MeshTexas started as a way to make sense of a Texas-based MeshCore mesh network — one place to see which nodes are active, how packets are moving across the state, and how the network is growing over time. Off-grid, decentralized mesh networking only gets more useful the more people can see it working, so instead of keeping that data to ourselves, we built a public map and opened it up.
MeshTexas is run by volunteers, not a company. Nobody gets paid, and it exists for one reason: to be useful to the mesh community. It's maintained by Adam (UsefulTowel on Discord), with help from operators around the state.
MeshCore observer nodes across Texas — devices configured to capture and forward live packet data — report to a self-hosted MQTT broker, which feeds a real-time analyzer and map. Everything runs on infrastructure we manage, is scoped to Texas-region nodes only, and is free for the community to use and watch.
Setting one up takes a bit of configuration — not every node needs this, it's a dedicated observer role — but we've written guides for the most common hardware and software combinations. See the Connect section for setup instructions covering MeshCore firmware, meshcoretomqtt, and meshcore-packet-capture.
Regions are tagged using IATA airport codes (e.g. SAT for San Antonio, AUS for Austin) — not because they're airport-specific, just a compact, already-familiar convention for naming Texas metro areas without inventing new abbreviations.
MeshTexas is active across Texas. Coverage grows as more operators add nodes and repeaters. IATA city codes are used to identify regions on the network.
MeshTexas is one piece of a bigger picture. Local groups across the state are the ones putting up repeaters and helping new people get on the air. We keep a directory of them, organized by region, so you can find yours.
Find a Local Community →We built this as regional infrastructure, not a one-off personal project — and we'd rather see more of Texas (and neighboring communities) covered than keep it to ourselves. If you're running or organizing a MeshCore community in another region, we're open to giving your nodes access to our broker so you can stand up your own independently-branded map without having to run MQTT infrastructure of your own.
You don't need to be organizing a whole community to reach out, either — the broker only accepts devices tagged with a pre-approved region code, so if your city or area isn't in the Connect section's list yet, that's reason enough to get in touch on your own, solo node or not. Adding a region code is a small, quick change on our end. Bring Your Area to MeshTexas walks through what that looks like.
This isn't automatic — we review each request so the network stays healthy and regionally organized — but it's a quick process. Note that this is about observer infrastructure specifically (the piece that forwards packet data to a broker), not a requirement for every node on your mesh — see Connect for what that setup looks like.
Your name and group/community name (if any).
A link to your community's site or social presence.
Email address (or Discord handle).
What region you cover and roughly how many nodes/operators you have.
Broker access only (you run your own map), or help setting up a fully independent stack.
Send the details above and we'll follow up to get you connected.
Email Us ↗Our deployment is open source and written to work for any region, not just Texas.
View on GitHub ↗MeshTexas is community-run, volunteer infrastructure. We don't guarantee uptime, and access can be adjusted or revoked if needed to keep the network healthy for everyone.
MeshTexas is a volunteer project with no commercial goal. The core network is free, and always will be:
If we ever take donations or grants, they'll only go toward repeater hardware and site costs — never toward paying anyone, and never toward monetizing your data or putting features behind a paywall.
I use AI a lot at work, and on side projects like this one too — it's part of how I keep this running with limited time. Some of this site's code and content were developed with AI assistance, always reviewed by a person before anything goes live. As more people contribute articles through the site, the same standard applies: AI-assisted writing is fine, as long as a real person stands behind what's published.