# slackhq/nebula

A scalable overlay networking tool with a focus on performance, simplicity and security

Repository: https://github.com/slackhq/nebula
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/nebula
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T20:15:39+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 86, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2482, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 12, "gap_med": 55, "n_releases_24m": 10}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 17658, forks 1167 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:20.134743+00:00)

## What it is
Nebula is a scalable overlay networking tool (mesh VPN) built on the Noise Protocol Framework, using certificates and security groups for mutually authenticated peer-to-peer tunnels. It connects machines across clouds, datacenters, and endpoints, scaling from a few nodes to tens of thousands.

## Use cases
- connect servers across clouds into a private network
- set up a mesh vpn between my machines
- replace openvpn with something faster
- peer-to-peer networking with udp hole punching through NAT
- secure communication between thousands of nodes
- build a software-defined network with certificate-based access control

## When to choose
- you need a scalable, performant mesh VPN across many platforms
- you want certificate-based identity and group-based traffic filtering
- you need NAT traversal and hole punching without a central chokepoint

## When to avoid
- you need a simple point-to-point consumer VPN with a GUI out of the box
- you require IPsec/OpenVPN compatibility or traditional client-server VPN topologies
- you need TCP-only transport (Nebula is UDP-based)

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: stable
- function: networking, security, cryptography, vpn, p2p
- domain: networking, security, privacy, microservices, infrastructure-as-code
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cli
- tags: overlay-network, mesh-vpn, wireguard-alternative, software-defined-network, noise-protocol, udp-hole-punching, certificates, linux, macos, android, ios, docker

## Member repositories
- slackhq/nebula (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:20.134743+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:02:32.650392+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/slackhq/nebula (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:20.134743+00:00, sha 36cdffc11185)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.