MeshTender helps you register, configure, and maintain your MeshCore repeaters, and share them with your community. It talks to your repeaters over the mesh under its own identity (a "server identity"), so once a repeater grants it access, you can manage that repeater remotely from here.
The one thing MeshTender needs from each repeater is admin access — otherwise it can only read public info. That's the setperm step below.
Granting MeshTender admin (setperm)
MeshTender signs in to a repeater as its server identity — one fixed public key. Until a repeater grants that key admin (permission level 3), MeshTender only has guest access — open to anyone with a blank password — and can't administer the repeater.
Run this on your repeater — through the repeater console in the MeshCore companion app, directly over USB serial, or let MeshTender run it for you during USB setup:
The long value is MeshTender's public key — not your repeater's. If you see a guest-access warning after confirming a repeater, this is the fix: run the command above, then confirm again.
Adding a repeater
There are two ways in, matching how you reach the repeater:
- Set up a brand-new repeater (USB) — connect a freshly-flashed repeater over USB serial and MeshTender runs the whole setup for you: identity, radio, region, name, and the admin grant. Best for a repeater that isn't on the mesh yet.
- Add one that's already on the network (over the air) — for a repeater you've already configured, MeshTender reaches it over the air through a KISS modem attached to your browser. You grant MeshTender admin with the
setpermcommand yourself first, then confirm it here.
Confirming does a live login round-trip to prove MeshTender can reach and administer the repeater. If it reports guest access, the setperm grant hasn't been applied yet.
Either way, the device must already be running MeshCore's Repeater firmware — MeshTender configures repeaters, it doesn't flash them. A MeshCore device runs one firmware at a time (Repeater, a Companion variant, or KISS modem), so switching roles means re-flashing.
What's a KISS modem?
A KISS modem turns a MeshCore device into a plain radio for a host to drive: instead of acting as a repeater or companion, it just relays raw packets to and from whatever's connected to it. That's how MeshTender talks to your mesh over the air — you attach a KISS-modem device to your browser over USB serial, and MeshTender uses it as its radio to reach repeaters that are already deployed (the over-the-air flow above).
It's a relatively new addition to MeshCore, and it's a standard firmware variant — you flash it right from the standard MeshCore flasher, the same place you'd flash Repeater or a Companion. It's available for a large number of MeshCore devices, though not all of them — check the flasher for your specific board.
Remember that firmware variants are exclusive: a device running KISS-modem firmware is your radio interface, not a repeater. To turn that same device into a repeater later, you'd re-flash it with Repeater firmware.
Organizations
An organization is a community that coordinates repeaters together. It helps you generate the commands to run to configure your repeater properly, and share settings with others in your area.
Browse communities on the Organizations page.
Sharing & stewards
You can share a repeater with other people so they can help operate it, and mark trusted helpers as stewards — co-maintainers listed on the repeater's public page. Public repeater and organization pages link to each person's public profile, so visitors can find a way to reach the people who keep the mesh running.
On this page
MeshTender's key
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