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LabTether

Your First Node and Connector

Now that the hub is running, let's connect something to it. By the end of this page you'll have a managed node reporting in and a platform connector discovering your infrastructure.

Add a managed node

Open Settings and find the enrollment section (or use Add Device from the Dashboard). You'll see an install command ready to copy.

  1. Copy the install command from the console.
  2. Run it on the target machine with admin/root privileges. On Linux, that's sudo; on Windows, an elevated PowerShell; on macOS, the installer handles privilege escalation.
  3. Wait for enrollment. If the generated command includes a one-time enrollment token (it does by default), the node auto-enrolls and appears in Nodes within seconds. If you deliberately installed without a token (advanced), you'll need to approve the node manually from the pending agents list.

The node should now show as online in the Nodes view.

Tip: The console offers multiple connection targets when your hub is reachable on more than one address. Healthy public-cert targets like https://<host>.<tailnet>.ts.net are preferred -- agents connecting over those use the system trust store and need no special CA setup. If you pick a built-in LabTether TLS target instead, the installer automatically bootstraps CA trust during enrollment (TOFU), so agents still connect securely without manual certificate distribution.

Add a connector

Connectors let LabTether discover and monitor infrastructure from platforms like Proxmox, TrueNAS, Docker, Portainer, PBS, and Home Assistant -- without installing an agent on every device.

Pick the platform you use most and set it up first:

  1. Go to Settings and open the connector section for your platform. If LabTether has already detected a compatible API endpoint on your network, you'll see a "Detected" badge and the URL auto-filled.
  2. Enter the endpoint URL and credentials. Each connector form shows credential template hints for the expected format and minimum required permissions.
  3. Run the connector test before saving. A passing test confirms the hub can reach the platform API and authenticate. Pay attention to visibility warnings -- a successful connection that sees zero resources usually means the account needs broader permissions.
  4. Trigger the first sync. Run the manual sync action, then check Nodes, Topology, and Services for discovered assets.

For per-platform setup details (API token creation, permission scoping, TLS settings), see the full Connectors guide.

Prove it works

With a node and a connector connected, run through the core workflows to confirm everything is wired up:

  • Terminal -- open the new node in Nodes and start a terminal session. Run a command, confirm output.
  • Desktop -- if the node supports remote desktop (Linux with VNC prereqs, Windows with RDP, Proxmox VMs via SPICE), start a desktop session from the Desktop tab.
  • Logs and Telemetry -- open the Logs and Telemetry views for the node. Recent entries should already be flowing in.
  • Topology and Services -- check that discovered infrastructure from your connector appears with the correct source metadata and relationship lines.

What's next

You've got a working LabTether instance with a managed node and a platform connector. Here's where to go from here:

  • Managing Nodes -- inventory, grouping, bulk operations
  • Connectors -- per-platform setup and sync tuning
  • Terminal -- saved sessions, previous session launcher, multi-shell
  • Remote Desktop -- protocol selection, recordings, session management
  • Alerts -- rule creation, thresholds, silences, incident workflow