Tailscale Private Access Setup for OpenClaw

Tailscale lets you create a secure, private network (a “Tailnet”) between your laptop and your VPS. Once set up, you can access the OpenClaw Gateway dashboard securely without opening port 18789 on your firewall.

In India, where ISPs often use CGNAT or dynamic IPs, Tailscale is much more reliable and easier to configure than a traditional IP whitelist.

1. Install Tailscale on your Laptop

Before configuring the VPS, install Tailscale on your local computer (the one you’ll use to view the dashboard).

1. Create a free account at Tailscale.com.
2. Download and install the Tailscale client for your OS (Windows, macOS, or Linux).
3. Log in to the app. Your laptop is now part of your private Tailnet.

2. Install Tailscale on your VPS

SSH into your Ubuntu VPS. Run the official Tailscale installation script:

Once installed, start Tailscale and authenticate your server:

To authenticate, visit:
https://login.tailscale.com/a/xxxxxxxxx

Copy the URL from your terminal output, paste it into your laptop’s browser, and log in. Your VPS is now securely connected to your Tailnet.

3. Find your VPS’s Tailscale IP

Every device on your Tailnet gets a static IP address starting with 100.x.x.x. You need the VPS’s Tailscale IP to access the Gateway.

Run this command on the VPS:

100.123.45.67

Note this IP down. We’ll refer to it as 100.x.x.x in the next steps.

4. Bind OpenClaw Gateway to Tailscale

By default, OpenClaw Gateway might be binding to localhost (127.0.0.1) or all interfaces (0.0.0.0).

If it’s on 127.0.0.1, you can’t reach it from your laptop (even with Tailscale). If it’s on 0.0.0.0, it’s listening to the public internet (which is dangerous).

We need to tell OpenClaw to listen only on the Tailscale IP.

Open your .env file where OpenClaw is running:

Ensure you have the host configuration set to your Tailscale IP:

(Replace 100.x.x.x with the IP you got in Step 3).

Save the file and restart your Gateway:

5. Verify the Connection

On your laptop, make sure Tailscale is running and connected. Open your web browser and navigate to:

http://100.x.x.x:18789

You should now see the OpenClaw Gateway dashboard!

Troubleshooting

• Page won’t load: Ensure Tailscale says “Connected” on your laptop’s menu bar/system tray.
• Connection refused: Run sudo ss -tlnp | grep 18789 on the VPS. Ensure it shows the 100.x.x.x IP and not 127.0.0.1.
• Can’t ping VPS: By default, Tailscale blocks pings if UFW is running strictly. Tailscale traffic bypasses UFW by default, but if you’ve locked down tailscale0 interfaces, you may need to allow it: sudo ufw allow in on tailscale0.