GitHub - kaizen-hq/mesh: A peer-to-peer git daemon with an issues board and cicd.

mesh — Bun/TypeScript peer-to-peer git daemon

• One HTTPS listener on :7979 (HTTPS by default; HTTP opt-in via transport.tls = false).
• Routes: git smart-HTTP at /<repo>.git/..., POST /mesh/frame for signed notifications, GET /status for the browser dashboard.
• Push-only peer link with retry queue + exponential backoff.
• Full-mesh replication: every peer mirrors every repo introduced via git push.
• ed25519-signed frames; bincode-encoded payloads.
• Built-in CI/CD: distributed pipeline execution, cron scheduling, live log streaming.

Why Bun Runtime

This was first built with Rust. But as an unsigned-compiled program, the company network security defense tooling and policy "dropped" inbound requests. Not technically dropped, but would essentially send "empty responses" back.

Install

From GitHub (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaizen-hq/mesh/main/install.sh | bash

Installs the latest source from main. Requires bun, unzip, and curl.

To install a specific release:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaizen-hq/mesh/main/install.sh | MESH_REF=v1.2.3 bash

After install, mesh is available at ~/.local/bin/mesh. Make sure that directory is on your PATH:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"   # add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc

To update to the latest release at any time:

To pin a specific release:

To update from a peer on your local network instead of GitHub:

From a teammate on the local network

If a teammate already has mesh running, they can serve the installer directly:

# On the teammate's machine:
mesh serve-install     # prints a curl line for you to run

This serves the same install flow over plain HTTP — no GitHub needed. Useful when you're on the same network and want the exact version your teammate is running.

From source

git clone git@github.com:kaizen-hq/mesh.git
cd mesh
bun install

Requires Bun 1.1+. git must be on PATH.

Run directly without compiling:

Or compile to a standalone binary (no Bun required on the target machine):

bun run build       # writes ./mesh
./mesh --help

Use

mesh init                                     # generate identity, seed mesh.toml
mesh pubkey                                   # print your public key (share with teammates)
mesh start                                    # run the daemon in the foreground
mesh stop                                     # stop the running daemon
mesh status                                   # show peers, repos, divergences
mesh peers                                    # list configured peers + reachability
mesh repos                                    # list repos + sync freshness
mesh reload                                   # re-read mesh.toml and secrets.yml without restarting
mesh sync                                     # force a reconciliation round
mesh add-peer <name> <pubkey> [addr]          # manually add a peer
mesh add-address <peer> <addr>                # bootstrap a known address for a peer
mesh invite --addr HOST:PORT [--ttl SECS]     # generate a one-time pairing token (default TTL: 600s)
mesh join <token>                             # accept a pairing token
mesh url <repo>                               # print the local git URL for a repo
mesh update                                   # update mesh to the latest release
mesh update --from <peer>                     # update from a peer running mesh serve-install

# CI/CD
mesh ci status [<repo>]                # show recent pipeline runs
mesh ci run <repo> <ref>               # manually trigger a pipeline
mesh ci logs <repo> <run_id>           # print build log
mesh ci cancel <run_id>                # cancel a running job
mesh ci runners                        # list peers and their CI capabilities

Cloning and pushing

Mesh serves git smart-HTTP at https://localhost:7979/<repo>.git (or http:// if you started with transport.tls = false).

Because the TLS certificate is self-signed, tell git not to verify it for this origin before cloning or pushing. This is scoped to localhost:7979 only and does not affect other remotes:

git config --global http.https://localhost:7979.sslVerify false

Clone a repo from the local mesh node:

git clone https://localhost:7979/my-app.git

Or add it as a remote to an existing working copy and push:

git remote add mesh https://localhost:7979/my-app.git
git push mesh main

mesh url <repo> prints the full remote URL if you need it.

CI/CD

Mesh includes a distributed CI/CD system. Pipelines are defined per-repo and executed across peers. Every node is a runner by default — runner configuration lives in the [runner] section of ~/.mesh/mesh.toml.

