diff --git a/src/client.rs b/src/client.rs
index 76369ca..6bb2440 100644
--- a/src/client.rs
+++ b/src/client.rs
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ use std::{io, result::Result};
 
 use crate::dbg_msg;
 use crate::oauth::{force_refresh_token, token_daemon, Oauth};
+use crate::p2p::ONLINE;
 use crate::server::RequestExt;
 use crate::utils::{format_url, Post};
 
@@ -466,6 +467,7 @@ pub async fn json(path: String, quarantine: bool) -> Result<Value, String> {
 							if status.is_server_error() {
 								Err("Reddit is having issues, check if there's an outage".to_string())
 							} else {
+								ONLINE.store(false, Ordering::SeqCst);
 								err("Failed to parse page JSON data", e.to_string(), path)
 							}
 						}
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 32ab892..1aa22c6 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ pub mod duplicates;
 pub mod instance_info;
 pub mod oauth;
 pub mod oauth_resources;
+pub mod p2p;
 pub mod post;
 pub mod search;
 pub mod server;
@@ -11,4 +12,3 @@ pub mod settings;
 pub mod subreddit;
 pub mod user;
 pub mod utils;
-pub mod p2p;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 47c4f96..f869d08 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@
 
 use cached::proc_macro::cached;
 use clap::{Arg, ArgAction, Command};
+use redlib::p2p::ONLINE;
 use std::str::FromStr;
+use std::sync::atomic::Ordering;
 
 use futures_lite::FutureExt;
 use hyper::Uri;
@@ -227,6 +229,16 @@ async fn main() {
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Manual overrides for online value
+	app.at("/force_offline").get(|_| {
+		ONLINE.store(false, Ordering::SeqCst);
+		resource("", "text/plain", false).boxed()
+	});
+	app.at("/force_online").get(|_| {
+		ONLINE.store(true, Ordering::SeqCst);
+		resource("", "text/plain", false).boxed()
+	});
+
 	// Read static files
 	app.at("/style.css").get(|_| style().boxed());
 	app
diff --git a/src/p2p.rs b/src/p2p.rs
index 3457eb6..9708cb5 100644
--- a/src/p2p.rs
+++ b/src/p2p.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-use std::str::FromStr;
+use std::{
+	str::FromStr,
+	sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering},
+};
 
 use bytes::Bytes;
 use dashmap::DashMap;
@@ -6,19 +9,18 @@ use ed25519_dalek::Signature;
 use futures_lite::StreamExt;
 use iroh::{protocol::Router, Endpoint, NodeAddr, PublicKey, SecretKey};
 use iroh_gossip::{
-	net::{Event, Gossip, GossipEvent, GossipReceiver},
+	net::{Event, Gossip, GossipEvent, GossipReceiver, GossipSender},
 	proto::TopicId,
 	ALPN as GOSSIP_ALPN,
 };
 use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
-use tokio::task;
+use tokio::{task, time::sleep};
 
 use crate::config;
 
-static TICKET: &str = "";
-
-static DASHMAP: Lazy<DashMap<String, bool>> = Lazy::new(DashMap::new);
+pub static DASHMAP: Lazy<DashMap<String, bool>> = Lazy::new(DashMap::new);
+pub static ONLINE: Lazy<AtomicBool> = Lazy::new(AtomicBool::default);
 
 pub async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
 	let endpoint = Endpoint::builder().discovery_n0().bind().await?;
@@ -27,8 +29,19 @@ pub async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
 	let gossip = Gossip::builder().spawn(builder.endpoint().clone()).await?;
 	let _router: Router = builder.accept(GOSSIP_ALPN, gossip.clone()).spawn().await?;
 
-	let (topic, peers) = {
-		let Ticket { topic, peers } = Ticket::from_str(TICKET)?;
+	// there are two ways to run the p2p chat
+	// 1. "bootstrap" mode - this requires REDLIB_P2P_BOOTSTRAP=true and REDLIB_P2P_TOPIC set to the topic ID you want to use
+	//    in this mode, the node will create the topic and start a chat room
+	// 2. "join" mode - this requires REDLIB_P2P_BOOTSTRAP=false (or unset) and REDLIB_P2P_TICKET set to a ticket.
+	//    in this mode, the node will join the existing chat room with the given topic ID, and connect to the peers listed
+	//    in the ticket
+	let (topic, peers) = if std::env::var("REDLIB_P2P_BOOTSTRAP").unwrap_or_default() == "true" {
+		let topic = std::env::var("REDLIB_P2P_TOPIC").map(|s| TopicId::from_str(&s).unwrap()).unwrap();
+		println!("> opening chat room for topic {topic}");
+		(topic, vec![])
+	} else {
+		let ticket_str = std::env::var("REDLIB_P2P_TICKET").expect("REDLIB_P2P_TICKET not set");
+		let Ticket { topic, peers } = Ticket::from_str(&ticket_str)?;
 		println!("> joining chat room for topic {topic}");
 		(topic, peers)
 	};
@@ -53,15 +66,19 @@ pub async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
 	let (sender, receiver) = gossip.subscribe_and_join(topic, peer_ids).await?.split();
 	println!("> connected!");
 
+	let secret_key = endpoint.secret_key().clone();
+
 	let message = Message {
 		hostname: config::get_setting("REDLIB_FULL_URL").unwrap_or_default(),
 		online: true,
 	};
-	let encoded_message = SignedMessage::sign_and_encode(endpoint.secret_key(), &message)?;
+	let encoded_message = SignedMessage::sign_and_encode(&secret_key, &message)?;
 	sender.broadcast(encoded_message).await?;
 
 	task::spawn(subscribe_loop(receiver));
 
+	task::spawn(sender_loop(sender, secret_key));
+
 	Ok(())
 }
 
@@ -81,6 +98,19 @@ async fn subscribe_loop(mut receiver: GossipReceiver) {
 	}
 }
 
+async fn sender_loop(sender: GossipSender, secret_key: SecretKey) {
+	loop {
+		let message = Message {
+			hostname: config::get_setting("REDLIB_FULL_URL").unwrap_or_default(),
+			online: ONLINE.load(Ordering::SeqCst),
+		};
+		let encoded_message = SignedMessage::sign_and_encode(&secret_key, &message).unwrap();
+		let _ = sender.broadcast(encoded_message).await;
+
+		sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(10)).await;
+	}
+}
+
 #[derive(Debug, Serialize, Deserialize)]
 struct Ticket {
 	topic: TopicId,