Storage Modes

Tailscale binaries can be stored in two modes, chosen during installation.

Comparison

Mode	Location	Pros	Cons
Persistent	/opt/tailscale	Fast boot, works offline	Uses disk space
RAM	/tmp/tailscale	Saves disk space	Re-downloads on every boot

Persistent Mode

Binaries are stored in /opt/tailscale by default and survive reboots. This is the recommended mode for routers with sufficient flash storage.

/opt/tailscale/
├── tailscale       # CLI tool
└── tailscaled      # Daemon

Custom Binary Directory

If your router's internal flash is too small but you have an external mount (USB stick, SD card, NAS share), you can install the persistent binaries there.

Interactive install — when you choose persistent mode, the installer asks:

Binary directory [/opt/tailscale]:

Enter any absolute path (e.g. /mnt/sda1/tailscale) or press Enter for the default.

Non-interactive install — pass --bin-dir (note: the interactive install command ignores flags, use install --yes for scripting):

tailscale-manager install --yes --bin-dir /mnt/sda1/tailscale
tailscale-manager install-version 1.78.0 --bin-dir /mnt/sda1/tailscale

Change the directory later — run an install command again with the new path. Your Tailscale state is kept separately, so this only replaces the binaries and updates the configured binary directory:

tailscale-manager install --yes --bin-dir /mnt/sdb1/tailscale

To keep the currently installed Tailscale version, install that version explicitly:

tailscale-manager install-version 1.78.0 --bin-dir /mnt/sdb1/tailscale

Environment variable — override the default path for all commands in the current shell:

PERSISTENT_DIR=/mnt/sda1/tailscale tailscale-manager install

TIP

Make sure the external mount is mounted at boot (via /etc/fstab or block mount) before the Tailscale init script runs.

RAM Mode

Binaries are stored in /tmp/tailscale (tmpfs) and are re-downloaded on every boot via the init script. This mode is ideal for routers with very limited flash storage.

WARNING

RAM mode requires an internet connection at boot time. If the network is unavailable, the service will retry up to 10 times at 30-second intervals (5 minutes total).

Switching Modes

Change the storage mode via UCI:

uci set tailscale.settings.storage_mode='ram'
uci set tailscale.settings.bin_dir='/tmp/tailscale'
uci commit tailscale

Or use the interactive menu to reinstall with a different mode.