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Polybar Module and Rofi dmenu for tailscale

Polybar module and Rofi dmenu for tailscale

Setup

Polybar Module

  1. Put info-tailscale.sh somewhere on your system, for example to ~/.config/polybar/info-tailscale.sh.
  2. In your polybar config, add: 
    [module/info-tailscale]
type = custom/script
exec = ~/.config/polybar/info-tailscale.sh
interval = 10
    Also add info-tailscale to modules-left, modules-center, or modules-right.

(The demo GIF uses interval = 3 for added effect.)

Rofi Switcher

  1. Put choose_vpn_config.sh somewhere on your system, for example ~/.config/scripts/choose_vpn_config.sh.
  2. Add a keybinding in your window manager that triggers the script. Example config snippet for i3wm: 
    bindsym $mod+Shift+v exec --no-startup-id $HOME/.config/scripts/choose_vpn_config.sh
  3. Run sudo tailscale up --operator $(whoami) once. This gives your username permission to tailscale up without sudo in the future (i.e. when using the rofi switcher).

Alternative with polkit

Support for the --operator option wasn't unanimous when it was introduced. In case it is removed again in the future, polkit can be used as an alternative for rights elevation:

  1. Install polkit and a polkit authentication agent.
    • for example sudo apt install lxpolkit on Debian-based OS
  2. Run the agent on session startup.
    • for example exec --no-startup-id lxpolkit when using i3wm
  3. Remove the --operator options in choose_vpn_config.sh, and use pkexec for the tailscale invocation.

Font (optional)

For the door icons, I use fontawesome.

Alternatives and Credits

Related Projects (not for tailscale)