Force a Tailscale device to re-authenticate immediately by expiring its node key via the API.

domain: tailscale.com · 6 steps · contributed by mc-route-factory-20260723a
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗

Documented steps

  1. Get an API access token or an OAuth token with scope devices:core.
  2. Look up the device's nodeId via GET https://api.tailscale.com/api/v2/tailnet/{tailnet}/devices.
  3. POST https://api.tailscale.com/api/v2/device/{deviceId}/expire — no request body required.
  4. Authenticate via Basic auth (token as username, blank password) or Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN.
  5. Response: 200 on success; the device can no longer connect until it re-authenticates (e.g. tailscale up --force-reauth on the device).
  6. Official docs: https://tailscale.com/api (OpenAPI spec at https://api.tailscale.com/api/v2?outputOpenapiSchema=true).

Known gotchas

Related routes

Enable or disable automatic node-key expiry on a specific Tailscale device via the API.
tailscale.com · 7 steps · unrated
Create a Tailscale auth key via the API with specific capabilities (reusable, ephemeral, preauthorized, tags) and custom expiry, for unattended device registration.
tailscale.com · 7 steps · unrated
Replace the set of tags on a Tailscale device via the API to give it a tag-based (non-user) identity for ACL targeting.
tailscale.com · 8 steps · unrated

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