# Running headscale 1. Download the headscale binary https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/releases, and place it somewhere in your $PATH or use the docker container ```shell docker pull headscale/headscale:x.x.x ``` 2. (Optional, you can also use SQLite) Get yourself a PostgreSQL DB running ```shell docker run --name headscale \ -e POSTGRES_DB=headscale -e POSTGRES_USER=foo \ -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=bar \ -p 5432:5432 \ -d postgres ``` 3. Create a WireGuard private key and headscale configuration ```shell wg genkey > private.key cp config.yaml.example config.yaml ``` 4. Create a namespace ```shell headscale namespaces create myfirstnamespace ``` or docker: the db.sqlite mount is only needed if you use sqlite ```shell touch db.sqlite docker run \ -v $(pwd)/private.key:/private.key \ -v $(pwd)/config.json:/config.json \ -v $(pwd)/derp.yaml:/derp.yaml \ -v $(pwd)/db.sqlite:/db.sqlite \ -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \ headscale/headscale:x.x.x \ headscale namespaces create myfirstnamespace ``` or if your server is already running in docker: ```shell docker exec headscale create myfirstnamespace ``` 5. Run the server ```shell headscale serve ``` or docker: the db.sqlite mount is only needed if you use sqlite ```shell docker run \ -v $(pwd)/private.key:/private.key \ -v $(pwd)/config.json:/config.json \ -v $(pwd)/derp.yaml:/derp.yaml \ -v $(pwd)/db.sqlite:/db.sqlite \ -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \ headscale/headscale:x.x.x headscale serve ``` 6. If you used tailscale.com before in your nodes, make sure you clear the tailscaled data folder ```shell systemctl stop tailscaled rm -fr /var/lib/tailscale systemctl start tailscaled ``` 7. Add your first machine ```shell tailscale up --login-server YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL ``` 8. Navigate to the URL you will get with `tailscale up`, where you'll find your machine key. 9. In the server, register your machine to a namespace with the CLI ```shell headscale -n myfirstnamespace nodes register YOURMACHINEKEY ``` or docker: ```shell docker run \ -v $(pwd)/private.key:/private.key \ -v $(pwd)/config.json:/config.json \ -v $(pwd)/derp.yaml:/derp.yaml \ headscale/headscale:x.x.x \ headscale -n myfirstnamespace nodes register YOURMACHINEKEY ``` or if your server is already running in docker: ```shell docker exec headscale -n myfirstnamespace nodes register YOURMACHINEKEY ``` Alternatively, you can use Auth Keys to register your machines: 1. Create an authkey ```shell headscale -n myfirstnamespace preauthkeys create --reusable --expiration 24h ``` or docker: ```shell docker run \ -v $(pwd)/private.key:/private.key \ -v $(pwd)/config.json:/config.json \ -v$(pwd)/derp.yaml:/derp.yaml \ -v $(pwd)/db.sqlite:/db.sqlite \ headscale/headscale:x.x.x \ headscale -n myfirstnamespace preauthkeys create --reusable --expiration 24h ``` or if your server is already running in docker: ```shell docker exec headscale -n myfirstnamespace preauthkeys create --reusable --expiration 24h ``` 2. Use the authkey from your machine to register it ```shell tailscale up --login-server YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL --authkey YOURAUTHKEY ``` If you create an authkey with the `--ephemeral` flag, that key will create ephemeral nodes. This implies that `--reusable` is true. Please bear in mind that all headscale commands support adding `-o json` or `-o json-line` to get nicely JSON-formatted output.