diff --git a/src/c3nav/api/urls.py b/src/c3nav/api/urls.py
index fa4469fe..f20dc60a 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/api/urls.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/api/urls.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ from collections import OrderedDict
 
 from django.urls import include, path, re_path
 from django.utils.functional import cached_property
+from ninja import NinjaAPI
 from rest_framework.generics import GenericAPIView
 from rest_framework.response import Response
 from rest_framework.routers import SimpleRouter
@@ -18,8 +19,16 @@ from c3nav.mapdata.api import (AccessRestrictionGroupViewSet, AccessRestrictionV
                                SpaceViewSet, StairViewSet, UpdatesViewSet)
 from c3nav.mapdata.utils.user import can_access_editor
 from c3nav.mesh.api import FirmwareViewSet
+from c3nav.mesh.newapi import api_router as mesh_api_router
 from c3nav.routing.api import RoutingViewSet
 
+ninja_api = NinjaAPI(
+    title="c3nav API",
+    version="v2",
+    docs_url="/",
+)
+ninja_api.add_router("/mesh/", mesh_api_router)
+
 router = SimpleRouter()
 router.register(r'map', MapViewSet, basename='map')
 router.register(r'levels', LevelViewSet)
@@ -63,6 +72,8 @@ class APIRoot(GenericAPIView):
     The HTML preview is only shown because your Browser sent text/html in its Accept header.
     If you want to use this API on a large scale, please use a client that supports E-Tags.
     For more information on a specific API endpoint, access it with a browser.
+
+    This is the old API which is slowly being phased out in favor of the new API at /api/v2/.
     """
 
     def _format_pattern(self, pattern):
diff --git a/src/c3nav/api/utils.py b/src/c3nav/api/utils.py
index bcdc9f76..08ed8fef 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/api/utils.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/api/utils.py
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+from enum import EnumMeta
+from typing import Any, Optional, cast, Iterator, Callable
+
+from pydantic.fields import ModelField
 from rest_framework.exceptions import ParseError
 
 
@@ -10,3 +14,26 @@ def get_api_post_data(request):
             raise ParseError('Invalid JSON.')
         return data
     return request.POST
+
+
+class EnumSchemaByNameMixin:
+    @classmethod
+    def __modify_schema__(cls, field_schema: dict[str, Any], field: Optional[ModelField]) -> None:
+        if field is None:
+            return
+        field_schema["enum"] = list(cast(EnumMeta, field.type_).__members__.keys())
+
+    @classmethod
+    def _validate(cls, v: Any, field: ModelField) -> Any:
+        if isinstance(v, cls):
+            # it's already the object, so it's going to json, return string
+            return v.name
+        try:
+            # it's a string, so it's coming from json, return object
+            return cls[v]
+        except KeyError:
+            raise ValueError(f"Invalid value for {cls}: `{v}`")
+
+    @classmethod
+    def __get_validators__(cls) -> Iterator[Callable[..., Any]]:
+        yield cls._validate
diff --git a/src/c3nav/mesh/dataformats.py b/src/c3nav/mesh/dataformats.py
index d47ae897..8ed2ec4c 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/mesh/dataformats.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/mesh/dataformats.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import re
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from enum import IntEnum, unique
 
+from c3nav.api.utils import EnumSchemaByNameMixin
 from c3nav.mesh.baseformats import (BoolFormat, EnumFormat, FixedHexFormat, FixedStrFormat, SimpleFormat, StructType,
                                     VarArrayFormat)
 
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ class UWBConfig(StructType):
 
 
 @unique
-class BoardType(IntEnum):
+class BoardType(EnumSchemaByNameMixin, IntEnum):
     CUSTOM = 0x00
 
     # devboards
diff --git a/src/c3nav/mesh/messages.py b/src/c3nav/mesh/messages.py
index a25c2712..92f74ceb 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/mesh/messages.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/mesh/messages.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ from typing import TypeVar
 import channels
 from channels.db import database_sync_to_async
 
+from c3nav.api.utils import EnumSchemaByNameMixin
 from c3nav.mesh.baseformats import (BoolFormat, EnumFormat, FixedStrFormat, SimpleFormat, StructType, VarArrayFormat,
                                     VarBytesFormat, VarStrFormat, normalize_name)
 from c3nav.mesh.dataformats import (BoardConfig, FirmwareAppDescription, MacAddressesListFormat, MacAddressFormat,
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ M = TypeVar('M', bound='MeshMessage')
 
