Tailscale Plugin

A Tailscale status plugin for Noctalia that shows your Tailscale connection status in the menu bar and lets you send and receive files via Taildrop.

Disclaimer: This is a community-created plugin built on top of the great Tailscale CLI tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to Tailscale Inc.

Features

• Status Indicator: Shows whether Tailscale is connected or disconnected with a visual indicator
• IP Address Display: Shows your current Tailscale IP address when connected
• Peer Count: Displays the number of connected devices in your tailnet
• Quick Toggle: Click to connect/disconnect Tailscale
• Peer Context Menu: Right-click a peer in the panel to copy its IP or FQDN, launch SSH/ping actions, use it as an exit node, or send a file via Taildrop
• Taildrop Receive: Toggle file receiving from the panel
• Exit Node Management: Activate/deactivate exit nodes from the panel
• Context Menu: Right-click for additional options (connect, disconnect, refresh, settings)
• Configurable Refresh: Customize how often the plugin checks Tailscale status
• Compact Mode: Option to show only the icon for a minimal display

Requirements

• Tailscale must be installed on your system
• Tailscale must be set up and authenticated

Taildrop

Taildrop lets you send and receive files between your Tailscale nodes directly from the panel.

Receiving files

tailscale file get normally requires root. The plugin offers two modes, configurable in settings, and a master toggle to disable Taildrop entirely:

Mode	Setting value	How it works
Operator (recommended)	operator	Runs tailscale file get as your own user — no prompt. Requires a one-time setup (see below).
pkexec	pkexec	Runs tailscale file get via pkexec — shows a polkit prompt each time. No setup needed.

When a receive completes the notification lists each file that appeared in the download directory.

To hide both the Receive button and the Send File option entirely, disable Taildrop in plugin settings.

One-time operator setup

Run this once to grant your user operator rights:

sudo tailscale set --operator=$USER

After that, tailscale file get works without root and the plugin can receive files without any prompt.

Sending files

Right-click any online peer in the panel and choose Send File. A file picker will open; select one or more files and they will be sent via tailscale file cp.

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
refreshInterval	5000 ms	How often to check Tailscale status (1000–60000 ms)
compactMode	false	Show only the icon in the menu bar
showIpAddress	true	Display your Tailscale IP address
showPeerCount	true	Display the number of connected peers
hideDisconnected	false	Hide disconnected peers from the panel list
hideMullvadExitNodes	true	Hide Mullvad VPN exit nodes from the peer list
terminalCommand	""	Terminal for SSH/ping (e.g. ghostty, alacritty)
sshUsername	""	Username for SSH connections (leave empty for system default)
pingCount	5	Number of pings to send when pinging a peer
defaultPeerAction	"copy-ip"	Action when clicking a peer: copy-ip, ssh, or ping
taildropEnabled	true	Enable Taildrop send/receive. When false, hides the Receive button and Send File option.
taildropDownloadDir	"~/Downloads"	Directory where received files are saved
taildropReceiveMode	"operator"	Taildrop receive mode: operator or pkexec

IPC Commands

You can control the Tailscale plugin via the command line using the Noctalia IPC interface.

General Usage

qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call plugin:tailscale <command>

Available Commands

Command	Description	Example
toggle	Toggle Tailscale connection (connect/disconnect)	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call plugin:tailscale toggle
status	Get current Tailscale status	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call plugin:tailscale status
refresh	Force refresh Tailscale status	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call plugin:tailscale refresh
receive	Fetch any pending Taildrop files	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call plugin:tailscale receive

Usage

1. Click the icon to open the Tailscale panel
2. Right-click the bar widget to open the context menu (connect/disconnect, settings)
3. Right-click a peer in the panel to copy its IP/FQDN, SSH, ping, set as exit node, or send a file
4. Receive via Taildrop: click "Receive via Taildrop" in the panel to fetch any pending incoming files

Troubleshooting

"Not installed" message

If you see "Tailscale not installed" in the context menu, make sure Tailscale is installed and accessible in your PATH.

Status not updating

If the status doesn't update automatically, try:

1. Increasing the refresh interval in settings
2. Using the "Refresh" option from the context menu
3. Checking that Tailscale is running properly on your system

Cannot connect/disconnect

Ensure that:

• You have proper permissions to control Tailscale
• Tailscale is authenticated and set up
• No other process is interfering with Tailscale

Taildrop receive fails

• Operator mode: make sure you have run sudo tailscale set --operator=$USER first
• pkexec mode: ensure pkexec is installed and a polkit agent is running
• Check that the download directory exists and is writable