feat(repeater): liveness detection — distinguish actively relaying from advert-only (#662) (#1073)

## Summary

Implements repeater liveness detection per #662 — distinguishes a
repeater that is **actively relaying traffic** from one that is **alive
but idle** (only sending its own adverts).

## Approach

The backend already maintains a `byPathHop` index keyed by lowercase
hop/pubkey for every transmission. Decode-window writes also key it by
**resolved pubkey** for relay hops. We just weren't surfacing it.

`GetRepeaterRelayInfo(pubkey, windowHours)`:
- Reads `byPathHop[pubkey]`.
- Skips packets whose `payload_type == 4` (advert) — a self-advert
proves liveness, not relaying.
- Returns the most recent `FirstSeen` as `lastRelayed`, plus
`relayActive` (within window) and the `windowHours` actually used.

## Three states (per issue)

| State | Indicator | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Relaying | green | `last_relayed` within `relayActiveHours` |
| 🟡 Alive (idle) | yellow | repeater is in the DB but
`relay_active=false` (no recent path-hop appearance, or none ever) |
|  Stale | existing | falls out of the existing `getNodeStatus` logic |

## API

- `GET /api/nodes` — repeater/room rows now include `last_relayed`
(omitted if never observed) and `relay_active`.
- `GET /api/nodes/{pubkey}` — same fields plus `relay_window_hours`.

## Config

New optional field under `healthThresholds`:

```json
"healthThresholds": {
  ...,
  "relayActiveHours": 24
}
```

Default 24h. Documented in `config.example.json`.

## Frontend

Node detail page gains a **Last Relayed** row for repeaters/rooms with
the 🟢/🟡 state badge. Tooltip explains the distinction from "Last Heard".

## TDD

- **Red commit** `4445f91`: `repeater_liveness_test.go` + stub
`GetRepeaterRelayInfo` returning zero. Active and Stale tests fail on
assertion (LastRelayed empty / mismatched). Idle and IgnoresAdverts
already match the desired behavior under the stub. Compiles, runs, fails
on assertions — not on imports.
- **Green commit** `5fcfb57`: Implementation. All four tests pass. Full
`cmd/server` suite green (~22s).

## Performance

`O(N)` over `byPathHop[pubkey]` per call. The index is bounded by store
eviction; a single repeater has at most a few hundred entries on real
data. The `/api/nodes` loop adds one map read + scan per repeater row —
negligible against the existing enrichment work.

## Limitations (per issue body)

1. Observer coverage gaps — if no observer hears a repeater's relay,
it'll show as idle even when actively relaying. This is inherent to
passive observation.
2. Low-traffic networks — a repeater in a quiet area legitimately shows
idle. The 🟡 indicator copy makes that explicit ("alive (idle)").
3. Hash collisions are mitigated by the existing `resolveWithContext`
path before pubkeys land in `byPathHop`.

