--- title: Jailbroken Kindles can now do more with Tailscale description: Community developers have expanded Tailscale's capabilities on jailbroken Kindle e-readers. Key additions include Tailscale SSH enabled by default, a proxy... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/jailbroken-kindles-can-now-do-more-with-tailscale-zttbt7ie3 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Jailbroken Kindles can now do more with Tailscale | daily.dev og:description: Community developers have expanded Tailscale's capabilities on jailbroken Kindle e-readers. Key additions include Tailscale SSH enabled by default, a proxy... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/jailbroken-kindles-can-now-do-more-with-tailscale-zttbt7ie3 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/zttbT7IE3.png og:image:alt: Jailbroken Kindles can now do more with Tailscale og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Jailbroken Kindles can now do more with Tailscale **[Tailscale](https://daily.dev/sources/tailscale)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Community developers have expanded Tailscale's capabilities on jailbroken Kindle e-readers. Key additions include Tailscale SSH enabled by default, a proxy mode (SOCKS5 and HTTP CONNECT) that lets apps like KOReader reach other tailnet nodes such as Calibre or Wallabag servers, and full TUN mode support on select devices. A separate KOReader plugin by Victoria Riley Barnett also brings Tailscale proxy support to Kobo and PocketBook devices. Setup involves configuring KOReader to route through local proxy addresses (127.0.0.1:1055 or :1056), enabling use cases like self-hosted ebook servers, RSS feeds, and Audiobookshelf — all over a private tailnet. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 3 discussions and 130 comments across hackernews (as of 2026-07-29). **TL;DR:** The community is broadly enthusiastic about KOReader and the idea of running Tailscale on Kindle/Kobo devices, praising the deep customizability and cross-device sync; the main reservations are around KOReader's confusing UI and some battery/stability concerns with the combined setup. **Sentiment:** 62% positive · 28% mixed · 10% skeptical **The case for** - KOReader is highly customizable (fonts, gestures, status bars, dark mode, dictionaries) and runs on many devices including Kindle, Kobo, and reMarkable. - KOReader doesn't replace the stock firmware — it coexists and can be launched from the default interface, making it easy to try. - Cross-device reading progress sync (e.g., between Kobo and Android) is a major practical benefit. - DRM support via plugin enables borrowing library ebooks on older devices without buying new hardware. - LLM integration (KOAssistant) lets users query an AI about selected text directly on the device. - Tailscale enables remote SSH management of the device, making configuration hands-off after initial setup. **The pushback** - KOReader's settings menus are unintuitive and hard to navigate, especially without internet access to look things up. - The file-explorer-style UI is off-putting to users who prefer a library/cover-grid view (though a plugin exists to address this). - Running KOReader + SSH + Tailscale together reportedly wrecked battery life and caused frequent crashes on at least one Kindle Oasis. - Boox devices are noted as untrustworthy for network access and have never released Linux kernel source despite GPL obligations. - Tailscale's default behavioral metadata logging is a privacy concern unless explicitly opted out with --no-logs-no-support. **By community** - hackernews (positive): Commenters are largely enthusiastic about KOReader and Tailscale on e-readers, with a vocal minority raising UI complexity, battery, and privacy concerns. **Hottest debate:** Whether KOReader's powerful customizability is worth its confusing, hard-to-navigate settings UI versus just using the simpler stock firmware. **Open questions** - Is there a way to run WireGuard (rather than Tailscale) natively on Kindle or Kobo devices? - How can KOReader's margin/stylesheet be adjusted to leave a clear edge for an external page-turner clip? - Does the KOAssistant LLM plugin avoid spoilers, and could a RAG-based approach limit the model's knowledge to pages already read? - What is the current state of bootchain exploits for newer Kindle hardware? **Highlights** > I don’t know man. Maybe it’s a great reader for those who really need to customize everything. However, I found it very hard to use. I can never find settings where I’d expect them to be. Is font or margins or hyphenation under the Gear symbol or the Document symbol or the Wrench symbol or the long-press book settings? Is it then under Typography, Display, Style, Text or Miscellaneous? I had it on my ereader to check it out, but never got around to it. One time on a long flight I had a Gutenberg Project book that wasn’t rendering correctly and thought I’d give KOReader a try. Spent like 10 minutes trying to find how to disable hyphenation. And even