Firmware Flashing Guide

Method 1: One-Command Provisioning (Recommended)

Clone the repo, enter the dev shell, and provision a device in one pipeline. This fetches the manifest-pinned firmware, verifies its SHA256 checksum, flashes it, applies the device profile, and configures LA-Mesh channels.

git clone https://github.com/Jesssullivan/LA-Mesh.git
cd LA-Mesh
direnv allow                                    # or: nix develop
just provision station-g2 /dev/ttyUSB0

What just provision does

Device types: station-g2, t-deck

Method 2: Step-by-Step CLI

For operators who want explicit control over each stage.

# 1. Fetch firmware for a specific device
just fetch-firmware --device station-g2

# 2. Confirm pinned version
just firmware-versions

# 3. Flash (SHA256 verified automatically)
just flash-meshtastic firmware/.cache/firmware-station-g2-2.7.15.bin /dev/ttyUSB0

# 4. Apply device profile
just configure-profile station-g2-router /dev/ttyUSB0

# 5. Apply LA-Mesh channels (reads PSK from operator keystore)
just configure-channels /dev/ttyUSB0

Method 3: Web Flasher

For meetups or field use when the dev environment is unavailable.

1. Connect device via USB-C (use a data cable, not charge-only)
2. Open flasher.meshtastic.org in Chrome or Edge (WebSerial required)
3. Select your device type and firmware version
4. Click "Flash" and wait for completion (~2 minutes)

Web flasher does not verify against the LA-Mesh manifest. After flashing, apply the profile and channels manually via CLI.

Checksum Verification

All justfile flash commands verify firmware integrity automatically:

• firmware/manifest.json pins the exact version and SHA256 hash per device
• just fetch-firmware verifies the hash on download
• just flash-meshtastic verifies the hash before flashing
• just provision verifies the hash at step 2 -- refuses to flash on mismatch

# After first download, populate manifest hashes
just firmware-update-hashes

# Verify what's pinned
just firmware-versions

If you see "CHECKSUM MISMATCH -- refusing to flash!", the binary is corrupted or does not match the manifest. Re-download with just fetch-firmware.

Version Parity

All devices provisioned from the same repo clone get identical firmware versions -- the manifest is the single source of truth.

# Check pinned versions
just firmware-versions

# Check if upstream has a newer release
just firmware-check

To update the pinned version: edit firmware/manifest.json, run just fetch-firmware, then just firmware-update-hashes.

Post-Flash Configuration

Then apply LA-Mesh channel configuration (requires PSK from operator's encrypted keystore):

just configure-channels /dev/ttyUSB0

Troubleshooting