Example repo: kaizen-hq/hello-pipeline is a minimal working example — a Bun HTTP server with a Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, and .mesh/mesh-ci.yml that runs shell and Docker jobs. Clone it to have something to test against while setting up CI on your mesh.

Pipeline definition

Add .mesh/mesh-ci.yml to a repo to define its pipeline:

pipeline:
  name: my-app

on:
  push:
    branches: [main, "release/*"]
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 2 * * *"   # daily at 02:00 UTC
      job: nightly
  manual: true             # allow mesh ci run

runner:
  labels: [docker]         # require a runner with this label
  fallback: any            # fall back to any capable peer if no labeled runner

jobs:
  test:
    image: oven/bun:1.1
    commands:
      - bun install --frozen-lockfile
      - bun test
    secrets: [NPM_TOKEN]   # injected from ~/.mesh/secrets.yml on the runner node

  build:
    image: oven/bun:1.1
    commands:
      - bun run build
    depends_on: [test]     # topological ordering; build waits for test

  nightly:
    mode: shell            # run commands directly on the runner host (no Docker)
    commands:
      - bun run audit

Jobs run in Docker by default (mode: docker). Set mode: shell to run commands in a subprocess on the runner host.

depends_on supports arbitrary DAGs. Cycles are rejected at parse time. Jobs whose upstream failed are automatically marked skipped.

Runner routing (runner.labels and runner.fallback)

The runner: section in mesh-ci.yml controls which nodes in the mesh are eligible to run the pipeline's jobs.

labels is matched against the labels list each node advertises in its ~/.mesh/mesh.toml [runner] section. A pipeline with labels: [docker] will only be assigned to nodes that include "docker" in their runner labels. An empty list [] means no label requirement — every enabled runner is eligible.

Use labels to route pipelines to dedicated build machines:

# On the dedicated build box — ~/.mesh/mesh.toml
[runner]
labels = ["docker", "linux"]

# In the repo — .mesh/mesh-ci.yml
runner:
  labels: [docker]   # only runs on nodes advertising "docker"

fallback defines what happens when no labeled runner is currently available (offline, at capacity, or no nodes match the label):

fallback: none is appropriate for jobs that must not run on general-purpose machines (e.g. a deployment job that requires specific credentials or network access). fallback: any is safe for most CI pipelines where any capable node is fine.

Runner configuration

Runner configuration lives in the [runner] section of ~/.mesh/mesh.toml, seeded by mesh init:

[runner]
enabled             = true
execution_modes     = ["docker"]       # permit "docker", "shell", or both
labels              = []               # empty = matches any job; set for dedicated runners
max_concurrent_jobs = 2
workdir             = "~/.mesh/ci/runs"   # where worktrees are checked out

# Host environment variables that shell jobs are allowed to read.
# Shell jobs run in an isolated environment; only vars listed here (plus
# PATH, HOME, TMPDIR, LANG, LC_ALL) are passed through from the host.
# env_passthrough = ["GOPATH", "SSH_AUTH_SOCK", "DOCKER_HOST"]

# Tool auto-detection (docker, bun, node, python3, go, cargo)
# Override if auto-detect is wrong for your setup:
# tools = ["docker", "bun"]

# Tuning
log_stream_interval_ms   = 500
max_worktree_age_minutes = 60
max_worktree_disk_mb     = 2048
log_retention_runs       = 50

To permit shell jobs (commands run directly on the host, not in Docker):

[runner]
execution_modes = ["docker", "shell"]

To opt a node out of running jobs entirely (it will still participate in runner selection and assign jobs to others):

How repos enter the mesh

Repos are introduced by pushing to the local node — no registration step required:

git remote add mesh https://localhost:7979/my-app.git
git push mesh main

On first push to an unknown repo name, mesh auto-creates the bare mirror at ~/.mesh/repos/<name>.git and records which node introduced it. From that point, the mirror is synced to every peer automatically via the normal peer-to-peer reconciliation loop.

Runner nodes execute jobs directly from the bare mirror. No working copy or mesh.toml entry is needed on any node — every peer that receives the mirror (whether it is a runner or not) is immediately eligible to run the pipeline.

