Meshtastic Monitor

A tiny web dashboard + JSON API for Meshtastic over TCP (direct to your node, default port 4403).

What you need (before you start)

1. A Meshtastic node reachable over Wi‑Fi (you know its IP/hostname)
2. Python 3.9+

Start (2 minutes)

1) Install (one time)

pip install meshtastic-monitor

If pip is not available, use:

python3 -m pip install meshtastic-monitor

2) Run

python -m meshtastic_monitor --host YOUR_MESH_IP

If python is not available, use:

python3 -m meshtastic_monitor --host YOUR_MESH_IP

Then open:

• UI: http://localhost:8880/
• Health (JSON): http://localhost:8880/api/health

If you run this on another computer in your LAN, open:

• http://SERVER_IP:8880/

2a) Config file (created automatically)

On first run, a config file is created in the current folder:

• ./meshmon.ini

This file stores your mesh host/port, optional TCP relay, and SMS relay settings. You can also choose a custom path:

python -m meshtastic_monitor --config /path/to/meshmon.ini

3) Stop

Press Ctrl+C in the terminal where it is running.

Configure (if you didn’t pass --host)

1. Open the UI
2. Click Settings
3. Put your Meshtastic IP/host + port (4403)
4. Click Save & Apply

The UI stores these settings in your browser (localStorage) and the backend config file (meshmon.ini) when started via python -m meshtastic_monitor.

SMS relay (optional)

If you want every incoming packet forwarded via SMS, configure it in Settings:

• Enable SMS relay
• Set SMS API URL, API key, and Phone

You can also apply allow-list filters:

• Allowed From IDs (comma-separated or ALL)
• Allowed Types (comma-separated or ALL)
  • Types can be TEXT, app names (e.g. POSITION_APP), or port numbers (e.g. 5)

TCP relay (optional)

If you want more than one TCP client, enable the relay. The app will keep a single connection to your radio and expose a TCP port for other clients:

• Enable TCP relay
• Listen host: 0.0.0.0 (default)
• Listen port: 4403 (default)

Other clients should then connect to your app machine on RELAY_HOST:RELAY_PORT instead of connecting directly to the radio.

Where to see relay status

• UI: Stats → TCP Relay (upstream status + connected clients)
• API: GET /api/relay

Security note

Binding to 0.0.0.0 exposes the relay to your LAN. Do not expose it to the public internet unless you add firewall rules.

Command-line options (copy/paste)

Show all options:

python -m meshtastic_monitor --help

Most used:

• --host / --mesh-host (Meshtastic IP/hostname)
• --mesh-port (default 4403)
• --http-port (default 8880)
• --log-file (default ./meshmon.log)
• --log-level (default INFO)
• --nodes-history-interval (default 60 seconds)
• --config (path to meshmon.ini)
• --sms-enabled / --sms-disabled
• --sms-api-url
• --sms-api-key
• --sms-phone
• --sms-allow-from (comma-separated sender IDs or ALL)
• --sms-allow-types (comma-separated types or ALL)
• --relay-enabled / --relay-disabled
• --relay-host (default 0.0.0.0)
• --relay-port (default 4403)

You can also set env vars instead of flags:

• MESH_HOST (default empty; can also be set via UI)
• MESH_PORT (default 4403)
• HTTP_PORT (default 8880 when using python -m meshtastic_monitor)
• NODES_REFRESH_SEC (default 5) refresh live node snapshot
• MAX_MESSAGES (default 200) in-memory ring buffer size
• STATS_DB_PATH (default meshmon.db, set to off to disable persistence)
• NODES_HISTORY_INTERVAL_SEC (default 60) how often to store node history samples
• STATUS_HISTORY_INTERVAL_SEC (default 60) how often to store status samples
• STATS_WINDOW_HOURS (default 24) used by /api/stats
• MESH_HTTP_PORT (default 80) for http://MESH_HOST[:port]/json/report
• STATUS_TTL_SEC (default 5) cache /json/report for this many seconds
• LOG_LEVEL (default INFO)
• MESHMON_LOG_FILE (default ./meshmon.log)
• MESHMON_CONFIG (path to meshmon.ini)
• SMS_ENABLED (1/0)
• SMS_API_URL (base URL, e.g. https://your-sms-gateway.example/api)
• SMS_API_KEY
• SMS_PHONE
• SMS_ALLOW_FROM_IDS (comma-separated sender IDs or ALL)
• SMS_ALLOW_TYPES (comma-separated types or ALL)
• SMS_TIMEOUT_SEC (seconds, default 4)
• RELAY_ENABLED (1/0)
• RELAY_HOST (default 0.0.0.0)
• RELAY_PORT (default 4403)

