yVPN runs your own VPN exit nodes. You need two API tokens — a DigitalOcean
personal access token with read and write scope, and a Tailscale API access token.
Paste both into Credentials, press New exit node, pick a datacenter, and about
a minute later it appears in your Tailscale app as an exit node you can select. Delete it
when you are done; you pay for the hours it existed.
Getting the two tokens
- DigitalOcean — control panel → API → Tokens →
Generate New Token, with read and write scope. It starts with
dop_v1_. This is what creates and destroys droplets, so it spends money.
- Tailscale — admin console → Settings → Keys →
Generate access token. It starts with
tskey-api-. This is what lets a
new node join your tailnet and be approved as an exit node.
Paste them into Credentials as one line, separated by a space, in either order. Your
password manager then stores both as one ordinary login. Nothing is sent anywhere except
DigitalOcean and Tailscale, and nothing is stored on this site.
What happens when you create a node
- A single-use, ephemeral Tailscale auth key is issued.
- A $6/month droplet is provisioned in the datacenter you picked. It installs Tailscale on
first boot and joins your tailnet with that key.
- Its exit routes are approved automatically, and the auth key is revoked.
If any step fails, the droplet and the key are deleted again, so a failed attempt leaves
nothing behind. The node is ephemeral, so deleting the droplet also removes the machine from
your tailnet on its own.
Using the exit node on your devices
Install Tailscale on any device you want protected and sign in to the same account, then
select the node. Every device sees the same exit nodes.
- iPhone / iPad — install Tailscale from the App Store, sign in, then tap the
three-dot menu → Exit Node → pick your node.
- Android — install from Google Play, sign in, then the three-dot menu →
Exit Node.
- macOS / Windows — install from tailscale.com/download, sign in, then the menu bar or
tray icon → Exit Node.
- Linux —
curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh, then
sudo tailscale up --exit-node=<node name>.
To stop using it, choose None in the same menu, or on Linux
sudo tailscale up --exit-node=. Your traffic then leaves your device normally
again.
What it costs, and cleaning up
A node costs about $0.009 per hour ($6/month if you leave it up), billed by the second
with a one cent minimum. The Cost so far column is what each node has run up, and
Spent so far totals the nodes you still have. Deleting a node stops its billing
immediately, and it drops out of that total.
When something looks wrong
- Stuck on "joining tailnet" — the node is still booting. It normally takes
under two minutes; if it never appears, delete it and create another.
- "DigitalOcean rejected that token" — the token is wrong, expired, or lacks
write scope.
- "Tailscale relay unreachable" — droplet data still loads, but the tailnet
columns stay blank. Usually a network problem between you and this site.
- "route not approved" — the node joined but its exit routes were not
approved. Approve it in the Tailscale admin console under Machines, or delete the
node and create another.