# Host a website using a tailnet device Last validated Jan 5, 2026 This topic provides details about serving a website from a Tailscale device that is only accessible to other users in a Tailscale network (known as a tailnet) using [Tailscale Serve][kb-serve]. Alternatively, you can use the instructions below to host a website that is accessible to the public internet, using [Tailscale Funnel][kb-funnel]. ## Prerequisites * You need a [Tailscale account][kb-install]. * You need to [install Tailscale on your local machine][co-download]. > **Note:** > > We recommend serving your files and website using a Linux VM. You can attempt this on macOS. However, due to the sandboxed nature of the operating system, you may encounter errors. Here are instructions for creating various cloud-based Linux VMs and setting up Tailscale on your VM: * [Create a Linux VM on Azure][xt-entra-vm] * [Create a Linux VM on AWS][xt-aws-ec2-get-started] * [Create a Linux VM on GCP][xt-google-linux-vm-create] After your Linux VM is created, you must also [install Tailscale on your Linux VM][kb-install-linux]. ## Serve your files and website 1. Start by creating a file named `index.html` on your local machine for testing. Here is an example of HTML code that you can use in your file: ```html Test Website

This is a heading

This is a paragraph

``` 2. Create a `/tmp` directory and a subdirectory on your local machine below the root directory: ```shell mkdir /tmp mkdir /tmp/test-funnel ``` 3. Move the `index.html` file you created into the `/tmp/test-funnel` subdirectory that you created in the previous step. In this example, the current location of the file is `/home/amelie`: ```shell mv /home/amelie/index.html /tmp/test-funnel ``` 4. Run the following command on your machine to serve the `index.html` file to your tailnet: ```shell tailscale serve /tmp/test-funnel/index.html ``` Or, if you want to make the same files and website visible on the public internet, use the following command: ```shell tailscale funnel /tmp/test-funnel/index.html ``` ## Share your website You can now share the website URL by combining your tailnet machine name and the name of your tailnet. The machine name can be found in the [Machines](https://login.tailscale.com/admin/machines) page of the admin console, and the tailnet DNS name can be found in the [DNS](https://login.tailscale.com/admin/dns) page of the admin console. If your tailnet machine name is `amelie-vm`, and your tailnet DNS name is `pango-lin.ts.net`, share the URL: `https://amelie-vm.pango-lin.ts.net` [co-download]: /download [kb-funnel]: /docs/features/tailscale-funnel [kb-install-linux]: /docs/install/linux [kb-install]: /docs/how-to/quickstart [kb-serve]: /docs/features/tailscale-serve [xt-aws-ec2-get-started]: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/EC2_GetStarted.html [xt-entra-vm]: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/linux/quick-create-portal?tabs=ubuntu [xt-google-linux-vm-create]: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/create-linux-vm-instance