadme; DO NOT EDIT. (or remove this line) -->
+
+# tsnet
+
+[![Go Reference](https://pkg.go.dev/badge/tailscale.com/tsnet.svg)](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet)
+
+Package tsnet embeds a Tailscale node directly into a Go program, allowing it to join a tailnet and accept or dial connections without running a separate tailscaled daemon or requiring any system-level configuration.
+
+## Overview
+
+Normally, Tailscale runs as a background system service (tailscaled) that manages a virtual network interface for the whole machine. tsnet takes a different approach: it runs a fully self-contained Tailscale node inside your process using a userspace TCP/IP stack (gVisor). This means:
+
+ - No root privileges required.
+ - No system daemons to install or manage.
+ - Multiple independent Tailscale nodes can run within a single binary.
+ - The node's [Tailscale identity](https://tailscale.com/docs/concepts/tailscale-identity) and state are stored in a directory you control.
+
+The core type is [Server](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server), which represents one embedded Tailscale node. Calling [Server.Listen](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.Listen) or [Server.Dial](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.Dial) routes traffic exclusively over the tailnet. The standard library's [net.Listener](https://pkg.go.dev/net#Listener) and [net.Conn](https://pkg.go.dev/net#Conn) interfaces are returned, so any existing Go HTTP server, gRPC server, or other net-based code works without modification.
+
+## Usage
+
+ import "tailscale.com/tsnet"
+
+ s := &tsnet.Server{
+ Hostname: "my-service",
+ AuthKey: os.Getenv("TS_AUTHKEY"),
+ }
+ defer s.Close()
+
+ ln, err := s.Listen("tcp", ":80")
+ if err != nil {
+ log.Fatal(err)
+ }
+ log.Fatal(http.Serve(ln, myHandler))
+
+On first run, if no [Server.AuthKey](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.AuthKey) is provided and the node is not already enrolled, the server logs an authentication URL. Open it in a browser to add the node to your tailnet.
+
+## Authentication
+
+A [Server](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server) authenticates using, in order of precedence:
+
+ 1. [Server.AuthKey](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.AuthKey).
+ 2. The TS\_AUTHKEY environment variable.
+ 3. The TS\_AUTH\_KEY environment variable.
+ 4. An OAuth client secret ([Server.ClientSecret](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.ClientSecret) or TS\_CLIENT\_SECRET), used to mint an auth key.
+ 5. Workload identity federation ([Server.ClientID](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.ClientID) plus [Server.IDToken](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.IDToken) or [Server.Audience](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.Audience)).
+ 6. An interactive login URL printed to [Server.UserLogf](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.UserLogf).
+
+If the node is already enrolled (state found in [Server.Store](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.Store)), the auth key is ignored unless TSNET\_FORCE\_LOGIN=1 is set.
+
+## Identifying callers
+
+Use the WhoIs method on the client returned by [Server.LocalClient](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.LocalClient) to identify who is making a request:
+
+ lc, _ := srv.LocalClient()
+ http.Serve(ln, http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+ who, err := lc.WhoIs(r.Context(), r.RemoteAddr)
+ if err != nil {
+ http.Error(w, err.Error(), 500)
+ return
+ }
+ fmt.Fprintf(w, "Hello, %s!", who.UserProfile.LoginName)
+ }))
+
+## Tailscale Funnel
+
+[Server.ListenFunnel](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.ListenFunnel) exposes your service on the public internet. [Tailscale Funnel](https://tailscale.com/docs/features/tailscale-funnel) currently supports TCP on ports 443, 8443, and 10000. HTTPS must be enabled in the Tailscale admin console.
+
+ ln, err := srv.ListenFunnel("tcp", ":443")
+ // ln is a TLS listener; connections can come from anywhere on the
+ // internet as well as from your tailnet.
+
+ // To restrict to public traffic only:
+ ln, err = srv.ListenFunnel("tcp", ":443", tsnet.FunnelOnly())
+
+## Tailscale Services
+
+[Server.ListenService](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.ListenService) advertises the node as a host for a named [Tailscale Service](https://tailscale.com/docs/features/tailscale-services). The node must use a tag-based identity. To advertise multiple ports, call ListenService once per port.
+
+ srv.AdvertiseTags = []string{"tag:myservice"}
+
+ ln, err := srv.ListenService("svc:my-service", tsnet.ServiceModeHTTP{
+ HTTPS: true,
+ Port: 443,
+ })
+ log.Printf("Listening on https://%s", ln.FQDN)
+
+## Running multiple nodes in one process
+
+Each [Server](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server) instance is an independent node. Give each a unique [Server.Dir](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.Dir) and [Server.Hostname](https://pkg.go.dev/tailscale.com/tsnet#Server.Hostname):
+
+ for _, name := range []string{"frontend", "backend"} {
+ srv := &tsnet.Server{
+ Hostname: name,
+ Dir: filepath.Join(baseDir, name),
+ AuthKey: os.Getenv("TS_AUTHKEY"),
+ Ephemeral: true,
+ }
+ srv.Start()
+ }