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Headscale

INFRA · APIS
Velocity0.0

Self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server

headscale.net ↗

Headscale is systematically reverse-engineering Tailscale's own behaviour to close the parity gap

wireguardtailscale-compatibleaclself-hostedbeta-series
◆Current state
Headscale is running a v0.29.0 beta series, now at beta.4, built around one theme: matching how the official Tailscale control plane actually behaves. The team generated extensive test cases against real Tailscale clients and the commercial SaaS to compare packet filter generation, and added support for SSH rules using the check action. Minimum supported client is v1.80.0.
◆Where it's heading
The methodology is the story — rather than implementing ACLs from documentation, the project is deriving behaviour empirically from the commercial service and closing the differences it finds. That is what an open-source control plane has to do to be a genuine drop-in. The four betas carry identical release notes, so the feature set was fixed at beta.1 and everything since is stabilisation.
◆Prediction
Expect a v0.29.0 release candidate or final once the beta series stops adding notes, with ACL parity work continuing into the next cycle.

◆Recent moves

  1. 1mo ago

    v0.29.0-beta.4

    The fourth beta, carrying release notes identical to beta.1. The ACL and SSH work described here first appeared three betas earlier; this is stabilisation.

    View source ↗
  2. 1mo ago

    v0.29.0-beta.3

    Beta 3, restating the same ACL compatibility and SSH check action notes. Cumulative release notes make each beta look like the last.

    View source ↗
  3. 2mo ago

    v0.29.0-beta.2

    Beta 2, with the same unchanged notes as the rest of the series. Nothing new is described relative to beta.1.

    View source ↗
  4. 2mo ago

    v0.29.0-beta.1

    ⚡ SPARK

    The first v0.29.0 beta, and where the ACL parity work and SSH check action are actually introduced. The later betas restate these notes verbatim, so this is the release the cycle is built on.

    View source ↗