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class="current"> 216 <li class="toctree-l1 current current-page"><a class="current reference internal" href="#">What is Reticulum?</a></li> 217 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="gettingstartedfast.html">Getting Started Fast</a></li> 218 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="zen.html">Zen of Reticulum</a></li> 219 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="software.html">Programs Using Reticulum</a></li> 220 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="using.html">Using Reticulum on Your System</a></li> 221 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="understanding.html">Understanding Reticulum</a></li> 222 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="hardware.html">Communications Hardware</a></li> 223 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="interfaces.html">Configuring Interfaces</a></li> 224 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="networks.html">Building Networks</a></li> 225 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="support.html">Support Reticulum</a></li> 226 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="examples.html">Code Examples</a></li> 227 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="license.html">Reticulum License</a></li> 228 </ul> 229 <ul> 230 <li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="reference.html">API Reference</a></li> 231 </ul> 232 233 </div> 234 </div> 235 236 </div> 237 238 </div> 239 </aside> 240 <div class="main"> 241 <div class="content"> 242 <div class="article-container"> 243 <a href="#" class="back-to-top muted-link"> 244 <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"> 245 <path d="M13 20h-2V8l-5.5 5.5-1.42-1.42L12 4.16l7.92 7.92-1.42 1.42L13 8v12z"></path> 246 </svg> 247 <span>Back to top</span> 248 </a> 249 <div class="content-icon-container"> 250 <div class="theme-toggle-container theme-toggle-content"> 251 <button class="theme-toggle" aria-label="Toggle Light / Dark / Auto color theme"> 252 <svg class="theme-icon-when-auto-light"><use href="#svg-sun-with-moon"></use></svg> 253 <svg class="theme-icon-when-auto-dark"><use href="#svg-moon-with-sun"></use></svg> 254 <svg class="theme-icon-when-dark"><use href="#svg-moon"></use></svg> 255 <svg class="theme-icon-when-light"><use href="#svg-sun"></use></svg> 256 </button> 257 </div> 258 <label class="toc-overlay-icon toc-content-icon" for="__toc"> 259 <span class="icon"><svg><use href="#svg-toc"></use></svg></span> 260 </label> 261 </div> 262 <article role="main" id="furo-main-content"> 263 <section id="what-is-reticulum"> 264 <h1>What is Reticulum?<a class="headerlink" href="#what-is-reticulum" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1> 265 <p>Reticulum is a cryptography-based networking stack for building both local and 266 wide-area networks with readily available hardware, that can continue to operate 267 under adverse conditions, such as extremely low bandwidth and very high latency.</p> 268 <p>To understand the foundational philosophy and goals of this system, read the 269 <a class="reference internal" href="zen.html#zen"><span class="std std-ref">Zen of Reticulum</span></a>.</p> 270 <p>Reticulum allows you to build wide-area networks with off-the-shelf tools, and 271 offers end-to-end encryption, forward secrecy, autoconfiguring cryptographically 272 backed multi-hop transport, efficient addressing, unforgeable packet 273 acknowledgements and more.</p> 274 <p>From a users perspective, Reticulum allows the creation of applications that 275 respect and empower the autonomy and sovereignty of communities and individuals. 276 Reticulum enables secure digital communication that cannot be subjected to 277 outside control, manipulation or censorship.</p> 278 <p>Reticulum enables the construction of both small and potentially planetary-scale 279 networks, without any need for hierarchical or bureaucratic structures to control 280 or manage them, while ensuring individuals and communities full sovereignty 281 over their own network segments.