Radio Free Gemma: Disaster AI via Meshtastic and Local LLM

A Reddit user (u/bravoitaliano) shared a project called Radio Free Gemma that runs a local LLM on a Meshtastic mesh network for disaster scenarios. The setup uses a Gemma 4:26B model, a basic RAG library with vector embeddings, and an MQTT server in Docker, all tied into OpenClaw as a sub-agent. The corpus is built from publicly available protocols (CDC, civil defense, etc.) and the agent's personality is styled as an emergency radio operator. The entire stack runs on battery backups — when power and cell service go down, users can still reach the AI via Meshtastic nodes.

Key details from the source:

• Model: Gemma 4:26B running locally
• Network: Meshtastic (mesh radio network, not cellular)
• Connectivity: MQTT server in a Docker container on the main cluster, bridging Meshtastic and OpenClaw
• RAG: Custom RAG library with vector embeddings, curated by frontier models
• Corpus: CDC, civil defense, and other public emergency protocols
• Agent: OpenClaw sub-agent; Soul/agent markdowns tied to emergency radio operator personality
• Power: All hardware on battery backups — remains operational during outages
• Limitation: The author notes it's not perfect but trusts it for basic triage and life-saving info

The project is not on GitHub, but the author is open to sharing details and answering questions. It's a practical demonstration of using a local LLM for comms-down scenarios, leveraging off-grid mesh networking.