wtf is meshcore-mishmesh?

mishmesh is firmware for small handheld radios that talk to each other over LoRa, a long range, low power radio protocol. It is a fork of a project called MeshCore, which builds mesh networks: messages hop from radio to radio to cover distance without needing cell towers or WiFi. The original MeshCore companion firmware normally needs a paired phone app to do most things. mishmesh puts messaging, contacts, and settings directly on the device itself, so the radio is fully usable without a phone nearby, though pairing with a phone is still an option. Right now mishmesh targets one specific piece of hardware, the Wio Tracker L1 (pro). The project notes that support for e-ink screens may come later, and that other devices with enough physical buttons could be supported in theory. On the device, mishmesh offers direct messages, group channels, and room servers, with delivery status and automatic retry when a connection path goes stale. There are contact lists split into people, repeaters, and rooms, plus the ability to rename contacts, ping them, and request telemetry data. Users can log into a repeater from the device itself to change its settings, access list, and region. Extra utilities include a stopwatch, timer, alarm, and a world clock that adjusts for daylight saving time, along with a live view of radio airtime usage. Installing mishmesh means downloading a prebuilt firmware file and copying it onto the device after putting it into a special USB mode, or building it from source using a tool called PlatformIO. Two build variants exist: one that pairs over Bluetooth and one that talks over USB serial. The project uses a purchased set of emoji graphics that cannot be redistributed, so official builds include them but anyone building from source sees blank placeholder icons instead. The author is upfront that the code is a mix of manual work and AI assisted development, used mostly for early brainstorming and understanding the original codebase. mishmesh is released under the MIT license, the same license as MeshCore.