MeshCore Team Splits After Trademark Dispute and AI Integration

In a surprising move that has sent ripples through the mesh networking community, the original MeshCore development team has announced a split following a trademark dispute and the integration of AI-generated code into the project.

Since its inception, the MeshCore team has diligently built what became a rapidly growing mesh networking solution, releasing more than 85 versions of the MeshCore Companion, Repeater and Room Server firmwares with support for over 75 hardware variants. All of this work was done by humans, with the team expressing wariness toward AI-generated code while allowing others to experiment with it freely.

The fracture began when team member Andy Kirby decided to branch out and extensively use Claude Code, an AI coding assistant, to develop what he now calls the "official" MeshCore ecosystem. This includes standalone devices, mobile app, web flasher, and web configuration tools. What wasn't disclosed was that this new direction was majority AI-generated, a detail Kirby kept secret.

"We ran a poll recently and asked in the MeshCore Discord about AI and trust," the team explained in their announcement. "The team didn't feel it was our place to protest, until we recently discovered that Andy applied for the MeshCore Trademark (on the 29th March, according to filings) and didn't tell any of us."

Attempts to discuss the situation and Kirby's intentions broke down completely, leaving the original team with no communication channels and forcing them to take public action.

"It's been a stressful few months trying to sort this out, and is now a sad day to bring this out to the public," the team stated. "It's been a slap in the face to the team that have worked so hard on this project, to have an insider team up with a robot and a lawyer."

The trademark dispute centers around the use of the term "official" MeshCore. Kirby claims ownership of the brand and heavily promotes his MeshOS line as the official version. However, the original team maintains that the only true "official" MeshCore is the GitHub repository, which Kirby has never contributed to.

Since the split, the original team has launched meshcore.io as their new official hub, while Kirby controls the original meshcore.co.uk site and Discord server. The team notes that Kirby even copied the look and feel of their new website using AI after they requested he not do so.

The MeshCore project has experienced explosive growth since its January 2025 inception, with the official MeshCore Map now showing 38,000+ nodes worldwide and the official MeshCore App boasting over 100,000+ active users across Android and iOS. This rapid expansion has led to numerous country-specific MeshCore websites popping up, including Portugal (meshcore.pt), Switzerland (meshcore.ch), and the UK (meshcore.co.uk), now controlled by Kirby.

Despite the split, the original team remains committed to developing high-quality, human-written software. The core team now consists of Scott (project founder, lead firmware engineer), Recrof (MeshCore Map developer), Liam Cottle (MeshCore App developer), FDLamotte (Python tooling and STM32 firmware), and Oltaco (OTA Fix bootloader developer).

For users and community members, the team has established new official channels:

• Official Website: meshcore.io
• Blog and Updates: blog.meshcore.io
• Technical Documentation: docs.meshcore.io
• Official GitHub: github.com/meshcore-dev/MeshCore
• Discord: meshcore.gg
• Reddit: reddit.com/r/meshcore
• Facebook: facebook.com/groups/meshcore

The split highlights growing tensions in the open-source hardware community around AI integration, intellectual property, and the definition of "official" projects. As mesh networking continues to gain popularity globally, this dispute may set important precedents for how community-driven projects handle internal conflicts and technological direction changes.

For now, users are left navigating two competing versions of MeshCore, each claiming legitimacy. The original team emphasizes their commitment to transparency and human-written code, while Kirby's version appears to leverage the trademarked name and established community presence to position itself as the continuation of the project.

As the mesh networking ecosystem continues to evolve, this situation serves as a case study in the challenges of maintaining community trust during project transitions and the increasingly complex relationship between human developers and AI tools in open-source hardware development.