messhy

WireGuard VPN mesh for secure private networking. Simple, fast, zero-config.

A Ruby gem that sets up a full WireGuard VPN mesh across any VMs. Every node connects directly to every other node, creating a secure private network.

Why messhy?

Messhy generates WireGuard keys and peer configuration, installs it over SSH, and gives each node a stable private address. It is intended for small fleets whose operators control every host and can explicitly allow WireGuard traffic between peers.

Installation

gem install messhy

Or add to your Gemfile:

gem 'messhy'

Quick Start

  1. Create config file:
# config/mesh.yml
production:
  network: 10.8.0.0/24
  user: ubuntu
  ssh_key: ~/.ssh/id_rsa
  verify_host_key: true
  
  nodes:
    db-primary:
      host: 34.12.234.81
      private_ip: 10.8.0.10

    db-standby:
      host: 52.23.45.67
      private_ip: 10.8.0.11

    app-1:
      host: 18.156.78.90
      private_ip: 10.8.0.20
  1. Setup mesh:
messhy setup --environment=production
  1. Verify:
messhy status

When mesh DNS is enabled, messhy status also prints DNS server health and record counts.

Mesh DNS (optional)

Messhy can set up a lightweight internal DNS (dnsmasq) for the mesh so you can use stable hostnames instead of raw IPs. It installs dnsmasq on designated nodes and configures all mesh nodes to resolve a private domain over wg0.

Example config:

production:
  <<: *shared
  dns:
    enabled: true
    provider: dnsmasq
    domain: mesh.internal
    interface: wg0
    servers:
      - app-us-1
      - app-eu-1
    auto_records: true
    records:
      db-primary.mesh.internal:
        - db-primary
        - db-standby-1
      db-replica.mesh.internal:
        - db-standby-1

Apply DNS without touching WireGuard:

messhy dns --environment=production

Secret Management

messhy setup stores generated WireGuard key pairs inside .secrets/wireguard/*.yml with 0600 permissions. Each node gets its own YAML file (.secrets/wireguard/<node>.yml) and all peer pre‑shared keys live in .secrets/wireguard/psks.yml. The directory is gitignored by default, and the Rails generator ensures the ignore rules are present in your application. After provisioning, copy the YAML files into 1Password (or another vault) and remove them from disk if you do not want long‑lived local copies.

If you want to pre-generate keys before rolling out configs, run:

messhy keygen --environment=production

Trusting SSH Host Keys

Before running messhy setup, fetch each server's SSH fingerprint and add it to your local known_hosts file:

# Adds Ed25519/ECDSA/RSA host keys for every node defined in config/mesh.yml
bundle exec messhy trust-hosts --environment=production

If a server rotated keys or you resized an instance, clear the old entry as part of the same command:

bundle exec messhy trust-hosts --environment=production --force

This command uses ssh-keyscan under the hood and skips entries that already exist. If a host cannot be scanned (firewall / DNS issue), it will be listed at the end so you can add it manually. You can also call the Rails task rails messhy:trust_hosts.

Rails Integration

  1. Add the gem to your Rails application and run bundle install.

  2. Generate the config stub and gitignore entries:

    rails generate messhy:install

  3. Use the provided rake tasks from your app (they automatically use RAILS_ENV/MESSHY_ENVIRONMENT):

    rails messhy:trust_hosts   # ssh-keyscan every node
rails messhy:setup         # deploy WireGuard configs
rails messhy:status        # show current mesh status
rails messhy:keygen        # pre-generate keys only

This keeps Rails + SSHKit conventions intact: tasks shell out to the Thor CLI, SSH host key verification is enforced by default, and WireGuard secrets stay outside of Git.

