Crosstalk

A field-focused fork of Reticulum MeshChat with clearer network visibility, easier interface setup and a redesigned UI.

What Crosstalk adds

Crosstalk keeps MeshChat's LXMF messaging, attachments, audio calls, propagation-node support and Nomad Network browser, then makes Reticulum easier to understand, configure and use.

Transport and infrastructure visibility

• A dedicated Infrastructure view for signed Reticulum interface advertisements.
• Visibility into relay-only infrastructure, including MicroReticulum transport nodes such as SkyMesh and RTNode devices.
• Infrastructure nodes, hop counts, radio parameters and connection state in the network map.

Easier interface setup

• Public-backbone onboarding, including a disabled-by-default RMAP World connection.
• Improved interface import, export, editing and deletion.
• Automatic backend restarts after configuration changes.
• An isolated Crosstalk Reticulum configuration so another local Reticulum instance cannot leave the app using stale settings.

Better everyday UI

• A redesigned, higher-contrast desktop and mobile UI.
• Clearer navigation, deterministic identicons and improved network-map controls.
• Consistent in-app dialogs, notifications and status feedback.
• Better attachment previews, attachment-only messages and mobile chat controls.

Reliability improvements and bug fixes

• More predictable startup and configuration behavior.
• Fixes for stale Reticulum settings, attachment-only messages and mobile chat interactions.
• Clearer feedback when interfaces restart, connections change or message delivery needs attention.

Iridium IMT transport

• Native Reticulum interface for a USB-connected RockBLOCK 9704.
• Complete encrypted Reticulum packets sent over Iridium Messaging Transport.
• Duplicate inbound packet suppression.
• Bounded LXMF retry behavior designed to avoid waste on paid, high-latency satellite links.
• Delivery and signal-status feedback in the conversation UI.
• Allowlisted path persistence for restoring selected Iridium routes without generating satellite traffic.

See RockBLOCK 9704 / Iridium IMT setup.

Install

Download a packaged build for Windows, macOS or Linux from Releases.

The desktop packages are not yet Developer ID or Authenticode signed. On macOS, try opening Crosstalk once, then use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. On Windows, you may need to choose More info and then Run anyway in SmartScreen.

Other supported setups:

• Docker
• Raspberry Pi
• Android with Termux

To run from source, install Python 3 and Node.js 22.12 or newer, then:

git clone https://github.com/buildwithparallel/crosstalk.git
cd crosstalk
npm install --omit=dev
npm run build-frontend
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
python3 crosstalk.py

Open http://localhost:8000. Run python3 crosstalk.py --help for server, identity, storage and Reticulum configuration options.

Development

python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
npm install
npm run build-frontend
python3 crosstalk.py --headless

Use npm run electron to build and launch the Electron app locally, or npm run dist to create a packaged build for the current platform.

Maintainers can use the release workflow to build downloadable packages for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Upstream and compatibility

Crosstalk is based on Reticulum MeshChat and remains compatible with LXMF clients such as Sideband and NomadNet.

It uses the Reticulum Network Stack and can communicate over any configured Reticulum interface, including TCP, local networks, RNode/LoRa and the Crosstalk Iridium IMT interface.

License

MIT