LoopgateTry it

Docs / Your server / A permanent address with Tailscale

A permanent address with Tailscale

MarkdownOpen in ClaudeOpen in ChatGPT

At the end, the runner has an address like https://loopgate-runner.your-tailnet.ts.net that only your team's own laptops can open. Tailscale builds a private network between your devices, called a tailnet, and nothing outside it reaches the runner.

Time

15 minutes, plus a few minutes on each teammate's laptop.

You need
  • The runner from Any Linux box
  • A Tailscale account (check Tailscale's pricing for the size of your team)
  • Tailscale on the laptop of each person who opens the runner

Set this up with your agent

Copy this to a coding agent on your laptop. It runs the commands and checks each step with you; what you sign in to, press or paste stays yours.

This is for a coding agent that can run commands on my laptop (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor), not a chat website.
Walk me through Loopgate's docs page "A permanent address with Tailscale": https://loopgate.dev/docs/address-tailscale.md. The pages it links to are beside it, each ending in .md.
Run its commands yourself, on my laptop or on my box over SSH as the page says, one step at a time, and check each "You should see" line before the next step.
These are mine: tell me when it is my turn, wait for me, and never ask me to type them into this chat. Signing in to anything (the portal, a cloud console, Slack, GitHub), pressing Add a runner, every token and password, my AI subscription's device code, and making the Slack app.
If I paste you the portal's install line, run it on the box: its token works once, for an hour.

Steps

  1. On the box, install Tailscale with its own script.

    curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh

    You should see: Installation complete! and a hint to run tailscale up.

  2. Join the box to your tailnet.

    sudo tailscale up

    You should see: To authenticate, visit: and a web address. Open it on your laptop, sign in to Tailscale and approve the box. The command on the box then finishes.

  3. On your laptop, open the admin console at https://login.tailscale.com/admin/dns and check that MagicDNS is enabled. It gives each device a name, and it is on for most new tailnets.

  4. Scroll to HTTPS Certificates, press Enable HTTPS and confirm. It stays off until an admin turns it on.

    You should see: HTTPS Certificates marked as enabled.

  5. On the box, send the tailnet's HTTPS traffic to the runner.

    sudo tailscale serve --bg 4311

    You should see: Available within your tailnet: followed by an address ending .ts.net/. That is the runner's address. Copy it.

  6. Give the runner that address, with no slash at the end.

    cd ~/loopgate && echo "LOOPGATE_RUNNER_URL=https://loopgate-runner.your-tailnet.ts.net" >> runner.env

  7. Restart the runner.

    docker compose up -d runner

    You should see: the portal's Devices row shows the new address, no longer marked temporary.

  8. Check the runner's own line.

    docker compose logs runner

    You should see: Runner ready at https://…ts.net.

  9. In the admin console, open Users and invite each teammate.

  10. Each teammate installs Tailscale from https://tailscale.com/download and signs in to your tailnet.

    You should see: the box loopgate-runner in their Tailscale device list.

  11. Each teammate opens the Loopgate portal, opens Devices and presses Open on the runner's row.

    You should see: the workbench. The very first visit may take a few seconds while Tailscale makes the certificate.

Good to know

  • A browser stays signed in for thirty days from its last use, while Tailscale is on.
  • Settings → General names the address permanent once the runner has it.
  • Links Slack posts from now on survive a restart.
  • By hand has every line of runner.env.

If something is off

  • The address does not open. Check that Tailscale is on and signed in to your tailnet on that laptop.
  • tailscale serve says HTTPS is not enabled. Turn on HTTPS Certificates (step 4), then run step 5 again.
  • "This link expired. Open the runner from the portal again." Press Open in Devices again.

Next