One-time, in person

Cluster onboarding

Each device joins a cluster once. After a single device is running, it can be the root and admit new devices. You do not copy frequencies or encryption keys by hand. Keys are generated on the devices.

Overview LoRa Mesh Security Signatures Onboarding Range vs Meshtastic

Any Blackout Comms device belongs to one or more private mesh clusters. The first time you initialize a device, it creates a new cluster and is permanently the root of that cluster. In many cases that first cluster is temporary, and the device is then onboarded into the cluster you actually want.

Onboarding is proximity-based and done by the root. That is the gate. A password overheard later does not add a device.

Devices the root trusts are trusted by the rest of the cluster through the chain of trust. Off-cluster devices are ignored and blocked from communication.

Ready-made clusters from chatters.io arrive already configured. DIY builds and the step-by-step are on chatters.io/hardware and in the firmware docs.