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meshcore-spec/versions/v0.1.0/02-header.md
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swaitsandClaude Opus 4.7 f83d4088e3 spec: link corpus references to GitHub, version-aware
Every "Test vectors: \`corpus/...\`" mention in the spec is now a
markdown link pointing at the corresponding file or directory on
GitHub. Each version build resolves its links to the correct git
ref:

  - /latest/ -> https://github.com/swaits/meshcore-spec/tree/main/corpus/...
  - /v0.1.0/ -> https://github.com/swaits/meshcore-spec/tree/v0.1.0/corpus/...
  - future /vX.Y.Z/ -> /tree/vX.Y.Z/corpus/...

Two changes:

1. src/*.md (18 files): the inline-code corpus paths in each
   "Cross-References" section are now markdown links. Directories
   point at /tree/main/corpus/..., individual .json files point at
   /blob/main/corpus/.... CHANGELOG and other non-corpus main links
   are intentionally left pointing at main — the canonical history
   lives there regardless of which version you're reading.

2. justfile: `cut-version` now also runs a sed over the snapshot's
   *.md files replacing /tree/main/corpus -> /tree/<VERSION>/corpus
   and /blob/main/corpus -> /blob/<VERSION>/corpus. So a freshly-cut
   version is self-consistent.

versions/v0.1.0/* regenerated by re-running
`just cut-version v0.1.0` after the new src/ links + recipe sed
landed.

Tagging the release commit (`git tag v0.1.0`) is now REQUIRED — not
"optional" — because the rendered /v0.1.0/ pages reference
/tree/v0.1.0/corpus/... on GitHub. Without the tag the links 404.
cut-version's output now says so.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-05-12 10:35:09 -06:00

126 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown

# MeshCore Protocol Specification
## Section 2: Header
### Overview
The header is the first byte of every MeshCore packet. It encodes three fields
using bit packing: the route type (2 bits), the payload type (4 bits), and the
protocol version (2 bits).
### Bit Layout
```
Bit: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| V1 V0| P3 P2 P1 P0| R1 R0|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | |
| | +-- Route Type (bits 0-1)
| +-------------- Payload Type (bits 2-5)
+------------------------ Protocol Version (bits 6-7)
```
The header byte value is computed as:
```
header = (version << 6) | (payload_type << 2) | route_type
```
And fields are extracted as:
```
route_type = header & 0x03
payload_type = (header >> 2) & 0x0F
version = (header >> 6) & 0x03
```
### Route Type (bits 0-1)
The route type determines how the packet is routed through the mesh and whether
transport codes are present.
| Value | Name | Transport Codes | Description |
|-------|------|----------------|-------------|
| 0x00 | TRANSPORT_FLOOD | Yes (4 bytes) | Flood routing with transport codes for regional scoping |
| 0x01 | FLOOD | No | Standard flood routing; path is built up by intermediate nodes |
| 0x02 | DIRECT | No | Direct routing; path is supplied by the sender |
| 0x03 | TRANSPORT_DIRECT | Yes (4 bytes) | Direct routing with transport codes |
Transport codes MUST be present in the wire format when route type is 0x00 or
0x03, and MUST NOT be present when route type is 0x01 or 0x02.
### Payload Type (bits 2-5)
The payload type identifies the structure of the payload data.
| Value | Name | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| 0x00 | REQUEST | Encrypted request (dest_hash + src_hash + MAC + ciphertext) |
| 0x01 | RESPONSE | Encrypted response to REQ or ANON_REQ |
| 0x02 | TXT_MSG | Encrypted text message |
| 0x03 | ACK | Simple acknowledgment (4-byte CRC) |
| 0x04 | ADVERT | Node identity advertisement |
| 0x05 | GRP_TXT | Encrypted group text message |
| 0x06 | GRP_DATA | Encrypted group datagram |
| 0x07 | ANON_REQ | Anonymous request (full public key instead of hash) |
| 0x08 | PATH | Encrypted returned path information |
| 0x09 | TRACE | Path trace with per-hop SNR collection |
| 0x0A | MULTIPART | One part of a multi-packet sequence |
| 0x0B | CONTROL | Control/discovery packet |
| 0x0C | (reserved) | Reserved for future use |
| 0x0D | (reserved) | Reserved for future use |
| 0x0E | (reserved) | Reserved for future use |
| 0x0F | RAW_CUSTOM | Custom raw bytes for application-defined payloads |
Implementations SHOULD silently discard packets with reserved payload type values
(0x0C-0x0E) unless they have explicit support for extended types.
### Protocol Version (bits 6-7)
| Value | Name | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| 0x00 | V1 | Current version: 1-byte src/dest hashes, 2-byte MAC |
| 0x01 | V2 | Reserved for future use |
| 0x02 | V3 | Reserved for future use |
| 0x03 | V4 | Reserved for future use |
Implementations MUST support version 0x00 (V1). Implementations SHOULD reject
packets with unrecognized version values.
### Special Header Values
The header value `0xFF` is used internally as a "do not retransmit" marker. This
is an in-memory sentinel only and MUST NOT appear on the wire. A header of
`0xFF` would decode as version=3, payload_type=0x0F (RAW_CUSTOM), route_type=3
(TRANSPORT_DIRECT).
### Encoding Examples
| Header Byte | Binary | Version | Payload Type | Route Type |
|-------------|--------|---------|-------------|------------|
| `0x01` | `00 000000 01` | V1 (0) | REQUEST (0) | FLOOD (1) |
| `0x05` | `00 000001 01` | V1 (0) | RESPONSE (1) | FLOOD (1) |
| `0x09` | `00 000010 01` | V1 (0) | TXT_MSG (2) | FLOOD (1) |
| `0x0D` | `00 000011 01` | V1 (0) | ACK (3) | FLOOD (1) |
| `0x11` | `00 000100 01` | V1 (0) | ADVERT (4) | FLOOD (1) |
| `0x0C` | `00 000011 00` | V1 (0) | ACK (3) | TRANSPORT_FLOOD (0) |
| `0x0E` | `00 000011 10` | V1 (0) | ACK (3) | DIRECT (2) |
| `0x0F` | `00 000011 11` | V1 (0) | ACK (3) | TRANSPORT_DIRECT (3) |
| `0x4D` | `01 000011 01` | V2 (1, reserved) | ACK (3) | FLOOD (1) |
### Cross-References
- [Section 1: Wire Format](01-wire-format.md) — Overall packet structure
- [Section 3: Path](03-path.md) — Path encoding
- Test vectors: [`corpus/wire-format/header/`](https://github.com/swaits/meshcore-spec/tree/v0.1.0/corpus/wire-format/header/)
### Reference Implementation
- `Packet::getRouteType()` in `src/Packet.h` — `header & 0x03`
- `Packet::getPayloadType()` in `src/Packet.h` — `(header >> 2) & 0x0F`
- `Packet::getPayloadVer()` in `src/Packet.h` — `(header >> 6) & 0x03`
- `Packet::hasTransportCodes()` in `src/Packet.h` — route type 0x00 or 0x03
- Route type constants in `src/Packet.h`
- Payload type constants in `src/Packet.h`