December 16, 2025
ASCII hearts, modern sparks
Chat-tails: Throwback terminal chat, built on Tailscale
Dad goes retro to keep kids safe; internet argues if it’s cozy or a Tailscale plug
TLDR: A dad made a private, text‑only chat for his kid’s Minecraft group using Tailscale, reviving retro IRC vibes. Commenters split between cozy nostalgia and eye‑rolls over “Tailscale spam,” with a side of regulation fears and parent‑approved practicality—proof that simple, safe chat sparks big feelings.
A dad built a throwback, text‑only chat for his kid’s Minecraft crew—and the comment section lit up. Brian Scott’s “chat‑tails” ditches modern frills for old-school terminal chat that works over Tailscale, a private network that links your devices. No images, no voice, no emojis—just text, a few commands, and serious LAN‑party vibes. Cue the nostalgia brigade: one fan sighed, “this reminds me of gopher chats,” while parents cheered a simple, private space their kids can actually use.
But drama arrived fast. A skeptic dropped the hammer—“Enough with the tailscale spam”—framing it as a stealth ad for a trendy networking tool. Another commenter went full policy doomscroll, predicting Australia’s new social rules could force age checks and bans for under‑16s. Meanwhile, a practical tester reported it “works as advertised” (Dockerfile praise!) but joked the text banner looked weird in PuTTY—because even the future can’t fix line endings.
Between the warming glow of retro comfort and the cold splash of platform politics, the thread split into three camps: nostalgics who loved the minimalism, parents chasing a hassle‑free kid chat, and cynics allergic to anything that smells like marketing. Scott says it’s meant to feel like you’re all on the same couch again—just over the internet. Love it or side‑eye it, the vibe is cozy bunker chat in a noisy app world.
Key Points
- •Chat-tails is a terminal-based, IRC-like chat app focused on private, invite-only, ephemeral conversations.
- •It runs in Regular Mode (local network) or Tailscale Mode, which requires a hostname and Tailscale auth key.
- •In Tailscale Mode, chats are accessible at hostname.something.ts.net, joined via nc or telnet (e.g., port 2323).
- •The app provides simple commands (/who, /help, /me, /quit) and recently added history options.
- •Built in Go using the tsnet library and Bubbletea UI, the app uses direct TCP/UDP connections rather than websockets.