Reticulum

Protocolo P2P

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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Detalles

Licencia 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)
Estado de Desarrollo 🟢 Activo
Detalle del Estado de Desarrollo 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)
Propietario 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
Órgano de Gobierno None (single independent author; protocol dedicated to the public domain in 2016; original developer announced departure from development December 2025)
País Not disclosed (Mark Qvist maintains pseudonymous presence; identifies by Reticulum Identity rather than geographic location; ran rural ISP at one point)
Año de Inicio 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
Financiamiento Individual donations (Monero, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Liberapay, Ko-Fi); no corporate sponsorship or venture capital; community-supported independent development
Última Investigación 15 ene 2026

Dominios de Caso de Uso

Comunicación Evolución de Plataformas y Soberanía

Capacidades

Cifrado de extremo a extremo Funciona sin conexión / en malla Autoalojable

Protocolo P2P Atributos

Orígenes 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)
Base de Datos Local routing tables (each node maintains routing table of known destinations via announce propagation; no central database; path information discovered dynamically via cryptographic announcements)
Lenguaje de Consulta N/A (API-based interaction; destinations discovered via announce/path resolution mechanism; no query language)
Formatos de Datos 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
Edición Colaborativa en Vivo No (networking stack, not application layer; applications built on top like Sideband and NomadNet provide messaging/file transfer but not collaborative editing)
Edición de Texto Enriquecido No (provides raw networking primitives; NomadNet supports micron markup for pages but this is application-layer)
Soporte Móvil Yes (Sideband app for Android; MeshChat cross-platform; RNode hardware interfaces via Bluetooth/USB to mobile devices)
Soporte Web 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)
Aplicaciones Nativas 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)
Términos 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
Fondos Not disclosed (individual donation-funded; no known grants or institutional funding)
Basado En 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
Arquitectura P2P 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)
Red de Superposición 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')
Direccionamiento por Contenido 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)
Cifrado de Extremo a Extremo (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)
Biblioteca de CRDTs No (networking stack layer; no CRDT implementation)
Tolerancia a Fallos Bizantinos 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)
Firma Ed25519 (all identities based on 512-bit EC keysets; signatures used for path verification, delivery acknowledgements, and identity authentication; cryptographic proofs fundamental to routing)
Permisos 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)
Compatibilidad con la Web Semántica No
Contrato Inteligente No
Posición en la Pila del Protocolo Application-layer (built on TCP/IP)
Incorporación de Activos/Valor 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.
Madurez del Protocolo / Estandarización 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)