PiMesh

PiMesh turns any Raspberry Pi into a self-sufficient mesh network node using WiFi and batman-adv.

Fully offline. No internet. No router. Just Raspberry Pis talking to each other.

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Features

• Creates an ad-hoc mesh WiFi network using batman-adv
• Web dashboard served on each node (FastAPI + Tailwind)
• Message system between nodes (text exchange)
• Works on Raspberry Pi 5 and Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
• Containerized (runs via Docker)

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Project Structure

pimesh/
├── backend/           # FastAPI message API
├── frontend/          # Web interface (HTML + Tailwind)
├── mesh/              # Mesh networking setup scripts
├── Dockerfile         # Backend container
├── docker-compose.yml
└── README.md

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⚙️ Requirements

• Raspberry Pi with WiFi
• Raspbian OS (Lite or Desktop)
• Docker installed
• batctl, iw, wireless-tools

Install dependencies:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y batctl iw wireless-tools

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Setting up a Mesh Node

1. Enable batman-adv kernel module:

sudo modprobe batman-adv

2. Run the mesh setup script:

sudo bash mesh/mesh-setup.sh

This configures wlan0 in ad-hoc mode, joins the pimesh network, and assigns IP 10.0.0.100 to bat0.

You can change the IP in the script for each node.

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Running the Node Web Server

docker compose up -d

Then visit:

http://<raspip>:8088

You’ll see the local node dashboard and message form.

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Systemd Auto-start (Optional)

To run mesh setup at boot:

sudo cp mesh/systemd.service /etc/systemd/system/pimesh.service
sudo systemctl enable pimesh

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To-Do (Future)

• Auto-discovery of other nodes
• Multi-hop message relay
• File sharing or media broadcast
• Node map visualization

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🔗 License

MIT — Use it freely and build your own mesh 🛠️

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Want to build mesh networks for events, villages or just for fun?
This project is for you.