Your first connection

Sign into an account

tailmux login personal

Open the printed URL and sign into the intended Tailscale account. Tailmux registers a node named tailmux-personal and prints the connected tailnet. Check that name before continuing.

login creates your config automatically. There is no separate initialization step.

Add another account

tailmux login work

Choose your work account in the browser. Both identities can stay connected at once; neither changes your system Tailscale login.

Discover your hosts

tailmux hosts

The list shows visible peers, their profile, address, and online state. A target looks like personal/devbox or work/buildbox. These are examples; use your actual hostnames.

Check the connection

tailmux doctor personal/devbox
tailmux ssh personal/devbox hostname

doctor checks the host's SSH TCP port. The second command verifies SSH authentication by running hostname remotely.

Keep a session running

With Herdr installed on the remote host:

tailmux herdr attach personal/devbox

Detach with Ctrl+B, then Q. Run the same command to reconnect to the agents session.

Save your usual machines

Direct connections do not need saved host entries. Save one when you want SSH overrides or want it included in --all operations:

tailmux hosts add personal/devbox --user developer
tailmux hosts add work/buildbox --user developer
tailmux doctor --all
tailmux herdr sessions --all

The last command lists sessions on saved hosts. It does not attempt SSH connections to every peer on your tailnets.

Open a terminal with a box picker

Install fzf and tmux or Zellij locally, plus tmux remotely:

tailmux terminal personal/devbox
tailmux terminal --backend zellij work/buildbox
tailmux terminal --default zellij

The last command saves a default without launching. Alt+B opens the picker; Zellij also supports Ctrl+B in normal mode or F2 when unlocked. With tmux, Ctrl+B then B also opens it. See terminal shortcuts and persistence.

Open your remote development server

With an application listening on remote port 3000:

tailmux loopback setup personal/devbox
tailmux loopback setup work/buildbox
tailmux forward personal/devbox 3000 --name devbox.test
tailmux forward work/buildbox 3000 --name buildbox.test
tailmux forwards

Open http://devbox.test:3000 or http://buildbox.test:3000. Loopback setup gives each box a dedicated local address, so both names can use port 3000. It needs administrator access once on this computer and restores the alias automatically at macOS boot. Omit --name for raw TCP at localhost:3000; use 3000-3005 for a range. Named mode rewrites direct localhost redirects, but .test HTTP is not automatically a secure context and OAuth/HTTPS requirements may still need application configuration. Stop a group with tailmux unforward <id>. See forwarding.

Bring both boxes into one Herdr view

With Herdr installed locally and remotely:

tailmux herdr open personal/devbox work/buildbox

Use the local Herdr workspace picker to switch machines. See one view, multiple boxes.

One workspace dashboard

Run tailmux in a terminal to open boxes, manage saved/public forwards, inspect listening ports and configure host settings. Start with dashboard controls, host setup and the ports picker. Existing scriptable commands remain available.

Your first connection

On this page