Styrene

A mesh communications platform built on Reticulum.

Styrene extends Reticulum (RNS) and LXMF into a complete mesh platform. Each styrene daemon is a full peer on the network: encrypted messaging, service discovery, mesh relay. Identity generation, transport negotiation, and path resolution happen without configuration.

Identity. One root secret derives all your keys — SSH, git signing, age, WireGuard, mesh. Created by nex on your workstation or by the daemon on first start. Optionally backed by YubiKey.

Transport. A styrene node uses the best path available — internet, LAN, BATMAN-adv L2 mesh, or LoRa radio. RNS handles the negotiation.

Deployment. A local group can stand up a private mesh with no central infrastructure. If the internet goes down, the mesh continues on whatever remains.

Tools

nex is the machine lifecycle tool. It installs packages, creates your StyreneIdentity, provisions machines, and gets you from unboxing to operational. Install: curl -fsSL https://nex.styrene.io/install.sh | sh

styrene is the runtime mesh tool. It runs the daemon, discovers peers, sends messages, and manages fleet operations. It’s a single binary with feature flags — daemon, TUI, and CLI combined.

The handoff is the identity file. nex creates it. styrene uses it. Either tool can create it — whichever runs first.

Current capabilities

• Deterministic identity — one root secret, all keys derived via HKDF-SHA256
• Encrypted messaging over LXMF with address book management
• Automatic peer discovery across the mesh
• Fleet operations — remote exec, reboot, status queries over the mesh
• Device provisioning — opinionated NixOS images for edge devices
• Git commit signing — identity-derived SSH keys with agent delegation
• CLI — scriptable mesh operations (status, peers, send, announce)

Components

nex — package management + identity + provisioning (cold-start tool, no daemon needed)

styrene — unified daemon + TUI + CLI binary

styrene-edge — NixOS configurations and Forge media preparation for edge hardware

styrene-rs — Rust crate workspace (23 crates: protocol, identity, IPC, services)

Quick links

• Getting Started — install nex, create identity, join the mesh
• Identity — the key hierarchy and linkability model
• Styrene CLI — mesh command reference
• nex + styrene — how the tools work together
• Components — detailed architecture
• Hardware — supported edge devices

Project status

External links

• GitHub
• nex.styrene.io — machine lifecycle tool
• Reticulum Network