pi-net

A Docker container configuration for Tailscale with Pi-hole using Docker Compose.

This sets up two containers and allows the Tailscale container to be used as an exit node with ad blocking provided by the Pi-hole container.

Note

This configuration requires manually supplying the Pi-hole container's IP address to the Tailscale Docker Compose in order to correctly build the Tailscale container.
Instructions are included in the Getting Started section.

I would like to have this set up without manually having to retrieve and set the IP address but this is what I've got working at the moment.

Getting started

Set Pi-hole container variables

Set variables as defined by Pi-hole's environment variables.

# pi-hole/.env

TZ=America/New_York
WEBTHEME=default-dark
WEBPASSWORD=my-pihole-admin-password

Build & Run Pi-hole container

From the pi-hole/ directory, run:

docker compose up -d

The Pi-hole admin ui will be available at http://localhost:8081/admin

Get the Pi-hole container's IP address

From the host machine, run:

docker inspect -f '{{range.NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' pihole

Note

pihole is the container name specified in pi-hole/docker-compose.yml but the container id can also be used as the last argument:

docker inspect -f '{{range.NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' <container_name_or_id>

Generate a Tailscale auth key

See step 2 of Create a container for Tailscale.

Set Tailscale container variables

The Tailscale container configuration requires the Pi-hole container's IP address and the Tailscale auth key:

# tailscale/.env

PIHOLE_IP=X.X.X.X
TS_AUTHKEY=my-ts-auth-key

Build & Run Tailscale container

From the tailscale/ directory, run:

docker compose up -d

Note

The Tailscale container can be configured via the tailscale/docker-compose.yml file.

See Using Tailscale with Docker for valid settings.

Re-run the build command after editing to update the container.