Get Started

Follow these steps to turn your device into a Zeabur server using Wonder Mesh.

Prerequisites

⚠️

We recommend using a fresh machine to avoid conflicts with existing software.
If you have Tailscale or K3s already installed, the setup script may interfere with your existing configuration.

Your device must meet the following minimum requirements. On macOS, these refer to the resources allocated to the virtual machine, not the Mac itself — make sure your Mac has enough headroom beyond these minimums.

Resource	Minimum
CPU	2 cores
Memory	2 GB
Disk	40 GB

Not sure about your device’s architecture? Run the following command to check:

# x86_64 = amd64, aarch64 = arm64
uname -m

Create a New Project

Go to the Zeabur Dashboard and create a new project.

Add Your Device as a Wonder Mesh Server

In “Create New Project” page, under “Select a Dedicated Server”, select Bind External Server, then choose Wonder Mesh. Configure your device’s architecture (amd64 or arm64) and operating system (Linux or macOS).

For macOS, you will also need to specify the virtual machine resource allocation:

CPU cores — at least 2; recommend 4 if your Mac has 8+ cores
Memory (GB) — at least 2 GB; recommend 4 GB if you plan to run multiple services
Disk size (GB) — at least 40 GB; increase if you use large container images or need persistent storage

These resources are reserved for the Wonder Mesh virtual machine and will not be available to your macOS host while the VM is running. Choose values that leave enough headroom for your daily work.

After confirming, you will be redirected to the server page.

Run the Install Script on Your Device

On the server page, click View Install Command to reveal the full install command. Copy it and run it in a terminal on the device you want to register.

Zeabur console showing the View Install Command button on the server page

⚠️

On macOS, do not use sudo. The installer will request elevated permissions when needed.

The install script will install Tailscale, create a zeabur system user, and configure SSH on your device. For a full breakdown, see What Does the Install Script Do?.

Terminal showing the Wonder Mesh install script completing successfully

When the script finishes successfully, you should see output similar to:

=== Zeabur Mesh Server Setup ===
Installing Tailscale...
Tailscale installed: 1.94.2
Ensuring tailscaled is running...
Downloading wonder binary...
Joining Wonder Mesh Network...
Connecting to Wonder Mesh Net...
Successfully joined Wonder Mesh Net!
SSH server already running, skipping installation...
Enabling SSH password authentication...
Configuring SSH user...
Completing registration...
=== Zeabur Mesh Server Setup Complete ===
Mesh IP: 100.x.x.x

Wait for the Server to Connect

After the installation completes, your device will appear as connected in the console.

Zeabur console showing the server connected with a mesh IP assigned

Install K3s

Once the device has joined the mesh network, click Install K3s in the console. K3s is the runtime engine Zeabur uses to manage and run services on your device. You don’t need any Kubernetes knowledge — just click the button and wait for it to finish.

Start Deploying

When the server shows a healthy status, you can deploy services to it just like any other Zeabur server.

Server card showing SSH Connected and K3s healthy status

Troubleshooting

Installation gets stuck or fails

Check the installation log for errors:
```
cat /tmp/zeabur-install.log
```
Make sure your device has a stable internet connection.

Verify that the Tailscale daemon is running:

sudo systemctl status tailscaled   # Linux

If Tailscale appears stuck, restart it and re-run the install command:
```
sudo systemctl restart tailscaled  # Linux
```

Server shows as disconnected

Confirm the Tailscale daemon is still active:
```
tailscale status
```

If it shows as stopped, restart it:

sudo systemctl restart tailscaled  # Linux

On macOS, make sure the Lima VM is running:
```
limactl list
```

If the issue persists, contact Zeabur Support with the contents of /tmp/zeabur-install.log.

Accessing Services

Services deployed on a Wonder Mesh server work just like services on any other Zeabur server — you can bind domains, set up port forwarding, and expose them to the internet. See Public Networking for details.

Services in the same project can also communicate with each other using internal hostnames. See Private Networking for details.

From Your Local Network

You can access services directly from any device on the same local network (Wi-Fi or Ethernet). Follow these steps:

Find the port number — Open your service page in the Zeabur console and go to the Networking tab. Look for the port number assigned to your service (e.g., 32518).
Find your device’s LAN IP — Run one of these commands on your actual device’s terminal (not inside the service or Zeabur Server SSH):
- Linux: hostname -I
- macOS: ipconfig getifaddr en0 (if this returns nothing, run route -n get default | grep interface to find the active interface name, then use ipconfig getifaddr <interface>)
Open the service — From any device on the same network, open http://<lan-ip>:<port> in a browser or client.

For example, if your LAN IP is 192.168.1.42 and the assigned port is 32518:
```
http://192.168.1.42:32518
```

On macOS, the Lima VM forwards ports 30000–32767 to the host. Services on these ports are accessible from your LAN using your Mac’s IP address — no extra configuration is needed.

Overview Install Script Breakdown