Headscale

Network & Proxy rootless 1 container
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headscale ghcr.io/juanfont/headscale:latest · 8080:8080, 9090:9090

Deployment rootless

1. Prepare the host

Operating System:
!

Prerequisites once as root

Install Podman (needs podman 4.3 or newer; Ubuntu 22.04 ships 3.4 and is too old, use 24.04)

apt update && apt install -y podman

Create user (if not existing)

useradd -m -s /bin/bash headscale
passwd headscale

Enable linger (services keep running after logout and start after reboot)

loginctl enable-linger headscale
↪

Switch to deployment user

su - headscale

Use su - with the dash — this creates a proper login shell as headscale. Without the dash, root environment variables carry over and rootless Podman will not work correctly.

!

Fix environment for rootless systemd (new users only — skip if already set)

Required once so systemctl --user works in non-login sessions.

cat << 'EOF' >> ~/.bashrc

# Fix for systemd user services (rootless Podman/systemctl)
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/$(id -u)
export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/bus
EOF
source ~/.bashrc

2. Choose a format and deploy

The same pod in four forms. Pick one and follow only its steps.

Each tab says which podman it needs. Check yours with podman --version: Debian 12 ships 4.3, Ubuntu 24.04 4.9, Debian 13 5.4, Fedora 5.8, Arch 6.x.

Kubernetes YAML for podman kube play, started by systemd through a Quadlet .kube unit (podman 4.4+; older podman like Debian 12 uses podman-kube@, see the version check below).

Kubernetes YAML 

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: headscale
  labels:
    app: headscale
spec:
  restartPolicy: Always
  containers:
  - name: headscale
    image: ghcr.io/juanfont/headscale:latest
    imagePullPolicy: Always
    ports:
    - containerPort: 8080
      hostPort: 8080
    - containerPort: 9090
      hostPort: 9090
    volumeMounts:
    - name: vol-0
      mountPath: /etc/headscale
    - name: vol-1
      mountPath: /var/lib/headscale
    command:
    - /ko-app/headscale
    - serve
  volumes:
  - name: vol-0
    persistentVolumeClaim:
      claimName: headscale-config
  - name: vol-1
    persistentVolumeClaim:
      claimName: headscale-data
1

Save the YAML file

mkdir -p ~/.config/containers/
nano ~/.config/containers/headscale.yaml
2

Test the pod (without autostart)

podman kube play ~/.config/containers/headscale.yaml

# Check status:
podman pod ps && podman ps

# Stop:
podman kube down ~/.config/containers/headscale.yaml

Check your podman version

podman --version

4.4 or newer: continue with step 3 below.

Older, e.g. 4.3 on Debian 12? There is no Quadlet yet: use podman's own podman-kube@ service instead of steps 3–5 
systemctl --user enable --now podman-kube@$(systemd-escape ~/.config/containers/headscale.yaml).service

# Status & logs:
systemctl --user status podman-kube@$(systemd-escape ~/.config/containers/headscale.yaml).service
journalctl --user -u podman-kube@$(systemd-escape ~/.config/containers/headscale.yaml).service -f

The day-to-day commands below have a block for this service.

3

Create Quadlet .kube file

headscale.kube 
[Unit]
Description=headscale pod
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Kube]
Yaml=%h/.config/containers/headscale.yaml

[Service]
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

%h is a systemd home-directory specifier — do not replace it with ~/.

Save to ~/.config/containers/systemd/:

mkdir -p ~/.config/containers/systemd/
nano ~/.config/containers/systemd/headscale.kube
4

Start systemd service

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user start headscale.service
5

Status & Logs

systemctl --user status headscale.service
journalctl --user -u headscale.service -f
podman pod ps
podman ps
6

Enable automatic image updates optional

Requires AutoUpdate=registry in the .kube file. Podman then checks for new images and restarts the pod automatically:

systemctl --user enable --now podman.socket
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now podman-auto-update.timer

