Skuld is an open-source networking project that explores how obligation and freedom can coexist within modern communication infrastructure. The name is drawn from Norse mythology, where Skuld represents not fate or punishment, but that which must be fulfilled—the unavoidable obligations that shape future outcomes. In contemporary networks, those obligations take the form of backhaul requirements, spectrum constraints, regulatory realities, and physical infrastructure that cannot be wished away. Skuld acknowledges these constraints explicitly and positions itself as a bridge between mandatory network responsibilities and voluntary identity exposure, enabling ubiquitous or anonymous connectivity without denying the realities of the underlying systems. The promise of Skuld is not escape, but mediation: a transparent, inspectable, and community-governed architecture that allows anyone to connect to any network, for any purpose, while preserving agency over how identity, accountability, and participation are expressed.

Skuld is a portable, open-source networking architecture designed to decouple physical connectivity from identity while respecting the operational realities of modern infrastructure. The project is inspired in part by the work of Nicholas Merrill and the Calyx Institute, which demonstrated that it is possible to provide low-cost, effectively unlimited internet access over commercial 4G and 5G networks by aligning technical design with carrier obligations rather than attempting to circumvent them. Skuld extends this insight beyond cellular access, treating backhaul connectivity as an obligatory substrate that can be satisfied in multiple ways while remaining agnostic to how users present themselves to the network.

At its core, Skuld is built on open-source and community-driven software, with a first-class security posture designed into the architecture rather than added as an afterthought. Network isolation, strong cryptography, transparent routing, and auditable configurations are treated as baseline requirements, enabling users to inspect, adapt, and trust the system without relying on proprietary control planes. This approach allows Skuld to function as a composable platform, where components can be substituted or extended while preserving a consistent security model across deployments.

Skuld is designed to operate across a diverse set of radio and transport technologies, including traditional Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi HaLow for long-range and low-power environments, LoRa for sparse and sensor-oriented links, commercial 4G/5G cellular networks, and satellite backhaul where terrestrial connectivity is unavailable. Rather than privileging a single medium, the system treats these radios as interchangeable ingress and egress paths, abstracted behind a common networking layer that supports mobility, redundancy, and graceful degradation as conditions change.

From an engineering perspective, Skuld emphasizes portability, low power consumption, and deployment flexibility. The architecture is intended to run on small form-factor hardware, support battery or solar operation, and adapt to constrained environments without sacrificing security or reliability. This makes it suitable for use cases ranging from fixed installations to mobile, ad-hoc, or disaster-resilient networks, while remaining accessible to individuals and communities who may lack traditional infrastructure. In this sense, Skuld is not a single device or product, but a reference architecture for building networks that are open, adaptable, and governed by transparent technical principles rather than centralized control.

This project is sponsored by Cyber Foundry, Inc. but all of the work product is free and open source.

Check out skuld.co for more project information.