How does adding Tailscale to this example add anything? What does he get by not just adding this site to the regular Internet? Or am I just a Tailscale skeptic?
As with most software, you could do without Tailscale, it's just easier to use their software which glues a bunch of pieces together, rather than glue it together yourself, unless you have good reason to, which is entirely possible.
Specifically:
> As a result, the application is now available at https://libations, with a valid LetsEncrypt certificate, on all of my machines!
So you'd have to setup a VPN on all of your devices, setup a DNS server, set all you're machines to use that DNS server, setup a reverse proxy, buy a domain, setup Let's Encrypt for it... or just use Tailscale. No one's forcing you to use Tailscale, it's your time and you get to choose to use it however you like, but unless you want to make that you're project, instead of the libations app, why spend time configuring all that you don't have to? (Because you want to is an entirely valid reason, mind you.)
tailscale handles the dns, you just need to install tailscale on all the boxes you want on your tailnet.
EDIT: I'd suggest trying it out, they have a very generous free tier. I didn't really understand how much more seamless and feature rich it was than a standard vpn setup that i've ever set up for my home network.
Tailscale adds nothing to the example application, but the example is simple enough to demonstrate adding Tailscale to a project in a single blog post. Many demonstrations like this don't benefit, themselves, from the tools demonstrated, that's why they're called demonstrations.
I'm by no means a tailscale expert (having only recently started playing with it myself), but i see the benefit of having a little bubble of protection or at least obscurity for more private web apps. One's own sort of LAN-ternet of possible apps that can be more safely enjoyed with a family, friends, or just one's self.
For example, I've self-hosted Nextcloud for many years...and while as much as i love nextcloud, managing it is not easy (well, its much easier now)...And separate of the functional annoyances of the platform, there's the constant fear and battle of fending off internet attacks...constantly! So, things like tailscale as wel as other open source solutuions allows for a sort of internet-within-an-internet...so, one could self-host a nextcloud instance that is only available to, say, your family or friends via tailscale, chopping off a big portion of potential baddies. To add to this, your local ISP likely won;t be aware of your selfhosting and hopefully won't unexpectedly block your access to your home servers, etc. Again, i'm not an expert, but i see the potential! And, non-techies need not worry about jumping through too many hoops...all they need is to ensure the tailscale client is on/activated in the background, and they engage some web app in a sort of regular fashion - like they do with other web apps...i guess. I'm gonna stop here cuz i sound like a shill, when really i'm just starting to like this sort of vpn thingy.