Secrets

Node-local secrets (environment variables injected into jobs) live in ~/.mesh/secrets.yml — a separate file kept off version control:

secrets:
  NPM_TOKEN: "${NPM_TOKEN}"   # resolved from the daemon's environment at load time
  DEPLOY_KEY: "literal-value"

Values can be literal strings or ${ENV_VAR} references — mesh reads the named variable from the daemon's environment when secrets.yml is loaded (or reloaded). This keeps plaintext secrets out of the file: only the variable name is stored on disk; the value lives solely in the environment.

mesh reload picks up both mesh.toml and secrets.yml without restarting the daemon.

Environment isolation. Shell jobs run with a minimal environment: only PATH, HOME, TMPDIR, LANG, LC_ALL, variables listed in [runner] env_passthrough, and the job's declared secrets. Docker jobs pass the same limited set to the docker CLI so that compose variable substitution only resolves declared secrets, not arbitrary host variables.

How it works

Trigger → assignment. A repo enters the mesh on first git push to any node; the bare mirror is auto-created and synced to all peers. When a subsequent push arrives on a branch that matches on.push.branches, the receiving node selects the best available runner from the capability gossip it has heard via heartbeats. It sends a CiAssignment frame to that peer. If no peer has capacity, the job runs locally.

Runner selection. Dedicated runners (matching labels) are preferred. Within a tier, the peer with the fewest running jobs and lowest CPU is chosen. If fallback: any, any peer with capacity is eligible.

Execution. The runner checks out the commit into a git worktree under workdir, then runs each job in topological order. Docker jobs pull the image and exec commands inside a container. Shell jobs exec commands in a subprocess on the host.

Log streaming. Stdout/stderr are captured in real time. Logs are stored under ~/.mesh/ci/<repo>/<run_id>/log.txt and streamed live to the browser via SSE.

Cron scheduling. Each runner-enabled node ([runner] enabled = true) runs a cron loop. When a cron slot fires, all eligible nodes broadcast a CiCronClaim frame. A deterministic sha256-based election picks one winner to execute the job — so the job runs exactly once across the mesh even with many peers online.

Gossip. CiStarted, CiCompleted, and CiLog frames propagate to all peers so the browser dashboard stays in sync everywhere on the mesh.

Web UI

The browser dashboard at /status links to per-repo views:

Both the pipelines page and the issues board have a shared nav bar: issues · pipelines.

Troubleshooting

Peers not connecting

Check reachability first.

mesh peers          # shows each peer's last-seen time and address
mesh status         # shows divergence count per peer

If a peer shows never or a stale timestamp:

• Confirm the address is correct: mesh add-address <peer> <host:port> to add or correct it.
• Verify the target node is running: curl -k https://HOST:7979/status should return HTML.
• If TLS is disabled on one side but not the other, the connection will fail silently. Both nodes must agree: either both use transport.tls = true (default) or both set false.
• Self-signed certificates are used by default. TLS verification is intentionally disabled between peers — this is expected behavior.

Check the peer's public key. Frames are ed25519-signed and rejected if the signature doesn't match the configured pubkey. If you recently re-initialized a peer (mesh init on an existing node), its pubkey changes. Update it:

mesh add-peer <name> <new-pubkey>
mesh reload

Pipeline doesn't trigger on push

1. Branch filter. Check on.push.branches in mesh-ci.yml matches the branch you pushed to. Glob patterns like "release/*" must be quoted in YAML.
2. No eligible runner. Run mesh ci runners to see which nodes are online and their capabilities. If the list is empty or all nodes have enabled = false, no assignment will be made.
3. Label mismatch. If runner.labels in mesh-ci.yml specifies a label that no online node advertises, and fallback is none, the pipeline is silently dropped. Change to fallback: any or add the label to a node's mesh.toml.
4. mesh-ci.yml not found. The file must be at .mesh/mesh-ci.yml relative to the repo root and committed — mesh reads it from the git object store, not the working tree.