</p> 282 <p>Reticulum is a <strong>complete networking stack</strong>, and does not need IP or higher 283 layers, although it is easy to utilise IP (with TCP or UDP) as the underlying 284 carrier for Reticulum. It is therefore trivial to tunnel Reticulum over the 285 Internet or private IP networks. Reticulum is built directly on cryptographic 286 principles, allowing resilience and stable functionality in open and trustless 287 networks.</p> 288 <p>No kernel modules or drivers are required. Reticulum can run completely in 289 userland, and will run on practically any system that runs Python 3. Reticulum 290 runs well even on small single-board computers like the Pi Zero.</p> 291 <section id="current-status"> 292 <h2>Current Status<a class="headerlink" href="#current-status" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2> 293 <p>All core protocol features are implemented and functioning, but additions will probably occur as 294 real-world use is explored. The API and wire-format can be considered complete and stable, but 295 could change if absolutely warranted.</p> 296 </section> 297 <section id="reference-implementation"> 298 <h2>Reference Implementation<a class="headerlink" href="#reference-implementation" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2> 299 <p>The Python code, for which this documentation is written, and known as the Reticulum Network Stack, 300 is the Reference Implementation of Reticulum. The Reticulum Protocol is defined entirely 301 and authoritatively by this reference implementation, and this manual. It is maintained by Mark Qvist, 302 identified by the Reticulum Identity <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><bc7291552be7a58f361522990465165c></span></code>.</p> 303 <p>Compatibility with the Reticulum Protocol is defined as having full interoperability, 304 and sufficient functional parity with this reference implementation. Any specific protocol 305 implementation that achieves this is Reticulum. Any that does not is not Reticulum.</p> 306 <p>The reference implementation is licensed under the <a class="reference internal" href="license.html#license"><span class="std std-ref">Reticulum License</span></a>.</p> 307 <p>The Reticulum Protocol was dedicated to the Public Domain in 2016.</p> 308 </section> 309 <section id="what-does-reticulum-offer"> 310 <h2>What does Reticulum Offer?<a class="headerlink" href="#what-does-reticulum-offer" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2> 311 <ul class="simple"> 312 <li><p>Coordination-less globally unique addressing and identification</p></li> 313 <li><p>Fully self-configuring multi-hop routing over heterogeneous carriers</p></li> 314 <li><p>Flexible scalability over heterogeneous topologies</p> 315 <ul> 316 <li><p>Reticulum can carry data over any mixture of physical mediums and topologies</p></li> 317 <li><p>Low-bandwidth networks can co-exist and interoperate with large, high-bandwidth networks</p></li> 318 </ul> 319 </li> 320 <li><p>Initiator anonymity, communicate without revealing your identity</p> 321 <ul> 322 <li><p>Reticulum does not include source addresses on any packets</p></li> 323 </ul> 324 </li> 325 <li><p>Asymmetric X25519 encryption and Ed25519 signatures as a basis for all communication</p> 326 <ul> 327 <li><p>The foundational Reticulum Identity Keys are 512-bit Elliptic Curve keysets</p></li> 328 </ul> 329 </li> 330 <li><p>Forward Secrecy is available for all communication types, both for single packets and over links</p></li> 331 <li><p>Reticulum uses the following format for encrypted tokens:</p> 332 <ul> 333 <li><p>Ephemeral per-packet and link keys and derived from an ECDH key exchange on Curve25519</p></li> 334 <li><p>AES-256 in CBC mode with PKCS7 padding</p></li> 335 <li><p>HMAC using SHA256 for authentication</p></li> 336 <li><p>IVs are generated through os.urandom()</p></li> 337 </ul> 338 </li> 339 <li><p>Unforgeable packet delivery confirmations</p></li> 340 <li><p>Flexible and