macOS and iOS shortcuts

Tailscale works with the Shortcuts app on macOS and iOS to provide several built-in shortcut actions, allowing you to automate tasks. For example, you can create shortcuts to connect your device to a tailnet, use an exit node, or switch user accounts.

You can combine the Tailscale actions with other available actions to customize tasks, such as automatically connecting to your tailnet if your device is not on your home Wi-Fi. Depending on how you set up your shortcuts, you access shortcuts in the Shortcuts app, the menubar, in Spotlight, and other places.

Prerequisites

To use Tailscale with the Shortcuts app, you must meet the following requirements:

• Tailscale version 1.36 or later
• macOS 12.0 or later
• iOS 15.0 or later

Available actions

The Tailscale client offers actions for interacting with accounts, devices, exit nodes, and your tailnet.

Accounts

The following Tailscale actions let you manage your Tailscale accounts:

• Find Accounts
• Switch Accounts

Find Accounts

Retrieve accounts signed into the Tailscale client that match the provided criteria. You can filter accounts by Display Name or Login Name. You can also specify the sort by, sort order, and limit of the results.

Switch Accounts

Switch Tailscale user accounts. You can optionally specify the account username to which to switch. If you don’t specify an account username, the action will ask you to select one when it runs.

Devices

The following Tailscale actions let you manage devices:

• Find Devices
• Ping Devices
• Send File

Find Devices

Retrieve all devices in your tailnet that match the provided criteria. You can filter devices by Name or connection status (Is Online or Is Offline). You can also specify the sort by, sort order, and limit of the results.

Ping Devices

Send a ping to a device in your tailnet and retrieve the ping result. You can ping a device by its device name, Tailscale IP address, MagicDNS name, device ID, IPv4 address, or IPv6 address.

Send File

Use Taildrop to send one or more files to a device in your tailnet. You specify the files to send and the device to which to send the files.

Exit nodes

The following Tailscale actions let you manage exit nodes:

• Use Exit Node
• Stop Using Exit Node

Use Exit Node

Set your device to use an exit node by its name or Tailscale IP address.

Stop Using Exit Node

Set your device to stop using an exit node.

Tailnet management

The following Tailscale actions let you manage your tailnet:

• Connect
• Disconnect
• Get Status
• Set Tailscale DNS
• Toggle

Connect

Connect your device to your tailnet.

Disconnect

Disconnect your device from your tailnet.

Get Status

Retrieve status information about the Tailscale client. It returns the following values:

• Connected (boolean): Whether the device is connected to a tailnet.
• Account Name (string): The Tailscale username (such as alice@example.com).
• Using Exit Node (boolean): Whether the device currently uses an exit node.
• Exit Node Name (string): The name of the exit node.

Set Tailscale DNS

Modify whether your device uses Tailscale DNS. You can use this action to:

• Turn on Tailscale DNS.
• Turn off Tailscale DNS.
• Toggle using Tailscale DNS (the result varies depending on the status when the action runs).

Toggle

Toggle the connection status of your device. You can use this action to connect to or disconnect from your tailnet. After the action runs, it returns either Yes or No to indicate whether the device is connected (Yes) or disconnected (No).

Examples

Switch accounts

This example shows how to create a macOS shortcut that switches between Tailscale accounts. The example uses the Get Status and the Switch Account actions.

1. In the Shortcuts app, select File and then select New Shortcut.
2. Select Shortcut Name and provide a name, such as Switch Tailscale user.
3. In the right-hand panel, select Apps.
4. Search for or scroll to the Tailscale app and select it.
5. Drag the Get Status action to the shortcut editor.
6. In the right-hand panel, search for the If action, and drag the If action to the shortcut editor and place it below the Get status statement. You can also find the If action by selecting Categories, Scripting, and then Control Flow.
7. For the If statement, select Status and choose the Tailscale Account Name variable.
8. Select Condition, select Is, and then select Text. Enter a user account, such as alice@example.com.
9. From the right-hand panel, drag the Switch Account action to the shortcut editor, and place it below the If statement but above the Otherwise statement.
10. For the Switch account to statement, select account name. For the value, use a different user account, such as alice@gmail.com.
11. From the right-hand panel, drag another Switch Account action to the shortcut editor, and place it below the Otherwise statement but above the End if statement.
12. Edit this Switch account to statement to use the original user account value, alice@example.com.
13. Test your shortcut by selecting the Run icon at the top of the shortcut editor.

You can access and run the shortcut you created in the Shortcuts app All Shortcuts folder. You can also add the shortcut to the Menu Bar folder, which makes the shortcut appear in the macOS taskbar.

Connect to your tailnet

This example shows how to create an iOS shortcut that automatically connects your device to your tailnet when your devices joins a specific Wi-Fi network. The example uses the Connect action.

In this example, the Wi-Fi network name is PangoLAN.

1. Launch the Shortcuts app, then select Automation.
2. Select the ＋, then select Create Personal Automation.
3. From the Wi-Fi category, choose the "PangoLAN" network.
4. Select Next.
5. Select Add Action.
6. From the Tailscale app group, select the Connect action.
7. Select Next.
8. Select Done.