tailscale-serve

name	tailscale-serve
description	This skill should be used when the user wants to serve a file, directory, or git diff over Tailscale HTTPS. Triggers on "serve on tailscale", "share via tailscale", "tailscale-serve", "tailscale serve file", "serve diff on tailscale", or /tailscale-serve.
allowed-tools	["Read","Bash","Write"]

ts-serve

Serve files, directories, or git diffs over Tailscale HTTPS for easy cross-device access.

Modes

Determine the serving mode from the user's arguments:

Input	Mode	What happens
No args (in a git repo)	diff	Generate side-by-side HTML diff of uncommitted changes
--diff	diff	Explicit diff mode
Path to a file	file	Serve that single file
Path to a directory	dir	Serve directory listing
off or stop	cleanup	Tear down server and tailscale serve config

Serving workflow

Step 1: Prepare content

Diff mode (default when no args and inside a git repo):

git diff --no-ext-diff --no-color HEAD | bunx diff2html-cli -s side -i stdin -F /tmp/ts-serve-diff.html

Set SERVE_DIR=/tmp and SERVE_FILE=ts-serve-diff.html.

File mode: Set SERVE_DIR to the file's parent directory, SERVE_FILE to the basename.

Directory mode: Set SERVE_DIR to the directory path, no SERVE_FILE.

Step 2: Find a free port

python3 -c "import socket; s=socket.socket(); s.bind(('',0)); print(s.getsockname()[1]); s.close()"

Store as PORT.

Step 3: Start local HTTP server

python3 -m http.server $PORT --directory "$SERVE_DIR" --bind 127.0.0.1 &
echo $! > /tmp/ts-serve.pid

Step 4: Derive semantic slug

Generate a context-appropriate URL path slug:

• Diff mode: /<repo-basename>-diff — get repo name from basename $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
• File mode: /<filename-without-extension>
• Directory mode: /<dirname-basename>
• User override: If --path <slug> is provided, use that instead

Step 5: Expose via Tailscale

tailscale serve --bg --set-path "/$SLUG" "http://127.0.0.1:$PORT"

Step 6: Construct and return the URL

Get the machine's Tailscale DNS name:

tailscale status --self --json | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['Self']['DNSName'].rstrip('.'))"

Construct the full URL:

• File/diff: https://<ts-hostname>/<slug>/<filename>
• Directory: https://<ts-hostname>/<slug>/

Print the URL prominently for the user. Mention it is accessible from any device on their tailnet.

Cleanup workflow

When invoked with off or stop:

# Stop tailscale serve
tailscale serve reset

# Kill HTTP server
kill $(cat /tmp/ts-serve.pid 2>/dev/null) 2>/dev/null
rm -f /tmp/ts-serve.pid

# Remove temp diff file
rm -f /tmp/ts-serve-diff.html

Confirm cleanup to the user.

Notes

• Always bind the HTTP server to 127.0.0.1 — Tailscale handles external access
• tailscale serve --bg runs in background and persists until reset
• The HTTPS certificate is provisioned automatically by Tailscale
• If tailscale serve fails, fall back to printing http://<ts-ip>:<port>/<filename> and explain that tailscale serve may need to be enabled in the admin console