tailscale: add a tsapi wrapper for making local API calls

ID

bf5d9f2

date

2026-05-27 15:33:08+00:00

author

Alex Chan <alexc@tailscale.com>

parent

bbcbe1d

message

tailscale: add a tsapi wrapper for making local API calls

changed files

3 files, 82 additions, 3 deletions

config.fish
tailscale/README.md
tailscale/tsapi.py

Changed files

config.fish (6730) → config.fish (6778)

diff --git a/config.fish b/config.fish
index eaecfd1..333d52d 100644
--- a/config.fish
+++ b/config.fish
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@ __create_python_script_alias images/reborder.py
 __create_python_script_alias images/squarify.py
 __create_python_script_alias images/srgbify.py
 __create_python_script_alias images/tint_image.py
+__create_python_script_alias tailscale/tsapi.py
 __create_python_script_alias text/fix_twemoji.py
 __create_python_script_alias text/fix_twitter_thread.py
 __create_python_script_alias text/natsize.py

tailscale/README.md (2638) → tailscale/README.md (3011)

diff --git a/tailscale/README.md b/tailscale/README.md
index 5115148..e323ea4 100644
--- a/tailscale/README.md
+++ b/tailscale/README.md
@@ -39,7 +39,11 @@ scripts = [
     },
     {
         "usage": "lts NAME",
-        "description": "run a CLi command on a local instance of tailscaled"
+        "description": "run a CLI command on a local instance of tailscaled"
+    },
+    {
+        "usage": "tsapi.py",
+        "description": "call the Tailscale API with a local instance of the Tailscale control plane"
     },
 ]
 
@@ -98,7 +102,16 @@ cog_helpers.create_description_table(folder_name=folder_name, scripts=scripts)
     </a>
   </dt>
   <dd>
-    run a CLi command on a local instance of tailscaled
+    run a CLI command on a local instance of tailscaled
+  </dd>
+
+  <dt>
+    <a href="https://github.com/alexwlchan/scripts/blob/main/tailscale/tsapi.py">
+      <code>tsapi.py</code>
+    </a>
+  </dt>
+  <dd>
+    call the Tailscale API with a local instance of the Tailscale control plane
   </dd>
 </dl>
-<!-- [[[end]]] (sum: OoAOwOv+GI) -->
\ No newline at end of file
+<!-- [[[end]]] (sum: JQyvJ+o4WW) -->
\ No newline at end of file

tailscale/tsapi.py (0) → tailscale/tsapi.py (1562)

diff --git a/tailscale/tsapi.py b/tailscale/tsapi.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d4f6f8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tailscale/tsapi.py
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""
+tsapi is a lightweight wrapper for calling the Tailscale API with
+a local instance of the Tailscale control plane. It's to save me
+remembering the exact set of curl commands I need.
+"""
+
+import argparse
+import json
+import shlex
+import subprocess
+from typing import TypedDict
+
+from chives.text import coloured
+
+Args = TypedDict(
+    "args",
+    {
+        "method": str,
+        "path": str,
+        "api_key": str,
+        "data": str,
+    },
+)
+
+
+def parse_args():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        prog="tsapi",
+        description="Make API calls to a local instance of devcontrol",
+    )
+
+    parser.add_argument("--endpoint", help="API endpoint", required=True)
+    parser.add_argument("--api-key", help="API key", required=True)
+    parser.add_argument("--data", help="Body to POST with the request")
+
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    method, path = args.endpoint.split()
+
+    return {
+        "method": method,
+        "path": path,
+        "api_key": args.api_key,
+        "data": args.data,
+    }
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    args = parse_args()
+    cmd = [
+        "curl",
+        f"http://localhost:31544/api/v2{args['path']}",
+        "--silent",
+        "--request",
+        args["method"],
+        "--header",
+        f"Authorization: Bearer {args['api_key']}",
+    ]
+    if args["data"]:
+        cmd.extend(["--data", args["data"]])
+
+    print(coloured("-> " + " ".join(shlex.quote(c) for c in cmd), "blue"))
+    output = subprocess.check_output(cmd)
+    print(json.dumps(json.loads(output), indent=2))