 
 @unique
-class ChipType(IntEnum):
+class ChipType(EnumSchemaByNameMixin, IntEnum):
     ESP32_S2 = 2
     ESP32_C3 = 5
 
diff --git a/src/c3nav/mesh/models.py b/src/c3nav/mesh/models.py
index 241fbcec..2cad8b99 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/mesh/models.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/mesh/models.py
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ class FirmwareBuild(models.Model):
             'chip': ChipType(self.chip).name,
             'sha256_hash': self.sha256_hash,
             'url': self.binary.url,
-            'boards': self.boards,
+            'boards': [board.name for board in self.boards],
         }
 
     @cached_property
diff --git a/src/c3nav/mesh/newapi.py b/src/c3nav/mesh/newapi.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f09202a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/c3nav/mesh/newapi.py
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+from datetime import datetime
+
+from ninja import Router as APIRouter, Field as APIField, Schema
+from ninja.pagination import paginate
+
+from c3nav.mesh.dataformats import BoardType
+from c3nav.mesh.messages import ChipType
+from c3nav.mesh.models import FirmwareVersion
+
+api_router = APIRouter(tags=["mesh"])
+
+
+class FirmwareBuildSchema(Schema):
+    id: int
+    chip: ChipType = APIField(..., example=ChipType.ESP32_C3.name)
+    sha256_hash: str = APIField(..., regex=r"^[0-9a-f]{64}$")
+    url: str = APIField(..., alias="binary", example="/media/firmware/012345/firmware.bin")
+    boards: list[BoardType] = APIField(..., example=[BoardType.C3NAV_LOCATION_PCB_REV_0_2.name, ])
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def resolve_chip(obj):
+        # todo: do this in model? idk
+        return ChipType(obj.chip)
+
+
+class FirmwareSchema(Schema):
+    id: int
+    project_name: str = APIField(..., example="c3nav_positioning")
+    version: str = APIField(..., example="499837d-dirty")
+    idf_version: str = APIField(..., example="v5.1-476-g3187b8b326")
+    created: datetime
+    builds: list[FirmwareBuildSchema]
+
+
+class Error(Schema):
+    detail: str
+
+
+@api_router.get('/firmwares/', response=list[FirmwareSchema],
+                summary="List available firmwares")
+@paginate
+def firmware_list(request):
+    return FirmwareVersion.objects.all()
+
+
+@api_router.get('/firmwares/{firmware_id}/', response={200: FirmwareSchema, 404: Error},
+                summary="Get specific firmware")
+def firmware_detail(request, firmware_id: int):
+    try:
+        return FirmwareVersion.objects.get(id=firmware_id)
+    except FirmwareVersion.DoesNotExist:
+        return 404, {"detail": "firmware not found"}
diff --git a/src/c3nav/settings.py b/src/c3nav/settings.py
index 1730f65b..160035cd 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/settings.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/settings.py
@@ -248,6 +248,7 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = [
     'channels',
     'compressor',
     'bootstrap3',
+    'ninja',
     'c3nav.api',
     'rest_framework',
     'c3nav.mapdata',
@@ -329,6 +330,8 @@ REST_FRAMEWORK = {
     )
 }
 
+NINJA_PAGINATION_CLASS = "ninja.pagination.LimitOffsetPagination"
+
 LOCALE_PATHS = (
     PROJECT_DIR / 'locale',
 )
diff --git a/src/c3nav/urls.py b/src/c3nav/urls.py
index 4f79e131..a3c64dbd 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/urls.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/urls.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import c3nav.site.urls
 
 urlpatterns = [
     path('editor/', include(c3nav.editor.urls)),
+    path('api/v2/', c3nav.api.urls.ninja_api.urls),
     path('api/', include((c3nav.api.urls, 'api'), namespace='api')),
     path('map/', include(c3nav.mapdata.urls)),
     path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
diff --git a/src/requirements/production.txt b/src/requirements/production.txt
index 859c40fb..5a0a87ac 100644
--- a/src/requirements/production.txt
+++ b/src/requirements/production.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ django-bootstrap3==23.1
 django-compressor==4.3.1
 csscompressor==0.9.5
 djangorestframework==3.14.0
+django-ninja==0.22.2
 django-filter==23.2
 shapely==2.0.1
 pybind11==2.10.4
@@ -16,4 +17,4 @@ matplotlib==3.7.1
 scipy==1.10.1
 django_libsass==0.9
 channels==4.0.0
-daphne==4.0.0
\ No newline at end of file
+daphne==4.0.0