Tailcat: Tailscale Without Tailscale, by Tailscale
Tailscale has released 'tailcat', an open-source tool that allows users to utilize the Tailscale data plane without the company's proprietary control plane. It functions similarly to netcat but leverages WireGuard and NAT traversal technologies.
Why it matters
It provides users with more flexibility and control over their networking infrastructure while maintaining the benefits of Tailscale's underlying technology.
Blog | product August 31, 2026 Tailcat: Tailscale without Tailscale, by Tailscale Author
Today we’re releasing tailcat , a remix of pieces of Tailscale that gives you a way to use the open-source Tailscale data plane (WireGuard® + NAT traversal + DERP) without the Tailscale control plane, written by the people who made Tailscale. It’s Tailscale without Tailscale, by Tailscale.
Specifically, tailcat is both an open-source Go package and a CLI tool using that package. It lets you run a server-side listener and a client to connect to that server, moving bidirectional bytes back and forth.
That is, it’s like netcat but flowing over Tailscale’s magicsock (WireGuard encryption + NAT traversal + DERP rendezvous/fallback relay).
When you watch people describe Tailscale to each other online, you see very different interpretations of what “Tailscale” means to them.
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