First launch

The server is running. Open the page, bind the radio, then look around.

http://127.0.0.1:8000

From another device on the same network, use the machine’s IP address with port 8000.

Bind the radio

Transport — USB, TCP, or Bluetooth — is chosen in the web UI, not during install. Until it is set, the status bar stays paused and Connect opens Settings > Radio.

Pick the transport, enter the port, host, or BLE address and PIN, then apply. Details are in Radio transports.

The bar then moves through Radio connecting, Radio initializing, and Radio OK when the link is up and synchronization is complete. The first connection takes a moment: the server reads the device configuration, retrieves its contacts and channels, and sets its clock.

If the bar says Radio disconnected, a Reconnect button appears beside it. A server that cannot find the radio retries by itself every few seconds, so reconnecting a cable or powering up the radio is usually enough. If the state does not change: wrong serial port, wrong IP address, or rejected Bluetooth PIN. See Troubleshooting.

First identity bind

Meshloom binds the database to the radio’s public key. A new install does this quietly. After upgrading an existing database, a dialog asks you to confirm.

• Bind without wiping if this is the same radio: contacts and messages stay.
• New radio if this is a different device: local mesh contacts and messages are wiped. Channels and server settings stay.

Previous key: unknown means the database predates identity binding, not that the radio changed. If the new key is yours, bind without wiping.

If a different radio is connected, the dialog shows both key prefixes. Bind-without-wipe is not offered: adopting the other identity requires a wipe.

The status bar also shows the node name, its public key — click it to copy — and the battery level when the radio provides it.

Name the node

A node without a name appears to other people under the first characters of its public key. Give it a name.

Open Settings, then Radio, the Identity group, and the Radio name field. This name goes out in every advert and is what other people see in their contact list. Short is better: radio packets have limited space.

The same section contains radio settings: presets, frequency, bandwidth, and the rest. They must match nearby nodes or nobody will hear anybody else. If the node stays silent while other devices nearby are active, this is the first place to look. It is worth knowing the local settings before changing them.

Announce yourself

Farther down in the same section is Adverts and discovery. An advert is the small packet a node sends to say that it exists, with its name and public key.

• Send advert sends one immediately. The flood version travels through repeaters and goes farther. The zero-hop version stays local and uses much less airtime.
• Periodic advert interval controls automatic repeats. 0 disables them. The minimum is one hour, and twenty-four hours or more is recommended: adverts sent too often occupy airtime for everyone.

The reverse works too. Contacts do not have to be entered by hand: every advert heard creates or updates a contact automatically. An empty list at startup is not a problem; it just means the network has not been heard yet.

Look around

On a phone, the bottom bar offers four destinations: Conversations, Map, Tools, and Settings. On a large screen, an icon rail on the left offers Conversations and the Map, then the tools; Settings stays at the bottom of the rail.

The conversation list is grouped into sections: Favorites, Channels, Contacts, Repeaters, and Room servers. A Public channel exists from the start; it is MeshCore’s default channel, open to everyone.

Tools open from the Tools screen, or from an icon on the rail:

• Packet feed — everything the radio hears, whether it can be decrypted or not.
• Control journal — requests, responses, and group data, kept apart from conversations.
• Live — packets placed on a map as they are heard.
• Mesh visualizer — the paths packets actually took.
• Trace — a route test to one node.
• RF locate — an estimated coverage area, not a GPS point.
• Message search — full-text search across the history.
• Discovered channels — hashtag channels that were heard, to keep or dismiss.
• Radio test — sends a test message and shows who heard it. It is offered only when Meshloom Community is on.

The Add channel/contact button opens conversation creation: a contact by public key, a channel by key, or a hashtag channel by name.

A new install shows a Community banner until an airport IATA code is saved under Settings > Community. You can leave Community from that pane. See Meshloom Community.

Settings > Notifications is where Web Push lives (this device, defaults, exceptions, VAPID subject). There are no in-tab desktop alerts.

To send something: Messages.