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How I reach my dev machine from anywhere with Tailscale

October 10, 2026

I keep one dev machine switched on all the time. Claude Code runs on it 24/7 inside tmux, so the work keeps going whether I'm at my desk, at home or somewhere else entirely.

Tailscale is how I get to it. Every device I sign in joins one private network, so my laptop, my phone and the dev machine can all talk to each other from anywhere, without opening a single port on the router.

What Tailscale gives you

  • Every device on your Tailscale network (your "tailnet") gets a stable 100.x.y.z address.
  • With MagicDNS, you can use the machine's name instead, like devbox.
  • Traffic between devices is encrypted with WireGuard and goes peer to peer whenever it can.
  • Nothing is exposed to the public internet, so there's no port forwarding and no dynamic DNS to manage.

Install it on every machine

On Linux:

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

On macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, install the Tailscale app and sign in with the same account.

To check that everything joined:

tailscale status

SSH into the dev machine

Once both machines are on the tailnet, SSH works by name, from home or anywhere else:

ssh muhammed@devbox

You can also let Tailscale handle SSH auth, so there are no keys to copy around. Turn it on once, on the dev machine:

sudo tailscale set --ssh

Keep Claude Code running with tmux

The SSH connection will drop at some point: the Wi-Fi changes, the laptop lid closes. I don't want Claude Code to stop when that happens, so it runs inside a tmux session on the dev machine.

Start a session and run Claude Code inside it:

tmux new -s claude
claude

Detach with Ctrl+b then d. Claude Code keeps working in the background.

Later, from any device on the tailnet, jump straight back in:

ssh muhammed@devbox
tmux attach -t claude

tmux ls lists the sessions if you forget the name.

Remote desktop into Windows from my phone

I also connect to a Windows machine over Remote Desktop (RDP), straight from my phone, through the same tailnet.

  1. On the Windows PC, turn on Settings → System → Remote Desktop, then install Tailscale and sign in. Remote Desktop hosting needs Windows Pro, Enterprise or Education.
  2. On the phone, install Tailscale and Microsoft's Windows App (the app that replaced Remote Desktop), and switch Tailscale on.
  3. In Windows App, add a PC using its Tailscale name (or its 100.x.y.z address), then sign in with your Windows account.

The RDP port is never open to the internet. Only devices on your tailnet can reach it.

Exit nodes: browse through one of your machines

An exit node sends all your internet traffic through one of your own machines, so any machine on the tailnet can act as your VPN. It's handy on public Wi-Fi, or whenever you want your browsing to go out through another machine's connection.

On the machine that will act as the exit node, if it runs Linux, turn on IP forwarding first:

echo 'net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.d/99-tailscale.conf
echo 'net.ipv6.conf.all.forwarding = 1' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.d/99-tailscale.conf
sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/99-tailscale.conf

Then advertise it:

sudo tailscale set --advertise-exit-node

On macOS and Windows, you can turn this on from the Tailscale menu instead.

Approve it once in the Tailscale admin console: open the machine, choose Edit route settings and enable Use as exit node.

To use it from the phone, pick it under Exit node in the Tailscale app. From a terminal:

tailscale set --exit-node=devbox

To go back to your normal connection:

tailscale set --exit-node=

If you still need devices on your local network, like a printer, add --exit-node-allow-lan-access.

Tailscale Serve: open a local app on all my devices

When I'm running an app on the dev machine, say on port 3000, Serve puts it on a real HTTPS URL:

tailscale serve 3000

It prints an address like https://devbox.your-tailnet.ts.net, with a valid certificate. Only devices on your tailnet can open it, which is perfect for checking the app on my phone.

Add --bg to keep it running after you close the terminal:

tailscale serve --bg 3000
tailscale serve status
tailscale serve reset

Tailscale Funnel: share it with the internet

Serve only shares inside your tailnet. When someone outside it needs to see the app, like a client, a teammate or a webhook from another service, Funnel puts the same URL on the public internet:

tailscale funnel 3000

A few things to know about Funnel:

  • It needs HTTPS certificates turned on and Funnel allowed in your tailnet policy. The first time you run it, the command gives you a link to enable both.
  • It only listens on ports 443, 8443 and 10000.
  • Bandwidth is limited, so it's for demos and webhooks, not production traffic.
  • On macOS, Funnel needs one of Tailscale's open-source builds rather than the App Store app.

Press Ctrl+C to stop it, or run tailscale funnel reset if you started it with --bg.

That's the whole setup

One always-on machine, tmux, and Tailscale on every device. From there I can SSH in and pick up where Claude Code left off, remote desktop into Windows from my phone, browse through my own connection, and share whatever I'm building, all without opening a single port.

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