Jellyfin with Tailscale Integration

This project sets up a Jellyfin instance with Tailscale VPN integration using Docker Compose. It creates a secure, private network connection for your Jellyfin instance using Tailscale.

Prerequisites

Docker and Docker Compose installed on your system
A Tailscale account and auth key (get one from https://login.tailscale.com/admin/authkeys)
Basic understanding of Docker and networking concepts

Project Structure

ts-jellyfin/
├── docker-compose.yml
├── tailscale/
│   ├── tailscale-data/  # Persistent Tailscale state
│   └── config/         # Tailscale configuration files
└── jellyfin/
    └── config/         # Jellyfin configuration files
    └── cache/         # Jellyfin cache files
    └── media/         # Jellyfin media files

Setup Instructions

Clone the Repository

git clone https://gitea.damconsulting.llc/DAM/ts-jellyfin/
cd ts-jellyfin

Create Required Directories

mkdir -p tailscale/tailscale-data jellyfin/config jellyfin/cache jellyfin/media

Configure Tailscale
- Replace {{YOUR_TAILSCALE_AUTHKEY}} in the docker-compose.yml with your actual Tailscale auth key
- Optionally, update the file in tailscale/config/serve.json if you need specific Tailscale serve configurations
  - CAUTION: Changing "${TS_CERT_DOMAIN}:443": false to true will expose the service to the internet
Start the Services
```
docker compose up -d
```
Wait for Certificate to propagate [~2m]
Login with and create admin account

Services

jellyfin-ts (Tailscale)

Runs Tailscale VPN client
Image: tailscale/tailscale:latest
Container name: jellyfin-ts
Hostname: jellyfin
Requires NET_ADMIN and SYS_MODULE capabilities
Persists state in ./tailscale/tailscale-data
Uses configuration from ./tailscale/config

jellyfin

Depends on jellyfin-ts service

Usage

After starting the services your service should be available via tailnet at https://jellyfin.{{YOUR_TAILNET_DOMAIN}}.ts.net ie https://jellyfin.tail12345.ts.net/
To manually get the Tailscale IP/hostname of your container:
```
docker logs jellyfin-ts
```
Look for the Tailscale IP address in the logs.

Optional Features

Uncomment the Docker socket volume mapping in the service to enable Docker integrations:
```
- /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
```
Uncomment and adjust the ports mapping if you need direct access (without Tailscale):
```
ports:
- 8096:8096
```
Stopping the Services
```
docker compose down
```

Troubleshooting

Check container logs:

docker logs jellyfin-ts
docker logs jellyfin

Ensure your Tailscale auth key is valid and not expired
Verify the configuration files have proper permissions
Make sure required directories exist before starting

Notes

The Jellyfin service uses the Tailscale service's network stack via network_mode: service:Jellyfin-ts
Direct port mapping is disabled by default as Tailscale handles the networking
Services restart automatically unless explicitly stopped
For more information:
- Tailscale documentation: https://tailscale.com/kb/
- Jellyfin documentation: https://jellyfin.org/docs/
- Jellyfin repository: https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin
- Jellyfin linuxserve.io: https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-jellyfin