Bridge your mesh to the internet with MQTT

AdvancedMeshtasticAbout 45 minutes

You'll need

• An ESP32 Meshtastic radio on Wi-Fi (or a phone acting as proxy)
• An MQTT broker (public or your own)
• Your local group's MQTT rules

An MQTT gateway copies mesh traffic to a server on the internet, and optionally back. It powers maps and dashboards and links distant meshes.

Talk to your local group first

A misconfigured bridge can flood a mesh. At Hamvention 2024, one user’s MQTT bridge overwhelmed the event mesh. Arizona’s community, for example, asks for uplink on and downlink off unless agreed otherwise.

1. Give the node internet

• ESP32 boards: connect to Wi-Fi (or Ethernet) in the Network settings.
• nRF52 and RP2040 boards have no Network settings. Turn on Client Proxy (mqtt.proxy_to_client_enabled) so the node uses your phone’s connection. Client Proxy doesn’t work with the web client yet.

2. Turn on the MQTT module

Setting	Default	Notes
Enabled (mqtt.enabled)	off	Turn on
Server address (mqtt.address)	mqtt.meshtastic.org	Leave for the public server, or set your own broker
Username / password	the public server’s defaults	Use your own for a private broker
Encryption enabled	off	Turn on so packets reach the broker still encrypted
JSON enabled	off	Needed for Home Assistant; not supported on nRF52
TLS enabled	off	Use with brokers that support it
Map reporting	off	Shares your node on public maps, with approximate position by default

3. Choose which channels go up or down

Uplink and downlink are set per channel and are off by default.

• Uplink sends that channel’s mesh traffic to the broker.
• Downlink sends broker traffic onto your local radio mesh. Leave it off unless your group agrees.

Public vs private broker

• The public Meshtastic server only passes traffic to directly connected nodes (a “zero-hop” policy, so it doesn’t flood across your local mesh), filters to common message types, and only shares approximate positions.
• A private broker (such as Mosquitto on your own server) gives you full control. Don’t use the default channel key with a private broker; the docs warn it can cause security problems and flood the mesh.

Note

Expect duplicate messages when several gateways serve the same mesh. Tools reading MQTT should de-duplicate by packet ID.

Next: Send mesh data to Home Assistant

Sources

Checked on October 18, 2026.

1. meshtastic.org/docs/software/integrations/mqtt
2. meshtastic.org/docs/configuration/module/mqtt
3. meshtastic.org/docs/configuration/radio/channels
4. meshtastic.org/docs/software/integrations/mqtt/mosquitto
5. azmsh.net/docs/recommended-settings.html
6. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meshtastic