Welcome to r/macula - BEAM-native mesh networking for distributed apps

Hey everyone, welcome to r/macula.

**Macula** is an open-source, BEAM-native mesh networking platform built on HTTP/3 (QUIC). It lets distributed applications form relay-assisted mesh networks without requiring open ports, VPNs, or complex infrastructure. Think of it as the networking layer that lets your services find each other, talk to each other, and stay resilient -- across firewalls, across continents, at the edge.

### What makes it different?

Most distributed systems assume you control the network. Macula assumes you don't. Nodes connect **outbound** to relays over QUIC -- no open ports, no NAT traversal headaches. Relays route pub/sub, RPC, and even full Erlang distribution traffic. The mesh self-organizes using gossip protocols and Kademlia DHT.

A few things that set it apart:

- **QUIC-first** -- Built on HTTP/3 from day one, not bolted on. Single UDP port, built-in TLS 1.3, works on lossy/high-latency networks.

- **BEAM-native** -- Not a wrapper. Full OTP distribution tunneled through the mesh. `net_adm:ping` works across firewalls.

- **No central coordinator** -- Federated relay mesh. Relays don't need to know each other. Nodes route without centralized control.

- **Geographic awareness** -- RTT-based relay discovery with automatic nearest-relay failover.

- **Multi-tenant realms** -- Isolated namespaces so different apps/orgs share infrastructure safely.

### What's running today

This isn't a whitepaper project. We're at **v0.46.x** with:

- **156 relay nodes** deployed across 3 countries (Paris, Nuremberg, Helsinki) in a three-tier hierarchy (backbone, regional, edge)

- **Pub/sub and RPC** routing through the mesh with DHT-based topic/procedure discovery

- **Content transfer** -- content-addressed artifact distribution with Merkle trees and parallel downloads

- **Hecate** -- an Erlang daemon that connects any machine -- laptop, desktop, server, or cluster -- to the Macula mesh. It exposes a REST API for local applications, handles mesh identity and capabilities, and comes with a Tauri desktop app for visual mesh management.

- **macula.io** -- realm server with GitHub OAuth, API key management, and certificate issuance

The core library is published on [hex.pm](https://hex.pm/packages/macula) and the event sourcing stack (ReckonDB, Evoq) is also available there.

### The bigger picture

Macula is part of a broader vision: **make every business process a distributed, event-driven service that works autonomously at the edge**.

The philosophy is "Tell Facts, Derive Truth" -- instead of services constantly polling each other for state, they declare immutable facts about what happened. Interested parties subscribe and derive their own truth. Events are recorded locally in ReckonDB (our embedded event store), and integration facts flow through the mesh to other bounded contexts.

This matters because:

- Complete audit trails are built in, not bolted on

- Services keep working when disconnected (edge autonomy)

- New consumers can replay the entire history of facts

- No information is lost -- ever

### The stack

- **Macula** -- HTTP/3 mesh networking (Erlang/OTP)

- **ReckonDB** -- BEAM-native event store with Raft consensus

- **Evoq** -- CQRS/event sourcing framework

- **Hecate** -- mesh connectivity daemon (Erlang/OTP) + desktop app (Tauri/SvelteKit)

- **Macula Realm** -- identity, certificates, and bootstrapping (Elixir/Phoenix)

All built on the BEAM -- 30+ years of battle-tested reliability from the telecom world.

### What this subreddit is for

- Project updates and release notes

- Architecture discussions

- Questions, feedback, and ideas

- Demos and use cases

- Ecosystem development (building on Macula)

We're building in the open and want to hear from people interested in distributed systems, event-driven architecture, edge computing, BEAM/Erlang/Elixir, or just building things that work without depending on Big Cloud.

Check out the repos:

- [macula-io/macula](https://github.com/macula-io/macula) -- core mesh library

- [macula-io/macula-relay](https://github.com/macula-io/macula-relay) -- relay nodes

- [macula-io/macula-ecosystem](https://github.com/macula-io/macula-ecosystem) -- documentation hub

- [hecate-social/hecate-daemon](https://github.com/hecate-social/hecate-daemon) -- mesh connectivity daemon

If you want to support the project: [buymeacoffee.com/rlefever](https://buymeacoffee.com/rlefever)

Welcome aboard.