if you get to the right menu, there will be a dozen options to scroll through on 1-3 pages. Maybe if I had internet to check where each setting is to set it up, but it’s not very intuitive to configure. I came from Kobo default reader where all the settings I care about are all front and center and you find them in the first place you look all grouped together. Also, I realize this is a personal preference, I don’t like the “file explorer” view. I prefer a “library” view like Kobo or Kindle defaults to. If that makes sense. > — [eddythompson80 on hackernews · 10 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49094579) > A few things I like: - More frontlight options. Ability to toggle on/off easily using corner taps, - More page layout and typography options e.g. custom fonts, - Ability to load from Calibre over WiFi (I never plug mine in via USB). Worth nothing that KOReader doesn't replace the default Kobo firmware. It's easy to install and you launch it from the Kobo firmware so it's easy to quit and go back to normal. > — [globular-toast on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49094447) > KOReader + BookOrbit (or Calibe or whatever you like best) is awesome. KOReader is finicky to configure but once you have it set up its hands down the best experience. I use BookShelf as my main UI and BookEnds to configure the header/footer. I also use KOAssistant which lets you select text and chuck it at an LLM to explain/translate/custom-prompt/etc. It was so nice when reading the Horatio Hornblower series where the old references or nautical terms were foreign to me. Just select a phrase, hit Explain, and in seconds get an LLM response right there on my kindle. Just like how the dictionary works (though obviously the LLM isn’t running locally). With BookOrbit tracking my reading/annotations and providing my ebooks I’ve reached my perfect reading setup. Using Claude to configure some ESP32-based e-Ink screens to rotate book quotes I’ve personally highlighted in KOReader is peak self-hosted, super custom just tor me. I’m so glad my coworker encouraged me to go down this route! > — [joshstrange on hackernews · 2 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49095801) > You will probably also want to add `--no-logs-no-support` (don't mind the FUD-y argument name) to the scripted invocation of `tailscaled` here: https://github.com/victoria-riley-barnett/koreader-tailscale... Otherwise Tailscale (the company) will be collecting your behavioral metadata every time you use your Kindle (what other hosts it connects to, on what ports, connection open and close timestamps, etc): https://tailscale.com/docs/features/logging#opt-out-of-clien... Yes obviously the actual connection contents are encrypted, but ”just metadata” tells a whole heck of a lot about you: https://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2013/06/09/using-metad... > — [Lammy on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49093871) > Between KOReader, SSH, and Tailscale, something completely wrecked the battery life of my Kindle Oasis, and introduced frequent reboots/crashes. That was a previous implementation, maybe things have improved. > — [1shooner on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49096662) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49093569) · 121 points · 130 comments - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48518926) · 5 points · 0 comments - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48783239) · 2 points · 0 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How to put Tailscale on a jailbroken Kindle \(and why you should\)](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-put-tailscale-on-a-jailbroken-kindle-and-why-you-should--jay647n5p) · Tailscale · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Quick Share Implemented On A Kindle](https://daily.dev/posts/quick-share-implemented-on-a-kindle-hk4d7v4pa) · Hackaday · 2 upvotes · 1 comments - [I jailbroke my Kindle and unlocked features Amazon refuses to build](https://daily.dev/posts/i-jailbroke-my-kindle-and-unlocked-features-amazon-refuses-to-build-0ie9h00ib) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#networking](https://daily.dev/tags/networking), [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting), [#tailscale](https://daily.dev/tags/tailscale) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/jailbroken-kindles-can-now-do-more-with-tailscale-zttbt7ie3) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Jailbroken Kindles can now do more with Tailscale","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/jailbroken-kindles-can-now-do-more-with-tailscale-zttbt7ie3","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/jailbroken-kindles-can-now-do-more-with-tailscale-zttbt7ie3"},"datePublished":"2026-06-12T15:50:02.241Z","dateModified":"2026-07-29T19:44:15.106Z","description":"Community developers have expanded Tailscale's capabilities on jailbroken Kindle e-readers. 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