[Feature] MagicDNS base_domain fallback
Author: SpriteOvOCreated Feb 8, 2026Updated Sep 17, 2026
Labelsenhancementtailscale-feature-gapDNS
Use case
Same issue #1510, but it's closed, so I'm opening a new one. CC @6ixfalls.
I have a DNS record on Cloudflare ZeroTrust, let's call it
via-other-vpn.homelab.lan -> 172.24.1.10;I configured this Cloudflare ZeroTrust DNS as nameserver with Unbound in my router;
I configured Headscale on my server with domain
headscale.public-domain.com, which has a public IP, with config:server_url: https://headscale.public-domain.com dns: magic_dns: true base_domain: homelab.lan override_local_dns: falseI installed Tailscale in my PC-1 and PC-2 with
--accept-dns=true;
So, now I should have the following DNS records:
via-other-vpn.homelab.lan -> 172.24.1.10 (pc -> tailscale -> router -> unbound -> cloudflare)
pc-1.homelab.lan -> 100.64.0.1 (pc -> tailscale)
pc-2.homelab.lan -> 100.64.0.2 (pc -> tailscale)
* -> * (pc -> tailscale -> router -> unbound -> cloudflare)I expected all of this records are resolvable on PC-1 and PC-2.
Actually, via-other-vpn.homelab.lan is no longer resolvable after I started Tailscale.
Description
Contribution
- I can write the design doc for this feature
- I can contribute this feature
How can it be implemented?
Add a option allowing fallback unresolved DNS requests for base_domain to local DNS.
Source: juanfont/headscale