Pipeline triggered but jobs never start / run stays pending

• mesh ci status <repo> — if the run shows pending indefinitely, the runner received the assignment but hasn't started. Check the runner node's daemon logs.
• mesh ci runners — verify the assigned runner shows runner: true and jobs_running below max_concurrent_jobs.
• If execution_modes on the runner doesn't include the mode the job requires (docker or shell), the job will fail immediately with a log line like job "X" requires shell mode but "shell" is not in execution_modes.

Job fails immediately / exit code 1 with no output

• Docker not found. For mode: docker jobs, docker must be on PATH on the runner node. Check with mesh ci runners — the tools list shows what was auto-detected.
• Image pull failure. The runner must have internet access (or registry access) to pull the image. Check the job log: mesh ci logs <repo> <run_id>.
• Shell env missing a tool. Shell jobs run with a minimal environment. If a command depends on a host tool or env var that isn't in the baseline (PATH, HOME, TMPDIR, LANG, LC_ALL), add it to env_passthrough in mesh.toml and run mesh reload.

Secrets not injected / empty in job

• The secret must be declared in the job's secrets: list in mesh-ci.yml and defined in ~/.mesh/secrets.yml on the runner node (not the triggering node).
• If using ${ENV_VAR} interpolation in secrets.yml, the variable must be set in the environment of the mesh daemon process itself — not just in your shell. Restart or reload after setting it: mesh reload.
• Run mesh ci logs <repo> <run_id> and look for WARN secrets.yml: env var "${X}" is not set lines emitted at daemon startup or reload.

Worktree left behind / disk fills up

Worktrees are created under workdir (default ~/.mesh/ci/runs) and removed when a run completes. If the daemon crashed mid-run, orphaned worktrees may remain.

ls ~/.mesh/ci/runs          # list worktrees
git worktree list           # from inside the repo, see all registered worktrees
git worktree prune          # remove stale registrations

max_worktree_age_minutes and max_worktree_disk_mb in mesh.toml control automatic cleanup of old runs. Lower these values on space-constrained nodes.

Config changes not taking effect

mesh reload re-reads mesh.toml and secrets.yml without restarting the daemon. It does not re-read mesh-ci.yml — that file lives in the repo and is read fresh on each pipeline trigger.

If mesh reload reports no error but behavior doesn't change, check that you edited the correct file. With multiple instances (--root), each instance has its own mesh.toml.

Releasing

Releases follow semantic versioning with this convention:

Commit message format

Use conventional commit prefixes so the release script can detect the bump type automatically:

fix: correct retry backoff after address change       → fix (minor bump)
fix!: change wire protocol frame encoding             → breaking (major bump)
feat!: drop support for legacy bincode format         → breaking (major bump)
add invite expiry warning to status output            → build (patch bump)

Cutting a release

1. Write commits using the prefixes above.

2. Run the release script:

   This scans commits since the last tag, picks the bump type, updates package.json, commits release vX.Y.Z, and creates the git tag. Nothing is pushed yet.

   To preview without making any changes:

   bun run release --dry-run

   To override the auto-detected bump type:

   bun run release breaking
   bun run release fix
   bun run release build

3. Review, then push:

   git push && git push --tags

   Pushing the tag triggers the GitHub Actions release workflow, which validates the tag matches package.json, builds mesh-src.zip, and publishes a GitHub Release with it as a downloadable asset.

Distributing source to teammates

# Serve the installer over the local network:
mesh serve-install                 # plain HTTP, prints the curl line

# Or just build the zip manually:
bun run package                         # writes mesh-src.zip to repo root

The serve-install handler serves:

• GET /install.sh — installs bun/unzip/git, downloads the zip, unpacks to ~/.local/share/mesh/, runs bun install, and writes a shim at ~/.local/bin/mesh.
• GET /mesh-src.zip — the source zip, rebuilt every 60 seconds so edits are picked up without restarting.
• GET /mesh-src.zip.sig — ed25519 signature of the zip (verified by mesh update --from <peer>).
• GET /version — JSON with version, sha256, and signature.

License

MIT.