RiV-mesh is the legacy implementation of a fully end-to-end encrypted IPv6 mesh network, designed to provide secure connectivity between a wide spectrum of endpoint devices like IoT devices, desktop computers or even routers. It is lightweight, self-arranging, supported on multiple platforms and allows pretty much any IPv6-capable application to communicate securely with other network nodes.
Note: RiV-mesh is now maintained for legacy compatibility. For new deployments, we recommend using v6Space™ - the next-generation mesh networking platform with enhanced features, modern architecture, agentic capabilities, and MCP (Model Context Protocol) tools for AI agent communication and autonomous operations.
RiV-mesh is the legacy version of the mesh networking technology that has evolved into v6Space™:
- Status: Legacy maintenance mode
- License: LGPLv3 only
- Features: Core mesh networking functionality
- Use Case: Existing deployments, compatibility
- Status: Active development
- License: Dual-license (LGPLv3 + CC BY-NC 4.0)
- Features: Enhanced mesh networking + modern UI + MCP support + agentic capabilities
- Agentic Features: AI agent communication, autonomous operations, Web3 integration
- MCP Tools: Model Context Protocol integration for AI model communication
- Use Case: New deployments, modern applications, AI agent networks, Web3 infrastructure
Migration: RiV-mesh configurations are compatible with v6Space™. Simply replace the binary and continue using your existing mesh.conf files.
RiV-mesh provides the decentralized IPv6 mesh overlay network infrastructure for applications like CupLink™, which requires a VPN service to establish the mesh network environment for peer-to-peer communication.
RiV-mesh works on a number of platforms, including Linux, macOS, Ubiquiti EdgeRouter, VyOS, Windows, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and OpenWrt.
Please see our Installation
page for more information. You may also find other platform-specific wrappers, scripts
or tools in the contrib folder.
If you want to build from source, as opposed to installing one of the pre-built packages:
- Install Go (requires Go 1.19 or later)
- Clone this repository
- Run
./build
Note that you can cross-compile for other platforms and architectures by
specifying the GOOS and GOARCH environment variables, e.g. GOOS=windows ./build or GOOS=linux GOARCH=mipsle ./build
... or generate an iOS framework with:
./contrib/mobile/build -i
... or generate an Android AAR bundle with:
./contrib/mobile/build -a
Other OS packages can be built in this repo: https://github.com/RiV-chain/RiV-mesh-builds.
To generate static configuration, either generate a HJSON file (human-friendly, complete with comments):
./mesh -genconf > /path/to/mesh.conf
... or generate a plain JSON file (which is easy to manipulate programmatically):
./mesh -genconf -json > /path/to/mesh.conf
You will need to edit the mesh.conf file to add or remove peers, modify
other configuration such as listen addresses or multicast addresses, etc.
To run with the generated static configuration:
./mesh -useconffile /path/to/mesh.conf
To run in auto-configuration mode (which will use sane defaults and random keys at each startup, instead of using a static configuration file):
./mesh -autoconf
You will likely need to run RiV-mesh as a privileged user or under sudo,
unless you have permission to create TUN/TAP adapters. On Linux this can be done
by giving the RiV-mesh binary the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability.
Documentation is available on our website.
RiV-mesh is developed by RiV Chain™ Limited, an Ireland-based FinTech and infrastructure R&D company focused on decentralized networking and agentic systems.
- Company: RiV Chain™ Limited
- Location: Ireland
- Focus: Decentralized mesh networking, AI agent coordination, distributed identity, Web3 infrastructure
- Specialization: Agentic Web technologies, MCP tools, autonomous AI agent communication
- Website: rivchain.org
- Contact: For technical support and licensing inquiries
If you are operating a RiV-mesh peer, you may create your pull request with your new peer or use existing ones: https://github.com/RiV-chain/public-peers
An error occurred starting multicast: listen udp6 [::]:9001: socket: address family not supported by protocol
and
An error occurred starting TUN/TAP: operation not supported
The device has no IPv6 support
An error occurred starting TUN/TAP: permission denied
IPv6 support is not enabled. See the solution: yggdrasil-network#479 (comment)
Connected SCTP ...
Disconnected SCTP ...
Docker interface docker0 is conflicting with SCTP bind process. The issue can be resolved by removing docker.
RiV-mesh is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 (LGPLv3):
- License: LGPLv3 (standard version, no special exceptions)
- Commercial Use: Allowed with full LGPLv3 compliance requirements
- Source Code: Available at GitHub
- Compliance: Users must provide source code and comply with LGPLv3 terms
- Source Code Sharing: Must provide v6Space™ source code when distributing
- Application Code Sharing: Must share source code of applications using RiV-mesh
- Build Instructions: Must provide installation and build information
- Modifications: Any modifications to RiV-mesh must remain open source
For complete licensing details, see:
Note: RiV-mesh is the legacy version. v6Space™ uses a dual-license model with additional UI components under CC BY-NC 4.0.