Let a project's container run a VPN client
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A VPN client installed in a container today starts, runs, and then hangs
until its connection times out. Nothing reports an error: a default
container has no /dev/net/tun to open and no CAP_NET_ADMIN to add an
interface or a route with, and clients surface that as a generic timeout
rather than a permissions failure.

Add an opt-in per-project "VPN support" switch granting the three things
a tunnel needs. They are useless individually, which is why
vpn_host_config() defines the set in one place and the tests assert all
of it:

  * CAP_NET_ADMIN — Docker's default bounding set has net_raw but not
    net_admin, so a client can ping but never connect.
  * /dev/net/tun — passed through from the host so the kernel's tun
    module backs it, rather than mknod-ed inside.
  * net.ipv4.conf.all.src_valid_mark — WireGuard's wg-quick sets this and
    cannot from inside a container, /proc/sys being read-only, so its
    handshakes are dropped by reverse-path filtering.

Off by default and deliberately opt-in: NET_ADMIN lets anything in the
container reconfigure that container's network stack. It is namespaced —
no authority over the host's interfaces or any other container.

Capabilities and devices are fixed when a container is created, so this
is container state and takes the label-and-compare treatment.
triple-c.vpn-support is written unconditionally, false included, for the
usual docker commit reason: a true stamped once would ride the snapshot
image into every future container and make the switch impossible to turn
back off. A missing label reads as false and off is byte-identical to
today, so no existing project is churned.

Requesting the device fails at creation when the host kernel has no tun
module, which would otherwise surface as a project that simply refuses to
start. explain_create_failure() rewrites that one error to name the
switch and the Docker-Desktop-VM-versus-your-machine distinction, and
leaves every other failure untouched.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-08-14 07:52:39 -07:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent 0e6566d903
commit d260f2c7c3
7 changed files with 274 additions and 1 deletions
+26
View File
@@ -471,6 +471,32 @@ When enabled, the host Docker socket is mounted into the container so Claude Cod
> Toggling this requires stopping and restarting the container to take effect.
### VPN Support
When enabled, the container is given the three things a VPN client needs to build a tunnel:
the `NET_ADMIN` capability, the `/dev/net/tun` device, and the `net.ipv4.conf.all.src_valid_mark`
sysctl that WireGuard requires. This is **off by default**.
Without it, a client such as PIA, WireGuard, OpenVPN or Tailscale installs and its daemon starts
normally, but the connection attempt **hangs until it times out** — a default container has no tun
device to open and no permission to add an interface or a route, and most clients report that as a
generic timeout rather than a permissions error.
Things worth knowing:
- `NET_ADMIN` applies to the container's **own** network namespace. It confers no authority over
the host's interfaces or over any other container. It does mean anything running in the
container can reconfigure that namespace, which is why it is opt-in.
- The **Docker host's** kernel must have the `tun` module available. With Docker Desktop that is
the Linux VM, not your own machine. If it is missing, the container fails to create with an
error naming `/dev/net/tun` and pointing back at this setting.
- A VPN client's kill switch applies to everything in the container, Claude Code included. If the
tunnel drops, expect API calls to fail until it reconnects or the kill switch is turned off.
> This setting can only be changed when the container is stopped. Capabilities and devices are
> fixed when a container is created, so toggling it recreates the container on the next start.
> Recreation preserves the home and `.claude` volumes — it is not a Reset.
### Mission Control
Toggle **Mission Control** to integrate Flight Control — an AI-first development methodology bundled with Triple-C — into the project. When enabled: