MeshChatX/README.md

# Reticulum MeshChatX

A heavily customized and updated fork of [Reticulum MeshChat](https://github.com/liamcottle/reticulum-meshchat).

This project is seperate from the original Reticulum MeshChat project, and is not affiliated with the original project. It has been completely reworked, but I try to maintain a migrator to auto-migrate from old database to new one.

## Major Features

- Full LXST support w/ custom voicemail support (espeak-ng and ffmpeg required).
- Map (w/ MBTiles support for offline)
- Security improvements
- Custom UI/UX
- More Tools
- Built-in page archiving and automatic crawler (no multi-page support yet).
- Block LXMF users and NomadNet Nodes
- Toast system for notifications
- i18n support (En, De, Ru)
- Raw SQLite database backend (replaced Peewee ORM)

## TODO

- [ ] Tests and proper CI/CD pipeline.
- [ ] RNS hot reload fix
- [ ] Backup/Import identities, messages and interfaces.
- [ ] Offline Reticulum documentation tool
- [ ] LXMF Telemtry for map
- [ ] Spam filter (based on keywords)
- [ ] Multi-identity support.
- [ ] TAK tool/integration
- [ ] RNS Tunnel - tunnel your regular services over RNS to another MeshchatX user.
- [ ] RNS Filesync - P2P file sync

## Usage

Check [releases](https://git.quad4.io/Ivan/MeshChatX/releases) for pre-built binaries or appimages.

## Building

This project uses [Task](https://taskfile.dev/) for build automation. Install Task first, then:

```bash
task install   # installs Python deps via Poetry and Node deps via pnpm
task build
```

You can run `task run` or `task develop` (a thin alias) to start the backend + frontend loop locally through `poetry run meshchat`.

### Available Tasks

| Task                         | Description                                                                     |
| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `task install`               | Install all dependencies (syncs version, installs node modules and python deps) |
| `task node_modules`          | Install Node.js dependencies only                                               |
| `task python`                | Install Python dependencies using Poetry only                                   |
| `task sync-version`          | Sync version numbers across project files                                       |
| `task run`                   | Run the application                                                             |
| `task develop`               | Run the application in development mode (alias for `run`)                       |
| `task build`                 | Build the application (frontend and backend)                                    |
| `task build-frontend`        | Build only the frontend                                                         |
| `task clean`                 | Clean build artifacts and dependencies                                          |
| `task wheel`                 | Build Python wheel package (outputs to `python-dist/`)                          |
| `task build-appimage`        | Build Linux AppImage                                                            |
| `task build-exe`             | Build Windows portable executable                                               |
| `task dist`                  | Build distribution (defaults to AppImage)                                       |
| `task electron-legacy`       | Install legacy Electron version                                                 |
| `task build-appimage-legacy` | Build Linux AppImage with legacy Electron version                               |
| `task build-exe-legacy`      | Build Windows portable executable with legacy Electron version                  |
| `task build-docker`          | Build Docker image using buildx                                                 |
| `task run-docker`            | Run Docker container using docker-compose                                       |

All tasks support environment variable overrides. For example:

- `PYTHON=python3.12 task install`
- `DOCKER_PLATFORMS=linux/amd64,linux/arm64 task build-docker`

### Python Packaging

The backend uses Poetry with `pyproject.toml` for dependency management and packaging. Before building, run `python3 scripts/sync_version.py` (or `task sync-version`) to ensure the generated `src/version.py` reflects the version from `package.json` that the Electron artifacts use. This keeps the CLI release metadata, wheel packages, and other bundles aligned.

#### Build Artifact Locations

Both `poetry build` and `python -m build` generate wheels inside the default `dist/` directory. The `task wheel` shortcut wraps `poetry build -f wheel` and then runs `python scripts/move_wheels.py` to relocate the generated `.whl` files into `python-dist/` (the layout expected by `scripts/test_wheel.sh` and the release automation). Use `task wheel` if you need the artifacts in `python-dist/`; `poetry build` or `python -m build` alone will leave them in `dist/`.

#### Building with Poetry

```bash
# Install dependencies
poetry install

# Build the package (wheels land in dist/)
poetry build

# Install locally for testing (consumes dist/)
pip install dist/*.whl
```

#### Building with pip (alternative)

If you prefer pip, you can build/install directly:

```bash
# Build the wheel
pip install build
python -m build

# Install locally
pip install .
```

### Building in Docker

```bash
task build-docker
```

`build-docker` creates `reticulum-meshchatx:local` (or `$DOCKER_IMAGE` if you override it) via `docker buildx`. Set `DOCKER_PLATFORMS` to `linux/amd64,linux/arm64` when you need multi-arch images, and adjust `DOCKER_BUILD_FLAGS`/`DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS` to control `--load`/`--push`.

### Running with Docker Compose

```bash
task run-docker
```

`run-docker` feeds the locally-built image into `docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up --remove-orphans --pull never reticulum-meshchatx`. The compose file uses the `MESHCHAT_IMAGE` env var so you can override the target image without editing the YAML (the default still points at `ghcr.io/sudo-ivan/reticulum-meshchatx:latest`). Use `docker compose down` or `Ctrl+C` to stop the container.

The Electron build artifacts will still live under `dist/` for releases.

### Standalone Executables (cx_Freeze)

The `cx_setup.py` script uses cx_Freeze for creating standalone executables (AppImage for Linux, NSIS for Windows). This is separate from the Poetry/pip packaging workflow.

## Internationalization (i18n)

Multi-language support is in progress. We use `vue-i18n` for the frontend.

Translation files are located in `meshchatx/src/frontend/locales/`.

Currently supported languages:

- English (Primary)
- Russian
- German