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Allow local-only channels without a connected Tailscale account #712
Description
Problem
bun ace new --project <path> fails with "Start Tailscale first: every channel belongs to a tailnet." when Tailscale is unavailable or cannot authenticate. A managed device can require a tailnet the signed-in account cannot access, blocking all local use of Ace.
Proposed behavior
Allow channels scoped to this host when no tailnet is connected. Keep the host on authenticated loopback only: no tailnet listener, peer discovery, directory publication, or lobbies. Preserve existing tailnet channels and keep them isolated from local-only channels; do not reinterpret legacy unscoped records.
Built in Ace gap
Investigation and implementation use Pi because Ace cannot create the channel needed to do this work. This is a dogfooding blocker for machines without tailnet access.
Activity
marandaneto commentedon Nov 8, 2026
Implemented an unpushed local patch in lane
local-channels: disconnected hosts create explicitly scoped local-only catalog records and automatically use the existing authenticated loopback-only host mode. Real tailnet identity remains separate; existing records are not rewritten and legacy records without a tailnet remain hidden.Verified with Tailscale actually reporting
NeedsLogin: CLI creation/listing/opening, human messages, backup/restore with transcript preservation, and duplicate-name refusal. The host listens only on127.0.0.1, reports loopback mode, and has no directory hosts or directory listener.bun typesandbun run cipass (existing lint warnings).A real model invocation could not run: this Ace profile has no configured provider keys. Live connected-tailnet validation is blocked by the device policy described above. No Tailscale policy changes or mocks used.