Headscale

Description / name	Input element
Container Registry
Container Configuration Root Path
Timezone
User ID
Group ID
Headscale Host Port
Headscale /config Path

An open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server.


Port	`8080`
Registry	`ghcr.io/daemonless/headscale`
Daemonless	daemonless/headscale
Source	juanfont/headscale
Website	headscale.net

Version Tags

Tag	Description	Best For
`latest`	Built from the official upstream FreeBSD release binary.	Most users. Matches Linux Docker behavior.
`pkg`	Installed from the FreeBSD quarterly package repository.	Alternative build.
`pkg-latest`	Installed from the FreeBSD latest package repository.	Alternative build.

Root Privileges Required

Podman on FreeBSD currently requires root. All commands must be run as root (or via doas/sudo).

Before deploying, ensure your host environment is ready. See the Quick Start Guide for host setup instructions.

Deployment

Podman Compose AppJail Director Podman CLI Ansible

services:
  headscale:
    image: ghcr.io/daemonless/headscale:latest
    container_name: headscale
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=UTC
    volumes:
      - "/path/to/containers/headscale:/config"
    ports:
      - 8080:8080
      - 3478:3478
    restart: unless-stopped

DIRECTOR_PROJECT=headscale
PUID=1000
PGID=1000
TZ=UTC

options:
  - virtualnet: ':<random> default'
  - nat:
services:
  headscale:
    name: headscale
    options:
      - container: 'boot args:--pull'
    oci:
      user: root
      environment:
        - PUID: !ENV '${PUID}'
        - PGID: !ENV '${PGID}'
        - TZ: !ENV '${TZ}'
    volumes:
      - HEADSCALE_CONFIG_PATH: /config
volumes:
  HEADSCALE_CONFIG_PATH:
    device: '/path/to/containers/headscale'

ARG tag=latest

OPTION overwrite=force
OPTION from=ghcr.io/daemonless/headscale:${tag}

podman run -d --name headscale \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -p 3478:3478 \
  -e PUID=1000 \
  -e PGID=1000 \
  -e TZ=UTC \
  -v /path/to/containers/headscale:/config \
  ghcr.io/daemonless/headscale:latest

- name: Deploy headscale
  containers.podman.podman_container:
    name: headscale
    image: ghcr.io/daemonless/headscale:latest
    state: started
    restart_policy: always
    env:
      PUID: "1000"
      PGID: "1000"
      TZ: "UTC"
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
      - "3478:3478"
    volumes:
      - "/path/to/containers/headscale:/config"

Interactive Configuration

Parameters

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
`PUID`	`1000`	User ID for the application process
`PGID`	`1000`	Group ID for the application process
`TZ`	`UTC`	Timezone for the container

Volumes

Path	Description
`/config`	Configuration directory

Ports

Port	Protocol	Description
`8080`	TCP	Control server (HTTP)
`3478`	UDP	Embedded DERP STUN (UDP)

Implementation Details

Architectures: amd64
User: bsd (UID/GID set via PUID/PGID). Defaults to 1000:1000.
Base: Built on ghcr.io/daemonless/base (FreeBSD 15.0).

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