MeshCore BBS

Anyone familiar with the MeshCore ecosystem knows the concept: small LoRa radio devices that connect to form a mesh network without needing cellular service or the internet. What was missing until now was a shared space—a digital bulletin board where you can post something for others to pick up later. That’s exactly what the MeshCore BBS is: a bulletin board system operated entirely over the radio network. The concept is reminiscent of the mailbox era of the ’80s and ’90s—except that today the connection isn’t made via a screeching modem, but via a radio device operating at a few milliwatts in the 868-MHz band.

First things first: You don’t need an app, an account, or any special software. Anyone who owns a MeshCore device and can send direct messages with it can use the BBS.

The BBS itself is connected to a MeshCore device running Companion firmware, which is linked to a small computer that handles the logic. For users out on the network, this infrastructure is invisible—they only see another node with a name like “📬 BBS.” Everything is controlled via direct messages using commands that begin with an exclamation point: You send !help, and the BBS responds with a list of commands. From there on, it’s all a question-and-answer game.

This on-demand principle is ideal for a wireless network. Transmission time is a scarce resource—data rates are minuscule, and everyone shares the same bandwidth. If the BBS were to actively distribute posts to everyone, the network would quickly become congested. Instead, each message sits quietly in the database until someone requests it. To ensure that the BBS can be found at all, it announces itself at set times and thus appears in the contact list of the other devices.

Everyday life revolves around two things: rooms and private messages.

Rooms are topic-based boards. !rooms you can see which ones are available, and !join lobby you can join one, and with !post Hallo! you can post a message, and with !read you can refresh to see new posts. The BBS keeps track of what each user has already read, so you only see new posts. You can undo a typo with !undo within a certain time limit.

The second section is for personal messages. The BBS works like a mailbox: With !msg Peter Hallo! you leave a message for Peter. If he’s unavailable, the message waits until he !inbox checks it. You reply to the most recently read message with !reply. This “save and forward” feature compensates for the fact that, in a wireless network, there’s never a guarantee that two people will be online at the same time.

There are also convenience commands: !who and !users show who’s active, !search searches posts, !ping disclose signal strength and the number of relay stations. There is a separate administration tool for the operator. Importantly, administration commands are deliberately not available over the wireless network—anyone wishing to administer the system must have access to the computer. This eliminates an entire attack vector from the outset.

The detailed command set can be found here. 

No infrastructure required. BBS operates entirely on a mesh network—no internet, no cellular service, no central server. This makes it a valuable option in places where the usual infrastructure is lacking or unavailable.

Low barrier to entry for users. Everything runs through standard direct messages. Anyone who can operate their device can use the BBS; the commands are short and easy to remember.

Designed to conserve battery life. Pull-based architecture, limits per retrieval, a rate limit per user—all of this respects limited transmission time and the overall network.

Reliable delivery. Messages are not considered read until they have been successfully sent. If a transmission fails, the post remains—you don’t lose anything just because the signal was temporarily poor.

Encrypted transmission. Direct messages between users and the BBS are encrypted by MeshCore itself; intermediate nodes only relay unreadable traffic.

Open and extensible. The source code is open-source, cleanly structured, and well-tested; a Docker image makes running it on a NAS straightforward. The interface is available in German if desired.

Transmission time remains the bottleneck. The physics of LoRa can’t be magic-away: Responses arrive in small chunks, with longer lists spread across multiple messages separated by pauses. The BBS is more like writing letters than instant messaging.

Short messages. Each radio message is limited to a few dozen characters—detailed posts inevitably break into multiple parts.

Cannot be retrieved after receipt. You can delete your own posts—but only as long as no one has picked them up yet. Once a message reaches the recipient, it stays there.

Names are not a reliable form of identity. Display names in the mesh can be chosen freely and are not unique. The BBS handles this by using the public key as the identity in case of doubt.

MeshCore-BBS is aimed at local wireless communities looking for a shared meeting place, hobbyists who enjoy experimenting, and anyone who appreciates the appeal of a system without a central infrastructure. It is not a replacement for group chat on a smartphone, nor does it intend to be. It is something unique: slow, deliberately minimalist, a bit nostalgic—a bulletin board that still works even when the internet is long gone.

More information about the project can be found here.