What Does the Install Script Do?

This page explains exactly what the Wonder Mesh install script does to your machine. We believe in full transparency — you should know what runs on your hardware before you execute it.

Linux

The script runs with root privileges (sudo bash) and performs the following steps:

1. Install Tailscale

• Downloads and runs the official Tailscale install script
• Installs the tailscale package via your system’s package manager (apt, dnf, yum, etc.)
• Enables and starts the tailscaled systemd service (starts on boot)

2. Download the Wonder Binary

• Downloads the Wonder Mesh client from cdn.zeabur.com
• Places it at /usr/local/bin/wonder and marks it as executable

3. Join the Mesh Network

• Runs wonder worker join to connect your device to a private WireGuard-based mesh network
• The mesh network is managed by a Headscale coordination server hosted by Zeabur
• Your device receives a mesh IP address in the 100.x.x.x range

4. Install and Configure SSH

• Installs openssh-server if it is not already installed
• Enables and starts the sshd systemd service
• Modifies SSH configuration to enable password authentication:
  • Edits /etc/ssh/sshd_config to set PasswordAuthentication yes
  • Creates /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/00-zeabur-password-auth.conf as a drop-in override

5. Create a System User

• Creates a zeabur user (if it does not exist) with /bin/bash as the shell
• Sets a randomly generated password for the user
• Adds the user to the sudo (or wheel) group
• Creates /etc/sudoers.d/zeabur granting passwordless sudo access

6. Report Back to Zeabur

• Retrieves the mesh IP (tailscale ip -4) and public IP (curl ifconfig.me)
• Sends the mesh IP, SSH credentials, and public IP to the Zeabur API
• This allows Zeabur to manage deployments on your device via SSH over the mesh network

7. Progress Reporting

Each step reports its progress to the Zeabur API in real time, so you can monitor the installation from the console. If an error occurs, the last few lines of the error output are reported.

Files and Services Added (Linux)

Network Changes (Linux)

macOS

The script runs as a regular user (do not use sudo). Mesh-specific changes (Tailscale, SSH, zeabur user, sudoers) are applied inside a virtual machine — your macOS system configuration is not modified directly. However, Homebrew/Lima are installed on the host, and Lima creates host-side port forwarding (see below).

1. Install Homebrew

• Downloads and runs the official Homebrew install script if Homebrew is not already installed
• May also install Xcode Command Line Tools

2. Install Lima

• Runs brew install lima
• Lima is a lightweight virtual machine manager; it depends on QEMU, which Homebrew installs automatically

3. Create the Virtual Machine

• Creates a Lima VM named zeabur-mesh based on Ubuntu 24.04
• Configures the VM with the CPU, memory, and disk resources you specified when creating the server
• Sets up port forwarding from the VM to the host for ports 30000–32767 (used by services)

4. Run the Linux Install Script Inside the VM

• Executes the same Linux install script (described above) inside the VM via limactl shell
• All Tailscale, SSH, user creation, and mesh network changes happen inside the VM

What Changes on the macOS Host

Your macOS SSH configuration, system users, and network settings are not modified. Note that Lima forwards service ports (30000–32767) to 0.0.0.0 on the host, making them reachable from your local network.