diff --git a/bin/meshtasticd-start.sh b/bin/meshtasticd-start.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..b58d92085
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/meshtasticd-start.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env sh
+
+INSTANCE=$1
+CONF_DIR="/etc/meshtasticd/config.d"
+VFS_DIR="/var/lib"
+
+# If no instance ID provided, start bare daemon and exit
+echo "no instance ID provided, starting bare meshtasticd service"
+if [ -z "${INSTANCE}" ]; then
+  /usr/bin/meshtasticd
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+# Make VFS dir if it does not exist
+if [ ! -d "${VFS_DIR}/meshtasticd-${INSTANCE}" ]; then
+  echo "vfs for ${INSTANCE} does not exist, creating it."
+  mkdir "${VFS_DIR}/meshtasticd-${INSTANCE}"
+fi
+
+# Abort if config for $INSTANCE does not exist
+if [ ! -f "${CONF_DIR}/config-${INSTANCE}.yaml" ]; then
+  echo "no config for ${INSTANCE} found in ${CONF_DIR}. refusing to start" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# Start meshtasticd with instance parameters
+printf "starting meshtasticd-%s..., ${INSTANCE}"
+if /usr/bin/meshtasticd --config="${CONF_DIR}/config-${INSTANCE}.yaml" --fsdir="${VFS_DIR}/meshtasticd-${INSTANCE}"; then
+  echo "ok"
+else
+  echo "failed"
+fi
diff --git a/bin/meshtasticd.service b/bin/meshtasticd.service
index 63430bae8..8ca32a8aa 100644
--- a/bin/meshtasticd.service
+++ b/bin/meshtasticd.service
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [Unit]
-Description=Meshtastic Native Daemon
+Description=Meshtastic %i Daemon
 After=network-online.target
 StartLimitInterval=200
 StartLimitBurst=5
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
 User=meshtasticd
 Group=meshtasticd
 Type=simple
-ExecStart=/usr/bin/meshtasticd
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/meshtasticd-start.sh %i
 Restart=always
 RestartSec=3
 
diff --git a/bin/native-install.sh b/bin/native-install.sh
index 18cd9205b..dfcb7b40d 100755
--- a/bin/native-install.sh
+++ b/bin/native-install.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 cp "release/meshtasticd_linux_$(uname -m)" /usr/bin/meshtasticd
+cp "bin/meshtasticd-start.sh" /usr/bin/meshtasticd-start.sh
 mkdir -p /etc/meshtasticd
 if [[ -f "/etc/meshtasticd/config.yaml" ]]; then
 	cp bin/config-dist.yaml /etc/meshtasticd/config-upgrade.yaml
diff --git a/debian/meshtasticd.install b/debian/meshtasticd.install
index 3c68b42b1..62c0150db 100644
--- a/debian/meshtasticd.install
+++ b/debian/meshtasticd.install
@@ -4,5 +4,6 @@ bin/config.yaml                    etc/meshtasticd
 bin/config.d/*                     etc/meshtasticd/available.d
 
 bin/meshtasticd.service            lib/systemd/system
+bin/meshtasticd-start.sh           usr/bin
 
 web/*                              usr/share/meshtasticd/web
diff --git a/meshtasticd.spec.rpkg b/meshtasticd.spec.rpkg
index 3456001f0..0819d5f8d 100644
--- a/meshtasticd.spec.rpkg
+++ b/meshtasticd.spec.rpkg
@@ -95,6 +95,9 @@ cp -r bin/config.d/* %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/meshtasticd/available.d
 # Install systemd service
 install -D -m 0644 bin/meshtasticd.service %{buildroot}%{_unitdir}/meshtasticd.service
 
+# Install meshtasticd start wrapper
+install -D -m 0755 bin/meshtasticd-start.sh %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/meshtasticd-start.sh
+
 # Install the web files under /usr/share/meshtasticd/web
 mkdir -p %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/meshtasticd/web
 cp -r web/* %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/meshtasticd/web