Linux Installation

The NetBird client (agent) allows a peer to join a pre-existing NetBird deployment. If a NetBird deployment is not yet available, there are both managed and self-hosted options available.

Linux Install Script

curl -fsSL https://pkgs.netbird.io/install.sh | sh

Ubuntu/Debian (APT)

  1. Add the repository:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg -y
curl -sSL https://pkgs.netbird.io/debian/public.key | sudo gpg --dearmor --output /usr/share/keyrings/netbird-archive-keyring.gpg
echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/netbird-archive-keyring.gpg] https://pkgs.netbird.io/debian stable main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/netbird.list
  1. Update APT's cache
 sudo apt-get update
  1. Install the package
 # for CLI only
 sudo apt-get install netbird
 # for GUI package
 sudo apt-get install netbird-ui

RHEL/Amazon Linux 2 (RPM)

  1. Add the repository:
sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/netbird.repo <<EOF
[netbird]
name=netbird
baseurl=https://pkgs.netbird.io/yum/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=https://pkgs.netbird.io/yum/repodata/repomd.xml.key
repo_gpgcheck=1
EOF
  1. Install the package
 # for CLI only
 sudo yum install netbird
 # for GUI package
 sudo yum install libappindicator-gtk3 libappindicator netbird-ui

Fedora/Amazon Linux 2023 (DNF)

  1. Create the repository file:
sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/netbird.repo <<EOF
[netbird]
name=netbird
baseurl=https://pkgs.netbird.io/yum/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=https://pkgs.netbird.io/yum/repodata/repomd.xml.key
repo_gpgcheck=1
EOF
  1. Import the file
#Fedora 40 or earlier/Amazon Linux 2023** (DNF 4)
 sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo /etc/yum.repos.d/netbird.repo
#Fedora 41 or later (DNF 5)
 sudo dnf config-manager addrepo --from-repofile=/etc/yum.repos.d/netbird.repo
  1. Install the package
 # for CLI only
 sudo dnf install netbird
 # for GUI package
 sudo dnf install libappindicator-gtk3 libappindicator netbird-ui

On some recent releases, the default behaviour for libappindicator was changed, so we need to install gnome-shell-extension-appindicator and enable it:

sudo dnf install gnome-shell-extension-appindicator`
sudo gnome-extensions enable appindicatorsupport@rgcjonas.gmail.com

Under X11, you may need to restart GNOME Shell (Alt+F2, r, ⏎) after that. Under Wayland you need to logout and login again.

Fedora Universal Blue / SteamOS (DistroBox)

  1. Create a distrobox container
distrobox create netbird --init --image debian:12 -a "--cap-add=NET_ADMIN" --additional-packages systemd --root`
  1. Install inside the container
distrobox enter --root netbird`
curl -fsSL https://pkgs.netbird.io/install.sh | sh`
  1. Export the distrobird binary to the host
#from inside the container
distrobox-export -b /usr/bin/netbird`

openSUSE (zypper)

  1. Add the repository:
sudo zypper addrepo https://pkgs.netbird.io/yum/ netbird
  1. Install the package / GPG key
  • Key Fingerprint: AA9C 09AA 9DEA 2F58 112B 40DF DFFE AB2F D267 A61F
  • Key ID: DFFEAB2FD267A61F
  • Email: dev@netbird.io
# MicroOS (immutable OS with selinux)
transactional-update pkg in netbird
reboot

# Tumbleweed / Leap
zypper in netbird

NixOS 22.11+/unstable

  1. Edit your configuration.nix
 { config, pkgs, ... }:
 {
   services.netbird.enable = true; # for netbird service & CLI
   environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.netbird-ui ]; # for GUI
 }
  1. Build and apply new configuration
 sudo nixos-rebuild switch

Binary Install

Installation from binary (CLI only)

  1. Checkout NetBird releases
  2. Download the latest release:
  curl -L -o ./netbird_<VERSION>.tar.gz https://github.com/netbirdio/netbird/releases/download/v<VERSION>/netbird_<VERSION>_<OS>_<Arch>.tar.gz
  1. Decompress
  tar xzf ./netbird_<VERSION>.tar.gz
  sudo mv netbird /usr/bin/netbird
  sudo chown root:root /usr/bin/netbird
  sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/netbird

After that you may need to add /usr/bin in your PATH environment variable:

  export PATH=$PATH:/usr/bin
  1. Install and run the service
  sudo netbird service install
  sudo netbird service start

Updating

If your NetBird client was installed through a package manager, use that to update. If you used the one-command script to install, you can follow this to update:

netbird down
curl -fsSLO https://pkgs.netbird.io/install.sh
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh --update
netbird up

Running NetBird with SSO Login

Desktop UI Application

If you installed the Desktop UI client, you can launch it and click on Connect.

It will open your browser, and you will be prompt for email and password. Follow the instructions.

high-level-dia

CLI

Alternatively, you could use command line. Simply run

netbird up

It will open your browser, and you will be prompt for email and password. Follow the instructions.

high-level-dia

Check connection status:

  netbird status

Running NetBird with a Setup Key

In case you are activating a server peer, you can use a setup key as described in the steps below.

This is especially helpful when you are running multiple server instances with infrastructure-as-code tools like ansible and terraform.

  1. Login to the Management Service. You need to have a setup key in hand (see setup keys).
  netbird up --setup-key <SETUP KEY>

Alternatively, if you are hosting your own Management Service provide --management-url property pointing to your Management Service:

  netbird up --setup-key <SETUP KEY> --management-url http://localhost:33073

You could also omit the --setup-key property. In this case, the tool will prompt for the key.

  1. Check connection status:
  netbird status
  1. Check your IP:
  ip addr show wt0