Logs (where are they?)

By default the app writes logs to:

• ./meshmon.log (the directory where you started the command)

You can change it:

python -m meshtastic_monitor --log-file /path/to/meshmon.log

Logs are rotated (to avoid infinite growth): ~2MB per file, up to 3 backups.

TCP relay events (listen/upstream/client connect/disconnect) are logged to the same file.

How it works (simple mental model)

Two layers

1. Backend (Python/Flask) exposes JSON endpoints under /api/* and serves the UI.
2. Frontend (HTML/JS) is just static files that poll the JSON API.

What it connects to

• Meshtastic TCP interface (library: meshtastic, class: TCPInterface)
• Your node’s optional HTTP status endpoint: http://<mesh-host>/json/report

Data flow (incoming packets)

1. Backend connects to your node over TCP (MESH_HOST:MESH_PORT)
2. The meshtastic library publishes received packets on meshtastic.receive (via pypubsub)
3. We convert every packet to a thin, JSON-safe dict (no raw bytes) and:
   • keep the last MAX_MESSAGES in memory
   • store everything in SQLite (if enabled)
4. If SMS relay is enabled, the packet is forwarded to your SMS gateway URL

Nodes

• Live node list comes from the Meshtastic node DB (iface.nodes)
• Node history is sampled to the DB every NODES_HISTORY_INTERVAL_SEC seconds (default 60) to avoid DB explosion

Status (“/json/report”)

• The UI shows a nice summary of http://<mesh-host>/json/report (if your node exposes it)
• Backend caches it for STATUS_TTL_SEC and stores a compact subset in SQLite every STATUS_HISTORY_INTERVAL_SEC

Persistence (history / database)

By default, the app creates a SQLite file:

• meshmon.db

It stores:

• message history (so you can scroll back)
• per-node counters (fromCount, toCount, last RSSI/SNR, etc.)
• node “quality over time” samples (SNR/quality/hops/lastHeard)
• mesh connect/disconnect/error events
• compact status samples (battery/utilization/wifi/etc.)

To disable persistence:

export STATS_DB_PATH=off
python -m meshtastic_monitor --host YOUR_MESH_IP

To reset history: stop the app and delete meshmon.db.

Security notes (important)

• There is no login/auth. Run this only on a trusted network.
• GET /api/device/config redacts PSKs by default.
  • GET /api/device/config?includeSecrets=1 will include secrets — do this only if you understand the risk.

API (for developers)

Quick overview:

• GET /api/health – backend status + mesh connection status
• GET /api/status – cached /json/report + link to the JSON
• GET /api/config – current runtime config (mesh + SMS, no secrets)
• GET /api/nodes – live nodes (direct + relayed)
• GET /api/messages – message history (SQLite if enabled, else memory)
• POST /api/send – send text (optional to and channel)
• GET /api/relay – TCP relay status + connected clients
• GET /api/stats – aggregates + charts data
• GET /api/node/<id> – combined live + persisted stats for one node
• GET /api/nodes/history / GET /api/node/<id>/history – history samples

Example:

curl -s http://localhost:8880/api/health
curl -s http://localhost:8880/api/nodes
curl -s http://localhost:8880/api/messages?limit=20
curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8880/api/send -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"text":"hello","channel":0}'

Development (optional)

From a git checkout:

pip install -U pip
pip install -e .
pip install -r backend/requirements-dev.txt
pytest -q