🔑

Join Nakul's Network

Our movies, shows, music, photos & audiobooks live on a little computer at home. To watch them from anywhere, your device joins a private network only trusted people are on. One free app does it, this page walks you through it.

How It Actually Works

Think of our home server as a house at the end of a private road. The internet is the public highway, anyone can drive it, but they can't turn onto our road. Tailscale is the gate key that lets your device onto that private road.

                THE INTERNET  ·  the public highway
   ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │  anyone can drive this highway, but there is no turn-off      │
   │  that reaches us, so strangers never even find the road       │
   └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

   ┌──────────────┐                                 ┌──────────────┐
   │  YOUR DEVICE │                                 │  HOME SERVER │
   │  (anywhere)  │ ◄═══ encrypted private road ══► │  (at home)   │
   │  holds the   │   only your device can use it   │  movies,     │
   │  gate key    │                                 │  photos &    │
   └──────────────┘                                 └──────────────┘
        ▲                                                  ▲
        │  the auth key                                    │  nothing here is
        │  opens the gate                                  │  exposed publicly

Tailscale = your gate key (the private road).
Streamyfin = the TV remote (plays what's in the house).
The auth key the admin gives you = your personal copy of the gate key. Don't share it.

🔒 Nothing here is public. There's no address strangers can type to get in, your device has to be holding the gate key first.

📲 Joining the Network: Screen by Screen

First: Install Tailscale

Get the free Tailscale app from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android), or on a Google/Apple TV. Open it once, then follow the screens below.

Tailscale is the secure tunnel between your device and our server, it only carries traffic to our house, and does not watch or reroute your normal browsing.

Step 1: Go to Tailscale Settings

Tailscale main screen, tap the account icon (top right)

Open the menu / account icon in the top corner of the Tailscale app.

Step 2: Access Network Settings

Step 3: View more settings

Step 4: Use an auth key

Choose Use an auth key, paste the key the admin texts you, then Log in, you're on instantly: nothing to request, no approval to wait for.

📱 On Android: first tap Use a custom coordination server and enter https://headscale.tiruviluamala.com, then tap Use an auth key. (On iPhone the server is set in Step 5.)

Step 5: Enter the network credentials

Enter the Headscale server and your key, then Login

We run our own coordination server (Headscale), so you point Tailscale at ours: enter https://headscale.tiruviluamala.com as the server, paste your key, then Login.

Step 6: Return to the main screen

Connected to the tailnet, node list visible

The main switch should be green / connected, you're on the network ✅. If asked, turn on MagicDNS and Allow LAN access.

Now: Install the Watching App

You're on the network. Now get the app that plays our movies & shows.

⚠️ Use the app, not the website. A web browser often stutters on our high-quality video (10-bit HEVC). The app handles it smoothly. So: Streamyfin (iPhone or Android). Don't stream from Safari/Chrome.

Server address: the one the admin gives you (it starts with https://).
Log in with the username + password you were given.

✨ Why Streamyfin is the easy button

Streamyfin is built for exactly this. You sign in with your account and it just works, no settings to fiddle with, smooth playback, downloads for offline. For 95% of people the whole job is: install Streamyfin → enter the server → log in → done.

🦈 Streamyfin = "streamy-fin," like a shark fin cutting through the water. Get Streamyfin, and boom, you're streaming.

Trouble connecting?

Problem	Fix
App won't load / spins forever	Tailscale is probably off. Open it, make the switch green, retry.
"Can't connect to server"	Check the address starts with `https://` (the s). Make sure Tailscale is on first.
Worked before, now it doesn't	Toggle Tailscale off/on. Turn off Low Power Mode / any other VPN.
Movie is choppy	Make sure you're using the app, not a browser. If it persists, ask the admin, it may be a server-side encoding setting.
Want a movie that isn't there	Use the Request page on the family home page (the admin will share the address).

Still stuck? Text the family admin: which device, which app, and what the screen says (a screenshot helps).

Glossary

Term	What it is	Analogy
Tailscale	The app that puts your device on our private network	The gate key to a private road
Headscale	Our own server that runs the network	Owning the gate instead of renting it
Auth key	Your personal sign-in code for the network	Your copy of the gate key
Streamyfin	The phone apps that play our movies & shows	The TV remote
MagicDNS	Lets you use nice names instead of number addresses	Saved contacts instead of phone numbers