Root cause: Multiple concurrent meshcli calls were fighting for USB access,
causing "Protocol error" and 504 Gateway Timeouts.
Changes to meshcore-bridge:
- Add threading.Lock to serialize meshcli subprocess calls
- Prevent concurrent USB access that causes OSError [Errno 71]
- Reduce DEFAULT_TIMEOUT from 30s to 10s
- Add detailed logging for lock acquisition and release
Changes to main API:
- Implement 30s cache for get_channels() to reduce USB calls
- Cache invalidation after channel create/join/delete operations
- Use cached channels in /api/channels and /api/messages/updates
- Reduce HTTP timeout from 30s to 12s (10s bridge + 2s buffer)
Impact:
- Eliminates race conditions when page loads (multiple API calls)
- Prevents USB port conflicts and protocol errors
- Faster response times due to caching
- No need for manual USB resets after container restarts
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
BREAKING CHANGE: Switched from single-container to multi-container setup
This commit introduces a meshcore-bridge service that isolates USB device
access from the main application, resolving persistent USB timeout and
deadlock issues in Docker + VM environments.
Changes:
- Add meshcore-bridge/ - Lightweight HTTP API wrapper for meshcli
- Flask server exposes /cli endpoint (port 5001, internal only)
- Exclusive USB device access via --device flag
- Health check endpoint at /health
- Refactor app/meshcore/cli.py
- Replace subprocess calls with HTTP requests to bridge
- Add requests library dependency
- Better error handling for bridge communication
- Update docker-compose.yml
- Define meshcore-bridge and mc-webui services
- Create meshcore-net Docker network
- Add depends_on with health check condition
- Bridge gets USB device, main app uses HTTP only
- Modify Dockerfile
- Remove meshcore-cli installation from main app
- Lighter image without gcc dependencies
- Update config.py
- Add MC_BRIDGE_URL environment variable
- Remove meshcli_command property (no longer needed)
- Update documentation (README.md, .claude/instructions.md)
- Document 2-container architecture
- Add troubleshooting section for bridge
- Update prerequisites (no host meshcore-cli needed)
- Add architecture diagram in project structure
Benefits:
✅ Solves USB device locking after container restarts
✅ Restartable main app without USB reset
✅ Better separation of concerns
✅ Easier debugging (isolated meshcli logs)
✅ No manual USB recovery scripts needed
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Implemented core backend functionality:
- Flask application structure with blueprints
- Configuration module loading from environment variables
- MeshCore CLI wrapper with subprocess execution and timeout handling
- Message parser for .msgs JSON Lines file format
- REST API endpoints (messages, status, sync, contacts cleanup)
- HTML views with Bootstrap 5 responsive design
- Frontend JavaScript with auto-refresh and live updates
- Custom CSS styling for chat interface
API Endpoints:
- GET /api/messages - List messages with pagination
- POST /api/messages - Send message with optional reply-to
- GET /api/status - Device connection status
- POST /api/sync - Trigger message sync
- POST /api/contacts/cleanup - Remove inactive contacts
- GET /api/device/info - Device information
Features:
- Auto-refresh every 60s (configurable)
- Reply to messages with @[UserName] format
- Toast notifications for feedback
- Settings modal for contact management
- Responsive design (mobile-friendly)
- Message bubbles with sender, timestamp, SNR, hop count
Ready for testing on production server (192.168.131.80:5000)
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
MarekWo