MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

Since inception, the MeshCore development team have been working hard to build MeshCore. We’ve released more than 85 versions of the MeshCore Companion, Repeater and Room Server firmwares with support for more than 75 hardware variants. All of this has been hand crafted, by humans.

We have always been wary of AI generated code, but felt everyone is free to do what they want and experiment, etc. But, one of our own, Andy Kirby, decided to branch out and extensively use Claude Code, and has decided to aggressively take over all of the components of the MeshCore ecosystem: standalone devices, mobile app, web flasher and web config tools. And, he’s kept that small detail a secret - that it’s all majority vibe coded.

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. We have tried discussing this, but those broke down and we now have no communication with Andy. 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.

Since the internal split, we launched the meshcore.io site, as Andy controls the meshcore.co.uk site and original discord server. Having only started in January 2025, we have grown extremely fast! As of this post, the official MeshCore Map shows 38,000+ nodes around the world, and the official MeshCore App has more than 100,000+ active users across Android and iOS.

The MeshCore team, now consisting of Scott, Liam, Recrof, FDLamotte and now Oltaco remain committed to designing and developing high quality, human-written software. This is where we will be hosting all official releases, technical documentation, and community discussions moving forward with a new Discord server.