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Reticulum

Reticulum is a networking stack for places with no infrastructure. Addresses are cryptographic identities, every packet is encrypted, and one network can run over a LoRa radio, a packet modem, a cable, a TCP link or an ordinary local network with no router. On top of it, LXMF carries messages and NomadNet is a terminal messenger and page browser.

Programs the catalog carries

  • lxmf: LXMF, Reticulum's message layer, and lxmd, its store-and-forward propagation daemon (in mesh)
  • nomadnet: Nomad Network, an encrypted messenger and page browser for the terminal, over Reticulum (in mesh)
  • rns: Reticulum, encrypted networking over any medium, with its shared instance and the RNode flasher (in mesh)

Each is a hash-pinned per-user virtualenv, because no archive carries them (about 70 MB for the three). rns brings the tools (rnstatus, rnpath, rnprobe, rncp, rnx, rnsh, rnid), the RNode flasher rnodeconf, and hammunition-rnsd, a systemd user service that keeps one shared instance per machine; the first account's service runs it and another account's attaches as a client. lxmd, the store-and-forward propagation daemon, is installed with lxmf and run only on purpose. Sideband and MeshChat are not carried (each is its own decision; see the mesh inventory).

Hardware the catalog carries

  • rnode: RNode, Reticulum's LoRa transceiver firmware, on the LilyGO, Heltec and RAK boards it supports (status untested; not maintainer-verified)

An RNode is firmware on a common LoRa board, not a product; upstream lists fifteen supported boards. The catalog claims no USB identifier for it, because a board presents its base module's, and records the entry as untested. Reticulum also runs with no radio at all, over a local network or the internet.

Install

hammunition install mesh --dry-run
hammunition install mesh
systemctl --user start hammunition-rnsd
rnstatus

The service is enabled at install and starts at your next login, so start it by hand the first time. The engine writes no Reticulum configuration: ~/.reticulum/config is created by rnsd and is yours, and uninstall leaves ~/.reticulum, ~/.nomadnetwork, ~/.lxmd and ~/.rnsh in place.

The licence position

Reticulum and LXMF are under the Reticulum License: the MIT text plus two added conditions (no use in a system whose functions include purposefully doing harm to human beings, and no use in training an AI or machine-learning model). That is not an OSI-approved licence. The plan prints it on each venv's line and does not gate on it; the decision is yours (D-080). NomadNet is GPL-3.0-only by its shipped text. The guide quotes upstream's wording.

First useful task: two machines, no internet

On two machines on one network, run nomadnet on each and write down the address it shows, then message the other. With nothing configured, the AutoInterface finds the other machine by itself. The guide's section 3 walks through it; section 4 covers NomadNet.

To go beyond one network, flash an RNode (rnodeconf --autoinstall) and add an RNodeInterface with a frequency you are allowed to use, or put Reticulum over a Direwolf modem (section 7). The guide states, without ruling on it, that Reticulum encrypts every packet and that Part 97 in the United States forbids messages encoded to obscure their meaning on amateur frequencies: whether a given link is lawful is for you to establish. Read section 6 before you transmit. Add yourself to dialout first.

Offline, LAN and radio

Part With no internet?
Two machines on one local network, NomadNet, rncp, rnsh Yes.
An RNode or packet link Yes: it is radio.
Linking to a distant hub or the wider Reticulum No: it needs a TCP link.
Installing, and rnodeconf's firmware fetch No: needs the network (rnodeconf can be pointed at a file; see its help).

Where the detail lives

Mesh and Reticulum (all 13 sections), the mesh profile, the RNode device page, mesh inventory, and upstream's manual at https://reticulum.network/manual/.

What was measured, and what was not

Measured on 2026-10-03, on a Parrot 7.4 machine and in Debian 13 containers with rootless Podman: the pins install with every hash matching (rns 1.5.6, lxmf 1.2.0, nomadnet 1.4.4); the shared instance is an abstract Unix socket and no TCP port; two containers on one bridge found each other, a probe returned over one hop, an LXMF message was delivered, and an rnsh listener accepted a connection; the install and uninstall through the engine; and another account attaching to the first account's instance.

Not measured:

  • Any LoRa link. No RNode and no Meshtastic node has been run; the maintainer's boards were lost in a flood, and the rnode entry is untested.
  • NomadNet's text interface: it was started in daemon mode only.
  • Any internet link: the TCP examples are upstream's.
  • rnodeconf's download: where it fetches from and whether it verifies it.
  • The service under a real systemd user manager, and propagation between two nodes.
  • What another account could send through your instance once attached.
  • arm64 and Python 3.14.