CLI Commands

Setup

# Initial setup (all nodes)
messhy setup
messhy setup --environment=production

# Setup with options
messhy setup --dry-run                    # Show what would be done
messhy setup --skip-node=app-1            # Skip specific node
messhy setup --only-node=db-primary       # Setup single node

Status & Monitoring

# Show all connections
messhy status

# Ping specific node
messhy ping app-1
messhy ping 10.8.0.20

# Test connectivity
messhy test-connectivity

# Show traffic statistics
messhy stats
messhy stats --node=db-primary

Key & Access Management

# Generate WireGuard keys without touching configs
messhy keygen --environment=production
messhy keygen --skip-node=app-1

# Trust SSH host keys (uses ssh-keyscan)
messhy trust-hosts
messhy trust-hosts --force        # replace existing entries
messhy trust-hosts --known-hosts=/tmp/known_hosts

Info

# List all nodes
messhy list

# Show node details
messhy show db-primary

Configuration

See config/mesh.example.yml for a complete example.

Basic Options

  • network: CIDR network for VPN (default: 10.8.0.0/24)
  • user: SSH user (default: ubuntu)
  • ssh_key: Path to SSH private key
  • mtu: MTU size (default: 1280 for reliability)
  • listen_port: WireGuard port (default: 51820)
  • keepalive: Keepalive interval in seconds (default: 25)
  • dns: Optional mesh DNS configuration (see below)

DNS Options

When dns.enabled: true, messhy installs dnsmasq on the specified dns.servers and configures all mesh nodes to resolve the dns.domain over the WireGuard interface.

  • dns.enabled: Enable mesh DNS
  • dns.provider: dnsmasq (only provider today)
  • dns.domain: Internal DNS domain (default: mesh)
  • dns.interface: WireGuard interface (default: wg0)
  • dns.servers: Node names that will run dnsmasq
  • dns.auto_records: Auto-create <node>.<domain> for every node (default: true)
  • dns.records: Extra records (values can be IPs or node names)
  • dns.ttl: Local DNS TTL seconds (default: 30)

Node Configuration

Each node requires:

  • host: Public IP or hostname
  • private_ip: Private VPN IP (must be within network range)

Optional per-node overrides:

  • ssh_user / ssh_port: Override SSH access details (defaults to top-level user and port 22)
  • ssh_key: Override SSH key for a specific node
  • listen_port: WireGuard UDP port (defaults to top-level listen_port)
  • region: Documentation / metadata field

Firewall Requirements

Only one port needs to be opened on each node:

# UFW
ufw allow 51820/udp

# iptables
iptables -A INPUT -p udp --dport 51820 -j ACCEPT

Architecture

Full Mesh Topology

         Node A
        /   |   \
       /    |    \
      /     |     \
   Node B - + - Node C
      \     |     /
       \    |    /
        \   |   /
         Node D

Every node connects directly to every other node:

  • No central point of failure
  • Optimal routing (direct connections)
  • Scales to ~50 nodes

Capacity and performance

A full mesh creates one peer relationship between every pair of nodes, so the configuration grows quadratically. Messhy is designed for small fleets (about 50 nodes or fewer), not large or frequently changing membership. Throughput, latency, and CPU overhead depend on the hosts, network path, MTU, and workload; benchmark the actual topology before relying on a capacity estimate.

Security boundaries

  • trust-hosts collects host keys with ssh-keyscan; verify fingerprints over a separate trusted channel before relying on them.
  • Anyone with a generated node private key can impersonate that node. Store .secrets/wireguard in an encrypted vault and rotate keys after suspected disclosure or membership changes.
  • Messhy configures WireGuard, but it does not replace host firewalls, patching, SSH hardening, or application-level authentication.
  • Full-mesh membership grants direct network reachability. Only enroll hosts that should be able to reach one another.

Troubleshooting

Node can't connect

# Check WireGuard is running
systemctl status wg-quick@wg0

# Check interface
wg show wg0

# Check firewall
ufw status | grep 51820

# Test connectivity
ping 10.8.0.x

# Check logs
journalctl -u wg-quick@wg0 -f

High latency

# Try lower MTU (in mesh.yml)
mtu: 1280  # instead of 1420

# Redeploy
messhy setup

Requirements

  • Ruby 4.0+
  • WireGuard tools (wg command)
  • Target servers with Linux kernel 5.6+ (WireGuard built-in)
  • SSH key-based authentication

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub.

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.

Maintained by BoringCache.