Terminal / Setup guide · Step 3 of 5 · 5 minutes

Make the computer reachable from the phone

The phone needs a network path to the computer's SSH server. At home, the same Wi‑Fi is enough. Anywhere else, Tailscale puts the phone and the computer on a private network, with no port forwarding and nothing exposed to the internet.

On the same network

If the phone and the computer share a Wi‑Fi network, use the computer's local address. On Linux:

terminal
hostname -I

On a Mac, open System Settings, then Network, and read the address of the connected network (for example 192.168.1.20). That address can change and only works on that network; for anywhere else, set up Tailscale below.

From anywhere, with Tailscale

Tailscale is free for personal use and the easiest way to make the app work on mobile data.

On the computer

Linux:

terminal
curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

The second command prints a link. Open it and sign in; the computer joins your network.

On a Mac, install Tailscale from the App Store or from tailscale.com/download and sign in from the menu bar icon.

On the phone

  1. Install Tailscale from Google Play and sign in with the same account.
  2. Turn the connection on in the Tailscale app.

Find the computer's name

On the computer:

terminal
tailscale status

It lists every machine, for example my-laptop with an address like 100.101.102.103. The name is what you will type in Firebrik Terminal; the address works too.

Check

With Tailscale, the computer appears in the Tailscale app on the phone with a green dot. If it is grey, the computer is off, asleep or signed out. On the same network, the app's Test button in the next step tells you whether the address answers.