Skip to main content

Using RegionMesh Geographic Scoping

Using RegionMesh Geographic Scoping

AsRegionMesh youris a third-party community growsnaming withinconvention for MeshCore (not Meshtastic), built around MeshCore's region/scope feature. It is documented at the largercommunity RegionMeshsite regionmesh.com and is not an official MeshCore registry or a single operated national network,mesh. geographicAs scopingparticipating communities grow, using a shared region name helps you manage channel capacity and create region-specific communications without pollutingflooding every reachable repeater.

A MeshCore "region" is simply an arbitrary, operator-chosen plain-text name (lowercase alphanumeric plus hyphens, maximum ~29 bytes UTF-8) that the nationalfirmware mesh.SHA-256-hashes into a 2-byte transport code. There is no ISO 3166-2 system, no built-in country/state code table, and no central firmware registry. A name like us or nd works only because it is a valid arbitrary string the firmware hashes — the firmware never interprets it as a standardized region code. RegionMesh is a convention for getting nearby operators to agree on the same names, adopted by local consensus rather than registered with any authority.

The Problem Scoping Solves

OnWithin a nationwideconnected MeshCore mesh, every message without a scope floods all connected repeaters fromit Mainecan toreach. California.That Thisflood worksis finebounded forby RF range and hop limit (and by MQTT bridging where enabled) — it does not literally travel coast-to-coast over the air, because LoRa nodes only relay within radio range. But on a smalldense local network, butor asacross theMQTT-bridged networksegments, scales to thousands of repeaters, cross-countryunscoped traffic consumes significant channel capacity.capacity that nearby communities do not need to carry. A neighborhood alert in Fargo, ND doesn'tdoes not need to be relayed throughby repeaters inthat Miami.only serve other metros.

How to Enable Regional Scoping

On each repeater in your regional network,repeater, configure the relevant regions using the MeshCore CLI (these are MeshCore commands, not Meshtastic). A child region codes:requires its parent as an argument, and you allow flood forwarding for each name before saving. Verify exact syntax against docs.meshcore.io and regionmesh.com, as the CLI evolves:

region put us
region put us-nd us
region allowf us
region allowf nd
region save
advert

This example configures a North Dakota repeater to servecarry both national USus traffic and a North Dakota-scoped messages.nd region. The region put nd us form establishes nd as a child of us; the parent argument is required for the hierarchy to take effect. There is no advert step in this flow.

Creating a Regional Channel

When your users send messages withare thescoped us-nd (orto your region)region scope(e.g., set,nd), those messagesthey are only forwarded by repeaters that have that region configured. This creates an effective regional "channel" over the nationalshared infrastructure without requiring separate hardware or frequencies.

RegisteringChoosing a Metro Code

If your community covers a metro area not well served by a state codename alone (e.g., Dallas/Fort Worth spans multiple states)Worth), you can propose a community metro code.name. TheThere process:is no central registry — codes are adopted by local consensus. A typical approach:

  1. Join the RegionMeshofficial MeshCore Discord at meshcore.gg (where much RegionMesh coordination happens), or check regionmesh.com
  2. Propose the codename in the appropriate channel (format: lowercase,lowercase alphanumeric and hyphens only, max 29 bytes,bytes UTF-8, e.g., us-dfw)
  3. Achieve community consensus among local mesh operators
  4. The codename is then registereddocumented and documentedshared forso othersnearby tooperators useadopt the same one — there is no formal registration step

Existing Metro Codes

RegionMesh's documented metro names are bare strings with no us- prefix. Examples (confirm the current list at regionmesh.com rather than assuming):

See regionmesh.com or the RegionMeshofficial MeshCore Discord for the current complete list.

Back to top