expo-tailscale-start

Start Expo dev server with a Tailscale-friendly exp:// URL and terminal QR output.

Install

npm install --save-dev expo-tailscale-start

package.json example

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "expo-tailscale-start --clear"
  }
}

Then run:

npm run dev

Behavior

• Resolves your current Tailscale IPv4 using tailscale ip -4
• Picks an available Expo port (defaults to 8081)
• Prints an exp://<tailscale-ip>:<port> URL
• Prints a terminal QR code for the same URL (if qrcode can be loaded)
• Suppresses Expo's own terminal QR to avoid duplicate QR output
• If Expo switches to a different port at runtime, prints an updated URL and QR
• Starts local expo start when available, otherwise falls back to npx --yes expo start with your original CLI args

Programmatic API

import { startExpoWithTailscale, waitForChildExit } from 'expo-tailscale-start';

const result = await startExpoWithTailscale({
  passThroughArgs: ['--clear'],
});

const code = await waitForChildExit(result.child);
process.exit(code);

Notes

• Requires tailscale CLI installed to print a Tailscale URL.
• If Tailscale is unavailable, Expo still starts; only URL/QR output is skipped.