extensible interface system</p> 341 <ul> 342 <li><p>Reticulum includes a large variety of built-in interface types</p></li> 343 <li><p>Ability to load and utilise custom user- or community-supplied interface types</p></li> 344 <li><p>Easily create your own custom interfaces for communicating over anything</p></li> 345 </ul> 346 </li> 347 <li><p>Authentication and virtual network segmentation on all supported interface types</p></li> 348 <li><p>An intuitive and easy-to-use API</p> 349 <ul> 350 <li><p>Simpler and easier to use than sockets APIs and simpler, but more powerful</p></li> 351 <li><p>Makes building distributed and decentralised applications much simpler</p></li> 352 </ul> 353 </li> 354 <li><p>Reliable and efficient transfer of arbitrary amounts of data</p> 355 <ul> 356 <li><p>Reticulum can handle a few bytes of data or files of many gigabytes</p></li> 357 <li><p>Sequencing, compression, transfer coordination and checksumming are automatic</p></li> 358 <li><p>The API is very easy to use, and provides transfer progress</p></li> 359 </ul> 360 </li> 361 <li><p>Lightweight, flexible and expandable Request/Response mechanism</p></li> 362 <li><p>Efficient link establishment</p> 363 <ul> 364 <li><p>Total cost of setting up an encrypted and verified link is only 3 packets, totalling 297 bytes</p></li> 365 <li><p>Low cost of keeping links open at only 0.44 bits per second</p></li> 366 </ul> 367 </li> 368 <li><p>Reliable sequential delivery with Channel and Buffer mechanisms</p></li> 369 </ul> 370 </section> 371 <section id="where-can-reticulum-be-used"> 372 <h2>Where can Reticulum be Used?<a class="headerlink" href="#where-can-reticulum-be-used" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2> 373 <p>Over practically any medium that can support at least a half-duplex channel 374 with greater throughput than 5 bits per second, and an MTU of 500 bytes. Data radios, 375 modems, LoRa radios, serial lines, AX.25 TNCs, amateur radio digital modes, 376 ad-hoc WiFi, free-space optical links and similar systems are all examples 377 of the types of interfaces Reticulum was designed for.</p> 378 <p>An open-source LoRa-based interface called <a class="reference external" href="https://unsigned.io/rnode">RNode</a> 379 has been designed as an example transceiver that is very suitable for 380 Reticulum. It is possible to build it yourself, to transform a common LoRa 381 development board into one, or it can be purchased as a complete transceiver 382 from various vendors.</p> 383 <p>Reticulum can also be encapsulated over existing IP networks, so there’s 384 nothing stopping you from using it over wired Ethernet or your local WiFi 385 network, where it’ll work just as well. In fact, one of the strengths of 386 Reticulum is how easily it allows you to connect different mediums into a 387 self-configuring, resilient and encrypted mesh.</p> 388 <p>As an example, it’s possible to set up a Raspberry Pi connected to both a 389 LoRa radio, a packet radio TNC and a WiFi network. Once the interfaces are 390 added, Reticulum will take care of the rest, and any device on the WiFi 391 network can communicate with nodes on the LoRa and packet radio sides of the 392 network, and vice versa.</p> 393 </section> 394 <section id="interface-types-and-devices"> 395 <h2>Interface Types and Devices<a class="headerlink" href="#interface-types-and-devices" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2> 396 <p>Reticulum implements a range of generalised interface types that covers the communications hardware that Reticulum can run over. If your hardware is not supported, it’s simple to <a class="reference internal" href="examples.html#example-custominterface"><span class="std std-ref">implement an interface class</span></a>. Currently, Reticulum can use the following devices and communication mediums:</p> 397 <ul class="simple"> 398 <li><p>Any Ethernet device</p> 399 <ul> 400 <li><p>WiFi devices</p></li> 401 <li><p>Wired Ethernet devices</p></li> 402 <li><p>Fibre-optic transceivers</p></li> 403 <li><p>Data