rtlinux — MeshPOP Runtime Linux

Spawn your own AI assistants. Run them anywhere. Distribute them across machines.

pip install rtlinux → Claude attaches → describe what you want → your assistant is running.

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The Idea

Most AI assistants are someone else's service. rtlinux lets you build and own yours — running on your laptop, your VPS, your home server. Each assistant is a self-contained node that auto-joins your MeshPOP mesh and responds to mpop ask.

You: "I want an assistant that monitors Hacker News and tells me about AI news every 6 hours"
Claude: [calls rtlinux_create] → builds image → starts container → joins Wire mesh
You: mpop ask hn-monitor "what's trending today?"

Multiple assistants, multiple machines, all talking to each other. Your fleet.

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Install

pip install rtlinux

Add to Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rtlinux": {
      "command": "python3",
      "args": ["-m", "rtlinux.mcp.rtlinux_mcp_server"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You now have rtlinux tools.

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Usage

Via Claude (recommended)

Just tell Claude what you want:

"Make me an assistant that checks my email every 30 minutes and flags anything urgent"

"I want a research bot that summarizes AI papers daily"

"Set up a system monitor that alerts me if any server goes above 80% CPU"

Claude will use rtlinux_create to build it, run it, and tell you how to talk to it.

Via CLI

# See available templates
rtlinux templates list

# Scaffold from template (then customize)
rtlinux new email --name my-email-bot
# → creates my-email-bot/template.yaml

# Edit it
nano my-email-bot/template.yaml

# Build + run (docker-compose style)
rtlinux up my-email-bot/

# Talk to it
mpop ask my-email-bot "check my inbox"

# Manage
rtlinux ps              # list running assistants
rtlinux logs my-email-bot
rtlinux down my-email-bot

Deploy to remote server

# Build locally
rtlinux build --config my-email-bot/template.yaml

# Deploy to VPS
rtlinux deploy node1 --image output/rtlinux-my-email-bot-1.0.0.tar

# It joins the Wire mesh on that server — talk to it from anywhere
mpop ask my-email-bot "what's in my inbox?"

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Built-in Templates

Template	Description	Schedule
email	Monitor inbox, draft replies, flag urgent	every 30m
news	Aggregate and summarize news by topic	every 6h
code-reviewer	Review code, explain diffs, suggest improvements	on demand
research	Deep research on any topic	on demand
system-monitor	Monitor server health, alert on anomalies	every 15m

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template.yaml Format

name: my-assistant
description: "What this assistant does"
model: claude-sonnet-4-6          # or claude-opus-4-6, claude-haiku-4-5

system_prompt: |
  You are a specialized assistant that...

tools:
  - web_search
  - meshdb_search

packages:
  - imapclient                    # extra pip packages baked into image

schedule: "every 6h"              # optional: run automatically
schedule_task: "Summarize the latest AI news"

on_message: "Handle the user request"

env:
  - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY             # required environment variables
  - IMAP_USER

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Architecture

pip install rtlinux
        │
        ▼
Claude Desktop (MCP)
        │ rtlinux_create / rtlinux_up
        ▼
  template.yaml ──► Docker image
                         │
                    BusyBox + Python
                    + MeshPOP stack
                    + your assistant code
                    + Wire mesh auto-connect
                         │
              ┌──────────┴──────────┐
         MacBook               VPS / server
         (local)               (remote)
              │                    │
              └────── Wire ────────┘
                         │
                    mpop ask assistant "..."

Each assistant is a lightweight container (~150MB) that:

• Boots directly into the assistant loop
• Auto-connects to your Wire mesh
• Responds to mpop ask <name> "..."
• Runs scheduled tasks autonomously

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MeshPOP Stack

Layer	Package	Role
L0	rtlinux	Runtime OS + assistant builder
L1	Wire	WireGuard mesh VPN
L2	vssh	Secure remote execution
L3	mpop	Fleet orchestration
L4	MeshDB	Distributed file search
L5	Vault	Secrets management

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Share Your Templates

Built something useful? Share it:

1. Fork github.com/meshpop/rtlinux-templates
2. Add your template directory with template.yaml
3. Open a PR

Community templates are browsable via rtlinux templates search.

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Links

• Homepage: mpop.dev
• GitHub: github.com/meshpop/rtlinux
• Templates: github.com/meshpop/rtlinux-templates

License

Apache-2.0