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beacon-server/docs/packet-summaries.md
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Packet summaries

Packet lists, regional lists, reconnect backfill and live packetObservation events share an optional summary string. It describes metadata carried by that packet, rather than looking up a node's current name or decoding history again.

Payload Summary Source
ADVERT Advertised name Saved appData.name / verified decoded advert
ACK ACK 01020304 Four-byte acknowledgement checksum
TRACE TRACE efbeadde Trace tag
TRACE classified as PING PING efbeadde Trace tag, with the existing single-destination classification

References use eight lowercase hexadecimal characters in the same byte order as packet detail's checksum / traceTag. Extended ACK retry bytes do not change the displayed checksum. Zero is a valid reference. These short references are not globally unique packet identifiers or proof of delivery/authentication; no message body, trace auth code or inferred sender/recipient is added to the summary.

Historical reads require the expected stored type and a string containing exactly eight hex characters. Missing, malformed or unsupported references omit the field. Advert behavior is unchanged. List/backfill queries project the text from saved JSON in their existing query, without a schema change, backfill job or per-packet database lookup. The existing web summary display needs no new API field or client release to render these values.

Other packet types remain separate follow-ups under issue #99. A missing summary does not mean the packet is invalid or unreadable in packet detail.