Open source · MIT · runs on your desk, not the cloud

See your whole mesh. Chat, map, probe, capture.

Perch is a command center for your Meshtastic radio — the dashboard the hobby deserves. Plug a $40 LoRa radio into your Mac (or Linux, or Windows), open Perch, and your city's mesh appears: every node, every message, every packet, with the network tools to actually understand it.

Try the live demo Download 10-minute setup
What it is

Two programs, one job.

Perch is what you look at. Coop is what does the work. They install together and find each other automatically — you never configure the pair.

Perch the dashboard

  • Chat across channels and DMs — tapbacks, replies, delivery tracking
  • Live map: every node with a position, shared waypoints, favorite-node trails
  • Node intel: hardware, battery, environment sensors, SNR trends, neighbors
  • Mesh services: traceroute with per-hop SNR, position requests
  • Widgets you rearrange; tab presets; unread badges and a notification bell
  • Multi-engine: watch several radios/sites from one window

Coop the engine

  • Owns the radio over USB serial, WiFi/TCP, or Bluetooth
  • Decodes every packet; decrypts any channel you hold keys for
  • Captures history to SQLite in your Documents folder — yours to keep, query, back up
  • REST + SSE API — Perch is just its best-known client
  • Optional MQTT observer for community meshes beyond radio range
  • Single Go binary; runs headless on a server or Raspberry Pi
Get started

From zero to seeing your mesh in about 10 minutes.

Get a radio

Any Meshtastic-supported LoRa board works. The sweet spot: the Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 + Wio-SX1262 kit (~$40, case included) or a LILYGO T-Deck. Flash Meshtastic firmware with the official web flasher if it didn't ship with it.

Install Perch

macOS: download Perch.app from GitHub releases — Coop is inside the bundle. Linux/Windows: grab the binaries or go build from source. No accounts, no telemetry, nothing to sign up for.

Plug in and open

Connect the radio over USB and open Perch. Coop finds the serial port, handshakes, and the dashboard fills in. WiFi radios work too — Coop can dial the firmware's TCP API.

Join your local mesh

Import your community's channel QR/URL right from Perch's channel manager, set your region, and you're part of the neighborhood. (St. Louis? Say hi to MeshSTL.)

Documentation

Every detail, written down.

The complete manual — from "which radio do I buy" to the raw API. Also worth a look: the troubleshooting guide and FAQ.

Quickstart

Radio → USB → dashboard, step by step with screenshots.

 Hardware guide

Boards that work great, boards that work, antennas, cases.

 Channels & keys

Joining community meshes, PSKs, QR import/export, region setup.

 The capture database

Where your history lives, retention, backups, querying with SQL.

 MQTT & community meshes

Observing beyond radio range; running your own broker.

 Coop API reference

REST + SSE endpoints for building your own tools on the engine.

 Mesh services

Traceroute, position requests, neighbor topology — how to read them.

 Multi-engine setups

Several radios, remote Coops over Tailscale, read-only observers.

 Architecture

How Perch and Coop fit together; why the capture survives anything.