abf66b9cef
Verifiers:
tools/verify_proof_packet.py — locks in §6.5. Toggles
Reticulum.__use_implicit_proof to test both modes; confirms
Identity.prove emits 64B (implicit) or 96B (explicit) proof
body; PacketReceipt.validate_proof accepts both lengths and
rejects an 80B body.
tools/verify_link_handshake.py — locks in §6.1, §6.2, §6.3, §6.6.
Most importantly verifies the previously-corrected §6.2 LRPROOF
body order (signature(64) || responder_X25519_pub(32) ||
[signalling]) and §6.3 link_id offsets (N=2 for HEADER_1) by
actually building a Link initiator-side, capturing the
LINKREQUEST raw bytes, computing link_id by the spec recipe,
running validate_request inline (since the upstream wrapper
swallows exceptions), and confirming the responder's LRPROOF
bytes match the spec layout. This was the single most
interop-critical correction we made.
tools/verify_rnode_split.py — locks in §8.3. Pure-function
re-implementation of the canonical TX and RX state machines
from RNode_Firmware.ino:359-446 + 716-742; tests header-byte
layout, single-frame TX, split-frame TX (300B → 254+46 with
shared header byte), all four RX state-machine cases (a/b/c/d
from the spec table), and end-to-end TX/RX round-trip at
sizes 50, 254, 255, 300, 508.
tools/verify_msgpack_quirk.py — locks in §9.3. Confirms umsgpack
distinguishes str (fixstr/0xa5) from bytes (bin8/0xc4); confirms
LXMF.display_name_from_app_data parses bytes-encoded display
names correctly and silently returns None (not crash) on
str-encoded ones, matching the bug-tolerance documented in §9.3.
All 11 verifiers pass against RNS 1.2.0 / LXMF 0.9.6.
Plus:
- SPEC.md frontmatter: 'Last verified against' line per agent.md §7.
- flows/receive-propagated-lxmf.md: closing half of the propagated
LXMF lifecycle. /get listing query, fetch query, ack-and-purge
via the have_ids slot, message-bundle unpack and dispatch
through lxmf_delivery.
- tools/README.md status table refreshed; flows/README.md flips
receive-propagated-lxmf.md to ✅.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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|---|---|---|
| flows | ||
| test-vectors | ||
| tools | ||
| agent.md | ||
| LICENSE | ||
| README.md | ||
| SPEC.md | ||
| todo.md | ||
Reticulum Specifications
Byte-level interoperability specifications for the Reticulum Network Stack and LXMF — the parts that aren't in the upstream manuals but are needed to build a working client from scratch.
Upstream Reticulum has excellent operator-facing documentation (config, deployment, design philosophy). What's missing — and what every alternative implementation has had to reverse-engineer from the Python source — is an authoritative wire-level spec: header bit layouts, msgpack field types, signature input formats, the exact behavior of Transport.outbound, and the long list of "would never guess from reading the manual" gotchas that cost hours of debugging each.
This repo collects those findings in one place. The hope is that future client authors (Kotlin, Swift, Rust, Go, embedded C — pick your stack) can read this instead of re-deriving everything from RNS/Transport.py.
Status
Early days, contributions welcome. Current content was bootstrapped from the working notes of two reverse-engineering efforts:
- The web-based Reticulum client at
reticulum-lora-webclient - The native Android client at
reticulum-mobile-app
Each finding is grounded in upstream source citations (file + line) so it can be re-verified as RNS evolves.
What's here
SPEC.md— the single combined spec document, organized by protocol layerflows/— chronological end-to-end narratives (e.g. "send a message"), cross-referencing SPEC.md sectionstools/— self-contained Python verifier scripts that test SPEC.md claims against upstream RNS / LXMFtest-vectors/— known-good byte sequences each implementation should be able to round-trip (intent: grow into a compliance suite)
As content grows, SPEC.md will be split into per-layer files (packet header, identity, announce, token-crypto, LXMF, link, resource, transport).
Scope
In scope:
- Wire formats: byte layouts, field encodings, framing
- Signing inputs and what's hashed where
- Cross-cutting behaviors required for interop (path requests, ratchet rotation, retransmit semantics)
- "Gotchas" — things upstream code does that aren't obvious from the manual or RFC-style sketches
- Test vectors that any implementation must be able to round-trip
Out of scope:
- Operator/user documentation — see the official manual
- API design choices for any specific implementation
- Networking layer config (interfaces, transport modes) — already well documented
Source citations
Where a finding cites upstream Python code, the path is relative to a standard pip install rns lxmf installation, e.g. RNS/Transport.py, LXMF/LXMF.py. Where the bundled umsgpack is referenced, the path is RNS/vendor/umsgpack.py.
When upstream code changes such that a citation no longer matches, file an issue or PR — the goal is to track the de-facto wire spec as it actually behaves, not as it was at any single snapshot.
Contributing
If you've debugged a Reticulum interop problem and the answer wasn't in the upstream docs, please add it. Format:
### N.M Short description of the finding
**Symptom:** what you observed that prompted the investigation.
**What's happening:** the actual mechanism, ideally with upstream source citation (file + line).
**Implication / fix:** what an implementation must do to interop.
**Source:** upstream file paths and approximate line numbers.
Add a worked test vector to test-vectors/ if the finding is byte-level.
License
CC BY 4.0 — use freely, attribution appreciated.