# Check status:
systemctl --user status podman-auto-update.timer

# Trigger manually:
podman auto-update
Day-to-day logs, restart, update, remove (click to open)

Logs & shell into a container

podman logs -f headscale-headscale
podman exec -it headscale-headscale /bin/sh

Restart

systemctl --user restart headscale.service

Update an image by hand

Pull the new version, the restart recreates the containers from it:

podman pull <image>:<tag>
systemctl --user restart headscale.service

Stop & remove

Stop through systemd, otherwise Restart=always brings the pod back. To remove it for good, delete the unit files and reload:

systemctl --user stop headscale.service
rm ~/.config/containers/systemd/headscale.kube
systemctl --user daemon-reload

podman older than 4.4 (podman-kube@ from step 3)

systemctl --user restart podman-kube@$(systemd-escape ~/.config/containers/headscale.yaml).service

# Update an image: pull, then restart as above
podman pull <image>:<tag>

# Stop and remove from autostart:
systemctl --user disable --now podman-kube@$(systemd-escape ~/.config/containers/headscale.yaml).service

Delete the data — permanent, only after stop & remove

podman volume rm headscale-config
podman volume rm headscale-data

Native systemd units without the Kubernetes YAML: one .pod plus one .container per container. Each container becomes its own systemd service (restart, logs and ordering per container). Needs podman 5.0 or newer — Debian 12 ships 4.3, use the Kube YAML tab there.

1

Save the unit files

headscale.pod 
[Unit]
Description=headscale pod

[Pod]
PodName=headscale
PublishPort=8080:8080
PublishPort=9090:9090
headscale-headscale.container 
[Unit]
Description=headscale-headscale container

[Container]
Image=ghcr.io/juanfont/headscale:latest
Pod=headscale.pod
ContainerName=headscale-headscale
Pull=always
Volume=headscale-config:/etc/headscale:Z
Volume=headscale-data:/var/lib/headscale:Z
Entrypoint=/ko-app/headscale
Exec=serve

[Service]
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Save all of them to ~/.config/containers/systemd/:

mkdir -p ~/.config/containers/systemd/
nano ~/.config/containers/systemd/headscale.pod
nano ~/.config/containers/systemd/headscale-headscale.container
2

Start the pod

The pod service pulls in every container service. Autostart at boot comes from the [Install] section of the units, no enable needed.

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user start headscale-pod.service
3

Status & Logs

systemctl --user status headscale-pod.service
journalctl --user -u headscale-headscale.service -f
podman pod ps && podman ps
Day-to-day logs, restart, update, remove (click to open)

Logs & shell into a container

podman logs -f headscale-headscale
podman exec -it headscale-headscale /bin/sh

Restart

systemctl --user restart headscale-pod.service

Update an image by hand

Pull the new version, the restart recreates the containers from it:

podman pull <image>:<tag>
systemctl --user restart headscale-pod.service

Stop & remove

Stop through systemd, otherwise Restart=always brings the pod back. To remove it for good, delete the unit files and reload:

systemctl --user stop headscale-pod.service
rm ~/.config/containers/systemd/headscale.pod
rm ~/.config/containers/systemd/headscale-headscale.container
systemctl --user daemon-reload

Delete the data — permanent, only after stop & remove

podman volume rm headscale-config
podman volume rm headscale-data

A docker-compose.yml for podman-compose. Handy if you already work with Compose; there are no per-container systemd services.

1

Install podman-compose as root

Run this as root, e.g. together with the prerequisites before su - headscale.

apt install -y podman-compose
2

Save the compose file

docker-compose.yml 
services:
  headscale:
    image: ghcr.io/juanfont/headscale:latest
    pull_policy: always
    restart: always
    ports:
    - 8080:8080
    - 9090:9090
    entrypoint:
    - /ko-app/headscale
    - serve
    volumes:
    - headscale-config:/etc/headscale:Z
    - headscale-data:/var/lib/headscale:Z
volumes:
  headscale-config: null
  headscale-data: null

mkdir -p ~/headscale
nano ~/headscale/docker-compose.yml
3

Start, status & logs

cd ~/headscale
podman-compose up -d
podman-compose ps
podman-compose logs -f

# Stop:
podman-compose down
4

Start after reboot

podman-restart.service starts every container with restart: always at boot:

systemctl --user enable podman-restart.service
5

Update images

cd ~/headscale
podman-compose pull
podman-compose up -d
Day-to-day logs, restart, update, remove (click to open)

