The Network Is
the Vulnerability

A visual guide to Ratspeak & the Reticulum stack — a cryptographic network that doesn’t just patch the internet, it replaces it.

01

The Internet Wasn't
Designed for Us

The Internet's architecture requires surveillance. Every protocol leaks location — IP addresses are like street addresses, and TLS is a locked envelope with that address in permanent marker. Even VPNs just shift the trust problem. Someone always knows.

203.0.113.7 198.51.100.1 192.168.1.5 10.0.0.42 172.16.3.8 ISP / SERVER
02

What If We Imagine
a New Network?

Reticulum doesn't just fix the internet. It changes it completely. Your entire footprint is a cryptographic key, not an IP address, no ISP involvement, just math. Meanwhile, packets in the network carry zero source address information.

RANDOM SEED Device Entropy ENCRYPTION KEY X25519 Keypair SIGNING KEY Ed25519 Keypair FINGERPRINT SHA-256 Hash YOUR ADDRESS 128-bit Identity
03

Encryption Is Gravity,
Not a Feature

Reticulum makes unencrypted communication impossible. Stripping encryption breaks the routing itself — as the entropy of the encrypted packets is the routing logic. You can't opt-out.

3
Packets to establish a fully encrypted link
297
Total bytes for link establishment
HMAC-SHA256 AES-256-CBC X25519 ECDH Ed25519 SIGNATURES
04

Identity Without Authority

Your identity is a 512-bit keypair you generate yourself. No registration, no servers, no authority. Portable across any medium, your identity follows you — only when you want it to.

Generate as many as you want. Each is cryptographically independent and compromising one reveals nothing about the others.

0
Servers, tokens, or accounts required
Identities — like wallets, use different ones for different purposes
a7f3::bd e2d1::9b SAME IDENTITY, ANY MEDIUM LoRa WiFi TCP Serial
05

Runs on Anything.
Literally.

Reticulum is transport-agnostic. The same protocol, the same code, the same identity — over fiber, satellite, packet radio, WiFi, and more. A solar-powered field radio joins the same mesh as a fiber server.

5 bps
Minimum bandwidth — a solar radio is enough
1 Gbps
Same protocol, same code, no changes
LoRa Node --> LoRa Laptop --> LoRa Phone --> WiFi Server --> TCP Raspberry Pi --> BLE Phone 2 --> TCP Server (redundant long-range link) --> LoRa Phone 2 (path diversity) --> WiFi Solar Radio LoRa Node Laptop Phone RPi Server Phone 2
06

How Peer Discovery Works

No directory, no DNS, no server to lookup. Instead, peers announce themselves — broadcasting a cryptographic proof of life. The announce ripples outward through the mesh. Peers record the path back, organically mapping and optimizing the best routes. No coordination, no control.

128
Maximum announce hops*
*Compared to Meshtastic's 7
2%
Maximum bandwidth used for announces
ANNOUNCE PATH STORED PATH STORED PATH STORED
07

Application
Layer

Reticulum provides the network layer — cryptographic identity, encrypted transport, source anonymity. But a network layer alone doesn't send messages, share files, or deliver to offline nodes.

That's where LXMF comes in. The Lightweight Extensible Message Format is an application-layer protocol built entirely on Reticulum primitives. Think of it like email built on TCP — except every message is encrypted, authenticated, and carries no sender address by default.

111
Bytes total overhead per encrypted message
LXMF MESSAGE TIMESTAMP 8B SIGNATURE 64B ENCRYPTION 32B E2E HEADER 7B PAYLOAD 111 BYTES RETICULUM TRANSPORT
08

Messages That Wait

Messages propagate when they can. Arrive when they arrive. Propagation nodes hold encrypted messages until the recipient comes online — hours, days, whenever. This isn't a fallback mode. On Reticulum, store-and-forward is the primary mode of existence.

Messages held by propagation nodes have no sender information, are unreadable and contain encrypted blobs only.

SENDER PROPAGATION RECIPIENT ENCRYPTED OFFLINE ONLINE
09

Ratspeak — Your Access Point

Ratspeak makes Reticulum feel like the apps you already know — without compromising any principles.

Encrypted Messaging

Full LXMF encrypted chat with delivery confirmation, file attachments, and forward secrecy. Compatible with Sideband, NomadNet, and MeshChat.

messages — Vitalik
Hey, how are you?
14:32 · 1 hop
Great! Reading this PDF, interesting stuff.
14:33
Reticulum.pdf
1.2 MB
14:34
Type a message...

Your Contacts

Everyone on your mesh, organized by availability. See who's reachable, how far away they are, and start an encrypted conversation in one tap.

contacts
All (5) Online Stale Offline
Atlas 1 hop 2m ago
Meridian 1 hop 5m ago
Juno 2 hops 8m ago
Solstice 3 hops 47m ago
Nexus --- 6h ago

Multi-Identity

Create, switch, and export identities instantly. Each is a unique Ed25519 keypair with its own address and message store. Hot-swap without restarting.

identities
RatRunner
a7f3e2d1::9b4c
ACTIVE
FieldOps c4b8::3e71
Anonymous 8f12::aa05

Interface Management

Add LoRa radios, TCP connections, WiFi auto-discovery, and BLE mesh from the dashboard. Interface health and traffic stats at a glance.

interfaces
RNode LoRa UP
TX 14.2 KB · RX 8.7 KB · 868 MHz · BW 125 · SF 7
TCP to relay.mesh UP
TX 1.1 MB · RX 2.3 MB · 192.168.4.1:4242
Local Network DOWN
AutoInterface · group ratspeak · no peers

Future Apps

Forums, wallet support, file sharing — we aren't just stopping at messaging.

apps
Rat Chat
Threaded discussions
SOON
Rat Wallet
Manage virtual currencies
SOON
File Drop
Encrypted file transfer over any distance, zero cloud
SOON
10

The Zen of Reticulum

Reticulum isn't just technology. It's a philosophy of sovereignty, independence, and ethical toolmaking.

The Illusion of the Center
There is no cloud. There is only other people. Reticulum is a fabric you inhabit, not a service you connect to. Uncentralized — not just decentralized.
Physics of Trust
Trust is binary, mathematical, and absolute. Either the signature matches, or it doesn't. There is no "maybe."
Self-Sovereignty
Be your own network operator. Hardware is abundant, and open source is free forever.
Fabric of the Independent
The right to communicate privately and freely is fundamental. The initial barrier is convenience, not complexity. Only we can change that.