Send want_config_id on connect to trigger initial sync (#6)

Send want_config_id on connect to trigger initial sync (#6)

Firmware only streams myInfo/channels/configComplete after receiving a
ToRadio with want_config_id — the service previously wrote nothing on
connect, so /api/channels stayed [] and myNodeNum null. v0.1.4.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## v0.1.4 — 2026-09-23 20:33
+
+- Send a `ToRadio` with `want_config_id` (random non-zero uint32 nonce) on every bridge connect, so the firmware streams its initial sync data (`myInfo`, channels, `config_complete_id`) — previously nothing was written on connect, which is why `/api/channels` stayed empty and `myNodeNum` stayed null in production. New codec helper `buildWantConfigToRadio`; unit test captures the outbound frame on the fake bridge, asserts the `wantConfigId` oneof case with a non-zero value, then feeds back `myInfo` + `configCompleteId` frames and checks service state.
+
 ## v0.1.3 — 2026-09-23 19:58
 
 - Sends are now pinned to the test channel `testowy` (channel index 2) instead of the hardcoded primary channel (`channel: 0`). The target channel is configurable via `MESH_SEND_CHANNEL` (default `2`) and parsed once at service construction; `buildTextToRadio` takes the channel index as a parameter. Unit tests now decode the outbound ToRadio frame on the fake bridge and assert `packet.channel === 2` on the default send path.

README.md

@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 # mesh-bot
 
 Minimal NestJS bot for Meshtastic. Long-running service that TCP-connects to a
-Meshtastic serial bridge (raw socat pipe) at `192.168.1.4:4403`, parses inbound
+Meshtastic serial bridge (raw socat pipe) at `192.168.1.4:4403`, sends
-protobuf frames, logs received text messages, and exposes HTTP endpoints to send text.
+`want_config_id` on connect so the firmware streams its initial sync data,
+parses inbound protobuf frames, logs received text messages, and exposes HTTP
+endpoints to send text.
 
 ## Local run
 

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "mesh-bot",
-  "version": "0.1.3",
+  "version": "0.1.4",
   "description": "",
   "author": "",
   "private": true,

src/mesh/codec.ts

@@ -88,3 +88,13 @@ export async function buildTextToRadio(
   });
   return { bytes: frame(toBinary(P.Mesh.ToRadioSchema, toRadio)), id };
 }
+
+export async function buildWantConfigToRadio(
+  wantConfigId: number,
+): Promise<Uint8Array> {
+  const P = await loadProto();
+  const toRadio = create(P.Mesh.ToRadioSchema, {
+    payloadVariant: { case: 'wantConfigId', value: wantConfigId },
+  });
+  return toBinary(P.Mesh.ToRadioSchema, toRadio);
+}

src/mesh/mesh.service.spec.ts

@@ -6,13 +6,16 @@ import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 import { extractFrames, frame } from './codec.js';
 import { MeshService } from './mesh.service.js';
 
-function startBridge(): Promise<{
+function startBridge(onSocket?: (s: net.Socket) => void): Promise<{
   port: number;
   sockets: net.Socket[];
   close: () => void;
 }> {
   const sockets: net.Socket[] = [];
-  const server = net.createServer((socket) => sockets.push(socket));
+  const server = net.createServer((socket) => {
+    onSocket?.(socket); // attached at accept time, before any data can arrive
+    sockets.push(socket);
+  });
   return new Promise((resolve) => {
     server.listen(0, '127.0.0.1', () => {
       resolve({
@@ -117,6 +120,63 @@ describe('MeshService channel pipeline', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('MeshService connect', () => {
+  it('sends want_config_id on connect and applies the initial sync', async () => {
+    const out: Uint8Array[] = [];
+    const bridge = await startBridge((s) => s.on('data', (c) => out.push(c)));
+    process.env.MESH_HOST = '127.0.0.1';
+    process.env.MESH_PORT = String(bridge.port);
+    const svc = new MeshService();
+    try {
+      svc.onModuleInit();
+      await waitFor(() => svc.status().connected && out.length > 0);
+
+      const merged = new Uint8Array(out.reduce((n, c) => n + c.length, 0));
+      let off = 0;
+      for (const c of out) {
+        merged.set(c, off);
+        off += c.length;
+      }
+      const { packets } = extractFrames(merged);
+      expect(packets.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+      const tr = fromBinary(P.Mesh.ToRadioSchema, packets[0]);
+      expect(tr.payloadVariant?.case).toBe('wantConfigId');
+      const nonce =
+        tr.payloadVariant && tr.payloadVariant.case === 'wantConfigId'
+          ? tr.payloadVariant.value
+          : -1;
+      expect(nonce).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+
+      // feed back the initial sync: myInfo, then configCompleteId echoing the nonce
+      bridge.sockets[0].write(
+        frame(
+          toBinary(
+            P.Mesh.FromRadioSchema,
+            create(P.Mesh.FromRadioSchema, {
+              payloadVariant: { case: 'myInfo', value: { myNodeNum: 1234 } },
+            }),
+          ),
+        ),
+      );
+      bridge.sockets[0].write(
+        frame(
+          toBinary(
+            P.Mesh.FromRadioSchema,
+            create(P.Mesh.FromRadioSchema, {
+              payloadVariant: { case: 'configCompleteId', value: nonce },
+            }),
+          ),
+        ),
+      );
+
+      await waitFor(() => svc.status().myNodeNum === 1234);
+    } finally {
+      svc.onModuleDestroy();
+      bridge.close();
+    }
+  });
+});
+
 describe('MeshService send', () => {
   it('sends on the test channel (index 2) by default, never primary', async () => {
     const bridge = await startBridge();
@@ -143,11 +203,13 @@ describe('MeshService send', () => {
           off += c.length;
         }
         const { packets } = extractFrames(merged);
-        if (!packets.length) return undefined;
+        // outbound now starts with the want_config_id frame — find the text packet
-        const tr = fromBinary(P.Mesh.ToRadioSchema, packets[0]);
+        for (const p of packets) {
-        return tr.payloadVariant?.case === 'packet'
+          const tr = fromBinary(P.Mesh.ToRadioSchema, p);
-          ? tr.payloadVariant.value
+          if (tr.payloadVariant?.case === 'packet')
-          : undefined;
+            return tr.payloadVariant.value;
+        }
+        return undefined;
       };
 
       await waitFor(() => readOutbound() !== undefined);

src/mesh/mesh.service.ts

@@ -9,8 +9,10 @@ import * as net from 'node:net';
 import {
   PORT_TEXT_MESSAGE_APP,
   buildTextToRadio,
+  buildWantConfigToRadio,
   decodeFromRadio,
   extractFrames,
+  frame,
 } from './codec.js';
 
 @Injectable()
@@ -94,6 +96,13 @@ export class MeshService implements OnModuleInit, OnModuleDestroy {
       // fresh sync on every (re)connect — drop stale channels from the old session
       this.channelMap = new Map();
       this.logger.log(`bridge connected ${this.host}:${this.port}`);
+      const nonce = Math.floor(Math.random() * 0xffffffff) || 1;
+      buildWantConfigToRadio(nonce)
+        .then((bytes) => socket.write(frame(bytes)))
+        .catch((err: unknown) =>
+          this.logger.error(`want_config failed: ${String(err)}`),
+        );
+      this.logger.log(`requested initial sync (want_config_id=${nonce})`);
     });
     socket.on('data', (chunk) => {
       const merged = new Uint8Array(this.buffer.length + chunk.length);