Logs & shell into a container

podman logs -f headscale_headscale_1
podman exec -it headscale_headscale_1 /bin/sh

Restart

cd ~/headscale
podman-compose restart

Stop & remove

cd ~/headscale
podman-compose down

Delete the data — permanent, only after stop & remove

podman volume rm headscale_headscale-config
podman volume rm headscale_headscale-data

Plain podman pod create / podman create commands. Good for a quick test or to see what happens under the hood.

1

Save the script

headscale.sh 
#!/bin/bash
set -e

# ── Create named volumes ───────────────────────────────────────────
# Named volumes are created automatically — no UID/GID permission adjustment needed.
podman volume exists headscale-config || podman volume create headscale-config
podman volume exists headscale-data || podman volume create headscale-data

# ── Create pod ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
podman pod create \
  --name headscale \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -p 9090:9090

# ── Container: headscale-headscale ─────────────────────────────────────────────
podman create \
  --pod headscale \
  --name headscale-headscale \
  --restart always \
  --pull always \
  -v headscale-config:/etc/headscale:Z \
  -v headscale-data:/var/lib/headscale:Z \
  --entrypoint /ko-app/headscale \
  ghcr.io/juanfont/headscale:latest \
  serve

# ── Start pod ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
podman pod start headscale

# ── Stop & clean up ───────────────────────────────────────────────
# podman pod stop headscale
# podman pod rm headscale
nano headscale.sh
2

Run it, status & logs

bash headscale.sh
podman pod ps && podman ps
podman logs -f <container-name>
3

Start after reboot

podman-restart.service starts every container with --restart always at boot:

systemctl --user enable podman-restart.service
4

Remove or rebuild

The script creates the pod once. To apply changes or new images, remove the pod and run the script again (named volumes stay):

podman pod rm -f headscale
bash headscale.sh
Day-to-day logs, restart, update, remove (click to open)

Logs & shell into a container

podman logs -f headscale-headscale
podman exec -it headscale-headscale /bin/sh

Restart

podman pod stop headscale
podman pod start headscale

Stop & remove

podman pod rm -f headscale

Delete the data — permanent, only after stop & remove

podman volume rm headscale-config
podman volume rm headscale-data
Useful Tips

Ports < 1024 (e.g. 80, 443)

Rootless cannot open privileged ports. Solution:

sysctl net.ipv4.ip_unprivileged_port_start=80

Make persistent in /etc/sysctl.d/99-podman.conf.

Containers communicate via localhost

All containers in the pod share the same network namespace. Always use localhost, not container names.

# Correct (e.g. app → db):
localhost:5432

# Wrong (doesn't work in a pod):
db-container:5432

List open ports

Which ports are the running containers publishing? See the PORTS column:

podman ps

Custom DNS for the pod

Set a custom DNS server (e.g. local Pi-hole) in the generator under DNS server. Every format picks it up.

Set volume ownership

Fix permission errors by adjusting UID/GID in the user namespace:

podman unshare chown 1000:1000 /path/to/volume

SELinux volume labels

On SELinux systems (RHEL, Fedora) set the volume suffix:

/host/path:/container/path:Z   # private
/host/path:/container/path:z   # shared

List all volumes

podman volume ls
podman volume inspect <volume-name>

Volume backup

Back up data from a named volume:

podman run --rm \
  -v <volume-name>:/data:ro \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  busybox tar czf /backup/backup.tar.gz /data

Cleanup

Remove unused images, containers and volumes:

podman system prune -f        # containers + images
podman image prune -f         # untagged images only
podman volume prune -f        # unused volumes

Check for outdated images

List local images; auto-update only covers units with AutoUpdate= (Kube and Quadlet tabs):

podman images
podman auto-update --dry-run

All containers, including stopped ones

podman pod ps
podman ps -a

Resource usage

podman stats --no-stream
Customize this stack
Change ports, volumes, environment variables and more in the generator.
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