The public network

What the public network is

The public network is one mesh network shared by all mesh-net accounts and free on every plan. Its control server is https://hs.mesh-net.space. Connect your laptop, phone, home server or Raspberry Pi, and they reach each other directly by their 100.x addresses — from any internet connection, behind any NAT.

Open it with Public network in the menu: the page holds your devices and, below them, your rooms.

Who sees whom

• Your devices see each other — every port, in both directions.
• Other accounts don't see your devices, and you don't see theirs, even though everyone is in the same network.
• To connect chosen devices across accounts, create a room: the devices ticked in it see each other, the rest stay isolated.

If you need routes into whole LANs, exit nodes, your own access rules or more devices, use a private network.

Device limit

An account may have 5 devices in the public network. The counter at the top right of the page shows the use, like Devices 2/5. When the limit is reached, Add device is disabled.

The add-on +5 devices adds 5 more for 49 ₽ a month or 499 ₽ a year; it is bought with Get more next to the counter. When a pack ends, the devices you already have stay, but new ones can't be added above the free limit. See Plans and billing.

Add a device

1. Install the Tailscale client on the device (the steps for your OS are below).
2. On Public network press Add device. The page shows Key created — connect your device: and a command with a join key.
3. Copy the command and run it on the device. The key works once and is valid for 7 days; the page shows it only once, so add the next device with a new key.
4. Reload the page: the device appears in the list with its 100.x address and the online status. After that the page keeps the statuses of the listed devices up to date by itself.

The command looks like this (KEY is the key from the page):

tailscale up --login-server https://hs.mesh-net.space --authkey KEY --accept-routes

Linux

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up --login-server https://hs.mesh-net.space --authkey KEY --accept-routes

Check with tailscale status: the device has a 100.x address and sees your other devices.

Windows

1. Install the client from tailscale.com/download/windows.
2. Open PowerShell as administrator: Start → type “PowerShell” → right-click → “Run as administrator”.
3. Run the command from the page (without sudo), then check with tailscale status.

macOS

With the command-line client:

brew install tailscale && sudo tailscaled install-system-daemon
sudo tailscale up --login-server https://hs.mesh-net.space --authkey KEY --accept-routes

In the Tailscale app from the App Store instead: “⋯” → “Use a custom coordination server”, enter https://hs.mesh-net.space, then log in with the key.

iPhone and iPad

1. Install Tailscale from the App Store and open it.
2. On the login screen tap “⋯” at the top → “Use custom coordination server”.
3. Enter https://hs.mesh-net.space and log in. If the app asks for an auth key, paste the key from the page.

Android

1. Install Tailscale from Google Play and open it.
2. Account menu (three dots) → “Use an alternate server”.
3. Enter https://hs.mesh-net.space and log in. If the app asks for an auth key, paste the key from the page.

Your devices

The table lists each device with:

• Name — the device's host name, as the client reported it;
• Mesh IP — its address in the network; other devices reach it by this address;
• External IP — the public address the network sees it from (hidden on a narrow screen);
• Status — online or offline.

To reach a device, use its mesh IP: ssh user@100.64.0.7, http://100.64.0.7:8080.

Delete a device

Delete in the device's row removes it from the network after a confirmation. A device that takes part in rooms leaves all of them first. To bring the device back, add it again with a new key. On the device itself you can then run sudo tailscale logout or remove the client.

Rooms

Below the devices is the Rooms section: create a room, invite people and choose which of your devices take part. Everything about it — in Rooms.