LoRa Mesh

In testing

Funkpost — Post über Funk — a byte courier for local-first applications over LoRa mesh radios, Meshtastic®-compatible. Its data plane is built and tested end to end: OrbitDB databases replicate entry by entry across the mesh, between two devices whose only link is the radio — no WebRTC, no IP path anywhere (design and build plan: funkpost#1). On 4 September 2026 this first ran over a real LoRa mesh between two independent nodes, a desktop browser either side; phone Bluetooth stacks still vary — one held without a disconnect, another dropped repeatedly — and hardening them is in progress. Larger payloads follow via Storacha once either side regains internet.

In planning

Funkpost’s second plane — the signalling courier over the mesh, as thought through in design issue #161 — two scenarios. A customer enters the studio carrying phone and radio node, and the unstaffed front desk answers automatically. Or a customer books an appointment remotely: connection set-up travels by radio rather than through a third-party signalling server. No metadata accrues with any SaaS operator — and the booking is binding regardless.

The next stage

Bluetooth LE as the feeder: stationary Chrome PWAs reconciling their data directly with mobile devices — peer-to-peer over CRDTs (OrbitDB and Yjs among them), with no servers, no accounts and no passwords. And branch devices reconciling redundantly over WebRTC and over a LoRa mesh — whichever channel is available carries the traffic; the transport-neutral synchronisation layer beneath both comes from orbitdb-storacha-bridge#50.

Fields of application

• Data-minimal booking systems without tracking — for fitness and yoga studios.
• Multi-site booking systems for coworking operators.
• P2P logistics: a consignment travels from Hamburg to Munich with registered commuters already covering the route, by rail or by car. Across several handovers, each station sees only the meeting point and the handover time; the recipient's address goes to the final one alone — and every station takes a share of the carriage fee.
• P2P argument mapping for parties, associations and civil-rights movements — structured deliberation without a central platform.

Technical foundations

• funkpost — the byte courier itself: framing, ARQ and duty-cycle pacing over Meshtastic radios — data plane built, signalling plane designed.
• webrtc-qr — the library: two devices connect by scanning a code — no signalling server.
• qr01 — the tutorial chapter for this: a todo list moves from phone to phone by scanning a code — over a Wi-Fi hotspot, with no internet involved.
• ablage — a P2P dropbox between devices and people, with no servers and no accounts — over webrtc-qr and libp2p.
• yogasuci — an emerging showcase: class bookings without intermediaries, metadata or tracking.