The app uses a WebView to display the existing Vue.js frontend. The Python server runs in the background via Chaquopy and serves the web interface on http://127.0.0.1:8000.

No Kotlin frontend needed - we reuse the entire existing Vue.js web frontend!

Prerequisites

Android Studio (latest version)
Android SDK with API level 24+ (Android 7.0+)
Chaquopy license (free for open source projects, see https://chaquo.com/chaquopy/pricing/)

Setup

Initialize Gradle Wrapper (if not already done):

task android-init

Or manually:

cd android
gradle wrapper --gradle-version 8.2

Get Chaquopy License:
- Sign up at https://chaquo.com/chaquopy/
- Add your license key to android/local.properties:
```
chaquopy.license=your-license-key-here
```
Prepare Build:
```
task android-prepare
```
This will:
- Build the frontend
- Copy the meshchatx package to app/src/main/python/
- Initialize Gradle wrapper if needed

Building

Using Task (Recommended)

# Build debug APK
task android-build

# Build release APK (requires signing config)
task android-build-release

Using Gradle Directly

cd android
./gradlew assembleDebug

Or open the android directory in Android Studio and build from there.

Configuration

The server is configured to:

Run on 127.0.0.1:8000 (localhost only)
Use HTTPS for local WebView access
Run in headless mode (no browser launch)

Notes

The app requires network permissions for RNS/mesh networking
Storage permissions are needed for identity and message storage
The Python server runs in a background thread
The WebView loads the Vue.js frontend after a 2-second delay to allow server startup

Troubleshooting

If the WebView shows a blank page, check logcat for Python errors
Ensure all Python dependencies are listed in app/build.gradle chaquopy.pip block
Some native dependencies (like RNS) may need additional configuration