radios with Ethernet ports</p></li> 404 </ul> 405 </li> 406 <li><p>LoRa using <a class="reference external" href="https://unsigned.io/rnode">RNode</a></p> 407 <ul> 408 <li><p>Can be installed on <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/markqvist/rnodeconfigutil#supported-devices">many popular LoRa boards</a></p></li> 409 <li><p>Can be purchased as a <a class="reference external" href="https://unsigned.io/rnode">ready to use transceiver</a></p></li> 410 </ul> 411 </li> 412 <li><p>Packet Radio TNCs, such as <a class="reference external" href="https://unsigned.io/openmodem">OpenModem</a></p> 413 <ul> 414 <li><p>Any packet radio TNC in KISS mode</p></li> 415 <li><p>Ideal for VHF and UHF radio</p></li> 416 </ul> 417 </li> 418 <li><p>Any device with a serial port</p></li> 419 <li><p>The I2P network</p></li> 420 <li><p>TCP over IP networks</p></li> 421 <li><p>UDP over IP networks</p></li> 422 <li><p>Anything you can connect via stdio</p> 423 <ul> 424 <li><p>Reticulum can use external programs and pipes as interfaces</p></li> 425 <li><p>This can be used to easily hack in virtual interfaces</p></li> 426 <li><p>Or to quickly create interfaces with custom hardware</p></li> 427 </ul> 428 </li> 429 <li><p>Anything else using <a class="reference internal" href="interfaces.html#interfaces-custom"><span class="std std-ref">custom interface modules</span></a> written in Python</p></li> 430 </ul> 431 <p>For a full list and more details, see the <a class="reference internal" href="interfaces.html#interfaces-main"><span class="std std-ref">Supported Interfaces</span></a> chapter.</p> 432 </section> 433 </section> 434 435 </article> 436 </div> 437 <footer> 438 439 <div class="related-pages"> 440 <a class="next-page" href="gettingstartedfast.html"> 441 <div class="page-info"> 442 <div class="context"> 443 <span>Next</span> 444 </div> 445 <div class="title">Getting Started Fast</div> 446 </div> 447 <svg class="furo-related-icon"><use href="#svg-arrow-right"></use></svg> 448 </a> 449 <a class="prev-page" href="index.html"> 450 <svg class="furo-related-icon"><use href="#svg-arrow-right"></use></svg> 451 <div class="page-info"> 452 <div class="context"> 453 <span>Previous</span> 454 </div> 455 456 <div class="title">Home</div> 457 458 </div> 459 </a> 460 </div> 461 <div class="bottom-of-page"> 462 <div class="left-details"> 463 <div class="copyright"> 464 Copyright © 2025, Mark Qvist 465 </div> 466 Generated with <a href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/">Sphinx</a> and 467 <a href="https://github.com/pradyunsg/furo">Furo</a> 468 469 </div> 470 <div class="right-details"> 471 472 </div> 473 </div> 474 475 </footer> 476 </div> 477 <aside class="toc-drawer"> 478 479 480 <div class="toc-sticky toc-scroll"> 481 <div class="toc-title-container"> 482 <span class="toc-title"> 483 On this page 484 </span> 485 </div> 486 <div class="toc-tree-container"> 487 <div class="toc-tree"> 488 <ul> 489 <li><a class="reference internal" href="#">What is Reticulum?</a><ul> 490 <li><a class="reference internal" href="#current-status">Current Status</a></li> 491 <li><a class="reference internal" href="#reference-implementation">Reference Implementation</a></li> 492 <li><a class="reference internal" href="#what-does-reticulum-offer">What does Reticulum Offer?</a></li> 493 <li><a class="reference internal" href="#where-can-reticulum-be-used">Where can Reticulum be Used?</a></li> 494 <li><a class="reference internal" href="#interface-types-and-devices">Interface Types and Devices</a></li> 495 </ul> 496 </li> 497 </ul> 498 499 </div> 500 </div> 501 </div> 502 503 504 </aside> 505 </div> 506 </div><script src="_static/documentation_options.js?v=cb7bf70b"></script> 507 <script src="_static/doctools.js?v=9bcbadda"></script> 508 <script src="_static/sphinx_highlight.js?v=dc90522c"></script> 509 <script src="_static/scripts/furo.js?v=46bd48cc"></script> 510 <script src="_static/clipboard.min.js?v=a7894cd8"></script> 511 <script src="_static/copybutton.js?v=f281be69"></script> 512 </body> 513 </html>