Mocktastic is a customizable LoRa client designed for ESP32-based hardware, specifically targeting the LilyGO T3 LoRa32 V1.6.1. Developed as an educational and experimental project rather than a production-ready fork of the official Meshtastic firmware, it provides a framework for users to understand how to build and decode Meshtastic-compatible packets using C++. The project is structured to separate platform-independent protocol logic from hardware-specific effects, allowing developers to exercise the core logic on a host machine through unit tests before deploying to target hardware.
The project is structured to separate platform-independent protocol logic from hardware-specific effects.
The firmware operates in two distinct compile-time modes depending on the user's goals. The DECODER mode provides an interactive serial shell that allows users to receive, decode, and send text messages across configured Meshtastic channels and direct messages. Alternatively, the SENSOR mode transforms the board into a dedicated DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor. In this mode, the device can transmit measurements and respond to specific commands, such as /dht, on a private channel. To support these operations, the project utilizes a technical stack including MBDTLS for cryptographic functions like AES and X25519, and Nano-Protobuf as a lightweight encoder for Protobuf payloads.
While Mocktastic offers a streamlined way to interact with the Meshtastic protocol, it carries specific limitations compared to the official firmware. The project is intended for prototyping and lacks the sophisticated power efficiency, reliability, and robust channel handling found in the official Meshtastic production software. Because it has undergone limited field testing, the author explicitly advises against using Mocktastic for safety-critical or production applications. Users must still manually configure regional radio presets—such as 'Long Range / Slow' or 'Medium Fast'—and ensure that their hardware pin mappings and hexadecimal keys are correctly aligned with local regulations and network requirements.