Tailscale Network Monitor MCP server

This server provides read-only access to your Tailscale network directly from Claude Desktop and other MCP-compatible applications. It allows you to check network status, view connected devices, get diagnostics, and perform other read-only Tailscale operations directly through conversational AI interfaces.

Requirements

• Tailscale CLI installed and accessible in your $PATH
• An MCP-compatible client like Claude Desktop
• Go (only if building from source)

Installation

Building from Source

go install github.com/paulsmith/tailscale-mcp-server@latest

Setup with Claude Desktop

1. Ensure you have Claude Desktop installed and updated to the latest version

2. Open your Claude Desktop configuration file:

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

3. Add the Tailscale MCP server configuration:

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

4. Make sure tailscale-mcp-server is on your $PATH, or provide the full path to the binary in the command field

5. Restart Claude Desktop

Available Tools

The server exposes these tools for interacting with your Tailscale network:

• tailscale: Run any safe Tailscale command
• get-ip: Get your Tailscale IP addresses
• get-status: Get information about your Tailscale network
• network-check: Check Tailscale network connectivity
• list-exit-nodes: List available Tailscale exit nodes
• ip-lookup: Look up information about a Tailscale IP
• ping-host: Ping a Tailscale host
• dns-status: Get DNS diagnostic information

Safe Subcommands

Only these Tailscale subcommands are permitted:

• netcheck
• ip
• dns status
• status
• metrics
• ping <peer>
• version
• exit-node list
• whois <ip>

Available Prompts

The server includes these prompts for common tasks:

• diagnose-network: Analyze Tailscale network connectivity issues
• analyze-peers: Get a summary of devices in your tailnet
• exit-node-recommendations: Get recommendations for exit nodes

Example Usage

With Claude Desktop, you can ask questions like:

• "What's my Tailscale IP address?"
• "Show me all the devices connected to my Tailscale network"
• "Can you check if my Tailscale network connection is working properly?"
• "Ping my device called 'laptop'"
• "Are there any exit nodes available in my network?"
• "What DNS settings is Tailscale using?"

Example Interaction

When you ask Claude to "Describe my tailnet and note anything out of the ordinary," it will run multiple commands and provide a comprehensive analysis including:

• Your tailnet name and connected devices
• IP addresses and device status
• Network connectivity information
• Exit node availability
• DNS configuration
• Version compatibility issues
• Unusual configurations or devices

Troubleshooting

Server Not Appearing in Claude Desktop

Check the following:

1. Ensure the binary path in your configuration is correct
2. Verify Tailscale CLI is installed and in your $PATH
3. Check Claude Desktop logs for errors:
   • macOS: ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\mcp*.log

Command Errors

If commands fail:

1. Try running the command directly with the Tailscale CLI
2. Verify your Tailscale is correctly configured and connected
3. Check that the command is in the allowed safe list

Security Considerations

• Only read-only access is permitted to your Tailscale network
• Only whitelisted subcommands can be executed
• All commands run with your user permissions
• Be aware that exposing your network information to LLMs carries inherent risks, including potential prompt injection vulnerabilities

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "tailscale" '{"command":"tailscale-mcp-server"}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

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

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

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

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect