Tailchrome

Access your Tailscale network directly from Chrome. No system VPN required.

https://tesseras.org/tailchrome/ | Chrome Web Store

Tailchrome runs a full Tailscale node per browser profile, without touching system networking. Tailnet traffic is routed through a local SOCKS5/HTTP proxy using a PAC script, so it works alongside (or without) the Tailscale system app.

Features

• Per-profile isolation — each Chrome profile gets its own independent Tailscale node and identity
• Exit nodes — route all browser traffic through any exit node on your tailnet
• MagicDNS — access devices by name, not IP
• Subnet routing — reach resources behind subnet routers
• Taildrop — send files to other devices on your tailnet
• Profiles — create and switch between multiple Tailscale identities

How it works

The extension has two parts:

• A Chrome extension (Manifest V3) that manages proxy configuration and provides the popup UI
• A native host (Go, using tsnet) that runs the actual Tailscale node and exposes a local proxy

They communicate over Chrome's native messaging protocol.

Install from the Chrome Web Store

1. Install Tailchrome from the Chrome Web Store
2. Click the extension icon and follow the prompts to install the native host
3. Log in to your Tailscale account

Development

Requirements

• Go 1.21+
• Node.js / npm
• macOS (native host currently targets Darwin)

Build

make all          # build everything
make extension    # extension only
make host         # native host only
make dev          # extension watch mode

The extension is built to extension/dist/. The native host binary goes to dist/tailscale-browser-ext.

Install

1. Build the extension and native host with make all
2. Go to chrome://extensions, enable Developer Mode, and load extension/dist/ as an unpacked extension
3. Copy the extension ID Chrome assigns
4. Install the native host:

./dist/tailscale-browser-ext --install=<extension-id>

Contributing

This project is still early. Bug reports and feature requests are welcome. Please open an issue first before submitting a PR so we can discuss the approach.

License

MIT