Linux systray application

You can run the system tray (systray) application for Linux desktop clients to access some common actions like fast user switching and exit node selection like with other Tailscale GUI clients.

Start the systray application

Start the systray app from the command line by running:

tailscale systray

To launch the systray application on startup, install a systemd user service to launch on startup by running:

tailscale configure systray --enable-startup=systemd

For other init systems, call tailscale systray in the appropriate startup scripts.

Configure GNOME desktops

The GNOME environment does not have a built-in system tray implementation, so you'll need to install the AppIndicator Support extension to use the Tailscale systray application.

On Ubuntu, this extension comes installed as the apt package gnome-shell-extension-appindicator. You do not need to install the extension manually, however if you do, you might need to remove the apt package first.

Add clipboard support

To integrate with the system clipboard, your environment may need a clipboard utility. Here are the following options and suggested commands to download and install:

xsel for X11

Here are the methods for installing the xsel copy and paste utility for X11 in your Linux desktop environment:

• Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install xsel
• Fedora: sudo dnf install xsel
• Arch: sudo pacman -S xsel

xclip for X11

Here are the methods for installing the xclip copy and paste utility for X11 in your Linux desktop environment:

• Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install xclip
• Fedora: sudo dnf install xclip
• Arch: sudo pacman -S xclip

wl-clipboard for Wayland

Here are the methods for installing the wl-clipboard copy and paste utility for Wayland in your Linux desktop environment:

• Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install wl-clipboard
• Fedora: sudo dnf install wl-clipboard
• Arch: sudo pacman -S wl-clipboard

Support for non-Linux desktops

The systray application is currently only supported on Linux, and is therefore only bundled in the Linux client. It does run on other operating systems, including macOS and Windows, but some features, like desktop notifications, may be missing. If you are using an unsupported operating system, you can build the application from source and run it using the following:

go run tailscale.com/cmd/systray@latest

Known limitations

• The GNOME desktop restricts the depth of sub-menus in systray applications. As a result, selecting a Mullvad exit node is limited to the country level and does not extend to individual cities.
• The COSMIC desktop runs the systray application, but displays profile images at full size, which may appear oversized in the menu.
• The XFCE desktop is not currently supported. While xfce-panel implements the StatusNotifierItem specification, additional work is needed to enable compatibility.