ts_python

Python bindings for tailscale-rs.

At the moment, this exposes facilities for connecting to a tailnet and binding network sockets that have access to the tailnet.

Code Sample

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import asyncio
import tailscale

async def main():
    # connect to the tailnet:
    dev = await tailscale.connect('tsrs_keys.json', "tskey-auth-$MY_AUTH_KEY")

    # bind a udp socket on this node's ipv4 address:
    tailnet_ipv4 = await dev.ipv4_addr()
    udp_sock = await dev.udp_bind((tailnet_ipv4, 1234))
    print(f'udp bound, local endpoint: {udp_sock.local_addr()}')

    # send a message to a peer once per second
    while True:
        await udp_sock.sendto(('1.2.3.4', 5678), msg=b"HELLO")
        print("sent message to peer")
        await asyncio.sleep(1)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

To run this demo:

$ TS_RS_EXPERIMENT=this_is_unstable_software python demo.py

Building and Usage

The easiest way to get the library is through PyPI:

$ pip install tailscale-py

Developing

This package uses uv. All other tooling (maturin, ruff, etc.) is managed by uv.

Setup

1. Install an appropriate Rust toolchain for your platform. See here for supported toolchain versions.
2. Install uv.
3. Clone the tailscale-rs repository.
4. Create, activate, and populate a virtual environment for ts_python development:

# At the root of your tailscale-rs checkout:
~/tailscale-rs $ cd ts_python

# Create a virtual environment for ts_python development.
~/tailscale-rs/ts_python $ uv venv
...
Activate with: source .venv/bin/activate

# Activate the new virtual environment.
~/tailscale-rs/ts_python $ source .venv/bin/activate

# Install runtime and dev dependencies (for generating type stubs, testing, etc.).
(ts_python) ~/tailscale-rs/ts_python $ uv sync --dev
...

Formatting

We use ruff (via uv's preview feature) to format Python code:

~/tailscale-rs/ts_python $ uv format
...
4 files reformatted

Generating Type Stubs

The type stubs in ts_python/python/tailscale/_internal.pyi need to be generated any time the Rust source code (in ts_python/src/) changes. To re-generate the stubs:

# Make sure ts_python is built/up-to-date and maturin is installed.
~/tailscale-rs/ts_python $ uv sync --dev
...
~/tailscale-rs/ts_python $ maturin generate-stubs --out python/tailscale
🍹 Building a mixed python/rust project
...
    Finished `dev` profile [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 4.09s

# The stubs are not properly formatted.
~/tailscale-rs/ts_python $ uv format

Currently, you need to manually check the generated type stubs and add any missing imports by hand.