Reticulum

P2P Protocol

Cryptography-based networking stack for building local and wide-area networks over any available medium — LoRa, packet radio, serial lines, WiFi, Ethernet, internet, and free-space optical links. A complete replacement for IP networking built directly on cryptographic principles: all packets are encrypted by default, routing depends on cryptographic entropy, and the protocol cannot function without encryption. Provides end-to-end encryption, initiator anonymity (no source addresses on packets), autoconfiguring multi-hop transport, forward secrecy, and unforgeable delivery acknowledgements. Designed to operate from 5 bits/second to 500 Mbps .

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License Open source (Reticulum License for reference implementation; protocol itself public domain since 2016); github.com/markqvist/Reticulum — Python reference implementation; related repos: LXMF (messaging protocol), LXST (audio transport), Sideband (GUI app), NomadNet (terminal app), RNode (LoRa firmware)
Dev Status 🟢 Active
Dev Status Detail Production / Beta (v1.1.3 as of Jan 2026; 3,600 GitHub stars, 244 forks, 2,323 commits; all core protocol features implemented; API and wire-format considered stable; active community development and public testnet; creator announced departure Dec 2025 — protocol/code fully open for community continuation)
Owner Mark Qvist (independent developer, computer engineer, 'unsignedmark'); protocol designed and implemented 2014–2022; announced departure from development December 2025; protocol is public domain, reference implementation open source
Country Not disclosed (Mark Qvist maintains pseudonymous presence; identifies by Reticulum Identity rather than geographic location; ran rural ISP at one point)
Start Year 2014
Stack Python 3 (reference implementation, runs entirely in userland); no kernel modules or drivers required; PyCA/cryptography (crypto library); pyserial (serial interfaces); also rnspure package with zero external dependencies for constrained systems
Funding Individual donations (Monero, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Liberapay, Ko-Fi); no corporate sponsorship or venture capital; community-supported independent development
Last Investigated Jan 15, 2026

Use Case Domains

Communication Platform Evolution & Sovereignty

Affordances

End-to-end encrypted Works offline / mesh Self-hostable

P2P Protocol Attributes

Origins Infrastructure independence / resilience (Mark Qvist's vision of enabling anyone to be their own network operator; motivated by need for complete communications stack for normal people without centralized coordination; background running rural ISP in underserved area)
Database Local routing tables (each node maintains routing table of known destinations via announce propagation; no central database; path information discovered dynamically via cryptographic announcements)
Query Language N/A (API-based interaction; destinations discovered via announce/path resolution mechanism; no query language)
Data Formats Custom binary packet format (297 bytes for full encrypted link establishment); X25519 ECDH key exchange; AES-256-CBC with PKCS7 padding; HMAC-SHA256 authentication; Ed25519 signatures; 512-bit Elliptic Curve identity keysets; LXMF (message format using msgpack); configurable MTU minimum 500 bytes
Collaborative Live Editing No (networking stack, not application layer; applications built on top like Sideband and NomadNet provide messaging/file transfer but not collaborative editing)
Rich Text Editing No (provides raw networking primitives; NomadNet supports micron markup for pages but this is application-layer)
Mobile Support Yes (Sideband app for Android; MeshChat cross-platform; RNode hardware interfaces via Bluetooth/USB to mobile devices)
Web Support Limited (MeshChat provides web-based interface; no native web transport — Reticulum does not depend on HTTP/web stack; can tunnel over TCP/UDP for internet connectivity)
Native Apps Yes (Sideband — GUI app for Android/Windows/macOS/Linux with messaging, voice calls, telemetry, mapping; NomadNet — terminal-based messenger with page hosting; MeshChat — web GUI messenger; rnsh — remote shell; rncp — file transfer; rnx — remote command execution; all cross-platform via Python)
Terms Protocol: Public Domain (since 2016); Reference implementation: Reticulum License (custom open-source license); LXMF: MIT; NomadNet: GPL-3.0; free to use and build upon
Funds Not disclosed (individual donation-funded; no known grants or institutional funding)
Based On X25519 (ECDH key exchange on Curve25519); Ed25519 (signatures); AES-256-CBC (symmetric encryption); HMAC-SHA256 (authentication); BLAKE2b (hashing in some contexts); LoRa (via RNode hardware); AX.25 (packet radio TNC support); I2P (overlay network integration); original protocol design not derived from IP or other networking stacks
P2P Architecture Heterogeneous mesh (two node types: Regular Nodes and Transport Nodes; Transport Nodes route traffic between network segments; any node can be configured as Transport Node; self-configuring multi-hop routing; no source addresses — initiator anonymity; supports any mixture of physical mediums simultaneously)
Overlay Network Yes (medium-agnostic overlay that can span LoRa radio, packet radio, serial, WiFi, Ethernet, TCP/IP, UDP/IP, I2P, and custom interfaces simultaneously; can tunnel over internet while maintaining independent addressing; designed to interconnect thousands of independent networks into 'Hypernet')
Content Addressing Cryptographic addressing (destinations identified by truncated hashes of public keys — 128-bit addresses derived from Ed25519 identity keys; globally unique without coordination; not content-addressed but identity-addressed)
Local-First Yes (operates under arbitrary network partition; designed for high-latency, low-bandwidth, intermittent connectivity; no central servers required; LXMF supports delay-tolerant message delivery via propagation nodes; store-and-forward architecture)
E2EE Yes (all communication encrypted by default — encryption is not optional, it is fundamental to routing; X25519 ECDH key exchange; AES-256-CBC; forward secrecy via ephemeral per-packet and per-link keys; HMAC-SHA256 authentication; initiator anonymity — no source addresses)
CRDTs Lib No (networking stack layer; no CRDT implementation)
Byzantine Fault Tolerance Resilient but no formal BFT (cryptographic path verification prevents spoofing/tampering; unforgeable delivery acknowledgements; Transport Nodes use cryptographic signatures to verify routes; resilient to open and trustless networks but no consensus mechanism)
Signature Ed25519 (all identities based on 512-bit EC keysets; signatures used for path verification, delivery acknowledgements, and identity authentication; cryptographic proofs fundamental to routing)
Permissions Cryptographic identity-based (access determined by knowledge of destination hash / public key; virtual network segmentation on all interface types; link-level authentication; no role-based access control at protocol level — left to application layer)
Semantic Web Compatibility No
Smart Contract No
Protocol Stack Position Application-layer (built on TCP/IP)
Asset / Value Embedding None — Reticulum is a cryptographic networking stack and protocol specification with no native token or economic incentive layer. Node participation is cooperative; the project is maintained by Mark Qvist under a custom license with no tokenomics.
Protocol Maturity / Standardization Proprietary Open Standard (protocol dedicated to public domain 2016; defined entirely by reference implementation and manual rather than formal specification document; wire-format and API considered stable; no standards body involvement; custom Reticulum License for implementation; single-author design 2014–2022 with growing community)