Fixes #662

---------

Co-authored-by: clawbot <bot@corescope.local>
This commit is contained in:
Kpa-clawbot
2026-05-05 01:17:52 -07:00
committed by GitHub
parent 8b924cd217
commit 45f30fcadc
6 changed files with 337 additions and 1 deletions
+8
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@@ -221,6 +221,10 @@ type HealthThresholds struct {
InfraSilentHours float64 `json:"infraSilentHours"`
NodeDegradedHours float64 `json:"nodeDegradedHours"`
NodeSilentHours float64 `json:"nodeSilentHours"`
// RelayActiveHours: how recent a path-hop appearance must be for a
// repeater to be considered "actively relaying" vs only "alive
// (advert-only)". See issue #662. Defaults to 24h.
RelayActiveHours float64 `json:"relayActiveHours"`
}
// ThemeFile mirrors theme.json overlay.
@@ -289,6 +293,7 @@ func (c *Config) GetHealthThresholds() HealthThresholds {
InfraSilentHours: 72,
NodeDegradedHours: 1,
NodeSilentHours: 24,
RelayActiveHours: 24,
}
if c.HealthThresholds != nil {
if c.HealthThresholds.InfraDegradedHours > 0 {
@@ -303,6 +308,9 @@ func (c *Config) GetHealthThresholds() HealthThresholds {
if c.HealthThresholds.NodeSilentHours > 0 {
h.NodeSilentHours = c.HealthThresholds.NodeSilentHours
}
if c.HealthThresholds.RelayActiveHours > 0 {
h.RelayActiveHours = c.HealthThresholds.RelayActiveHours
}
}
return h
}
+143
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@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
package main
import (
"strings"
"time"
)
// RepeaterRelayInfo describes whether a repeater has been observed
// relaying traffic (appearing as a path hop in non-advert packets) and
// when. This is distinct from advert-based liveness (last_seen / last_heard),
// which only proves the repeater can transmit its own adverts.
//
// See issue #662.
type RepeaterRelayInfo struct {
// LastRelayed is the ISO-8601 timestamp of the most recent non-advert
// packet where this pubkey appeared as a relay hop. Empty if never.
LastRelayed string `json:"lastRelayed,omitempty"`
// RelayActive is true if LastRelayed falls within the configured
// activity window (default 24h).
RelayActive bool `json:"relayActive"`
// WindowHours is the active-window threshold actually used.
WindowHours float64 `json:"windowHours"`
// RelayCount1h is the count of distinct non-advert packets where this
// pubkey appeared as a relay hop in the last 1 hour.
RelayCount1h int `json:"relayCount1h"`
// RelayCount24h is the count of distinct non-advert packets where this
// pubkey appeared as a relay hop in the last 24 hours.
RelayCount24h int `json:"relayCount24h"`
}
// payloadTypeAdvert is the MeshCore payload type for ADVERT packets.
// See firmware/src/Mesh.h. Adverts are NOT considered relay activity:
// a repeater that only sends adverts proves it is alive, not that it
// is forwarding traffic for other nodes.
const payloadTypeAdvert = 4
// parseRelayTS attempts to parse a packet first-seen timestamp using the
// formats CoreScope writes in practice. Returns zero time and false on
// failure. Accepted (in order):
// - RFC3339Nano — Go's default UTC marshal output
// - RFC3339 — second-precision ISO-8601 with offset
// - "2006-01-02T15:04:05.000Z" — millisecond-precision Z form used by ingest
func parseRelayTS(ts string) (time.Time, bool) {
if ts == "" {
return time.Time{}, false
}
if t, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339Nano, ts); err == nil {
return t, true
}
if t, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339, ts); err == nil {
return t, true
}
if t, err := time.Parse("2006-01-02T15:04:05.000Z", ts); err == nil {
return t, true
}
return time.Time{}, false
}
// GetRepeaterRelayInfo returns relay-activity information for a node by
// scanning the byPathHop index for non-advert packets that name the
// pubkey as a hop. It computes the most recent appearance timestamp,
// 1h/24h hop counts, and whether the latest appearance falls within
// windowHours.
//
// Cost: O(N) over the indexed entries for `pubkey`. The byPathHop index
// is bounded by store eviction; on real data this is small per-node.
//
// Note on self-as-source: byPathHop is keyed by every hop in a packet's
// resolved path, including the originator. For ADVERT packets that's the
// node itself, which is filtered above by the payloadTypeAdvert check.
// For non-advert packets a node "originates" rather than "relays" only
// when it is the source; we don't currently have a clean signal for that
// distinction, so the count here is *path-hop appearances in non-advert
// packets*. In practice for a repeater nearly all such appearances are
// relay hops (the firmware doesn't originate user traffic), so this is
// the right approximation for issue #662.
func (s *PacketStore) GetRepeaterRelayInfo(pubkey string, windowHours float64) RepeaterRelayInfo {
info := RepeaterRelayInfo{WindowHours: windowHours}
if pubkey == "" {
return info
}
key := strings.ToLower(pubkey)
s.mu.RLock()
txList := s.byPathHop[key]
// Copy only the timestamps + payload types we need so we can release
// the read lock before doing parsing/compare work below.
type entry struct {
ts string
pt int
}
scratch := make([]entry, 0, len(txList))
for _, tx := range txList {
if tx == nil {
continue
}
pt := -1
if tx.PayloadType != nil {
pt = *tx.PayloadType
}
scratch = append(scratch, entry{ts: tx.FirstSeen, pt: pt})
}
s.mu.RUnlock()
now := time.Now().UTC()
cutoff1h := now.Add(-1 * time.Hour)
cutoff24h := now.Add(-24 * time.Hour)
var latest time.Time
var latestRaw string
for _, e := range scratch {
// Self-originated adverts are not relay activity (see header comment).
if e.pt == payloadTypeAdvert {
continue
}
t, ok := parseRelayTS(e.ts)
if !ok {
continue
}
if t.After(latest) {
latest = t
latestRaw = e.ts
}
if t.After(cutoff24h) {
info.RelayCount24h++
if t.After(cutoff1h) {
info.RelayCount1h++
}
}
}
if latestRaw == "" {
return info
}
info.LastRelayed = latestRaw
if windowHours > 0 {
cutoff := now.Add(-time.Duration(windowHours * float64(time.Hour)))
if latest.After(cutoff) {
info.RelayActive = true
}
}
return info
}
+162
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@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
package main
import (
"testing"
"time"
)
// TestRepeaterRelayActivity_Active verifies that a repeater whose pubkey
// appears as a relay hop in a recent (non-advert) packet is reported with
// a non-zero lastRelayed timestamp and relayActive=true.
func TestRepeaterRelayActivity_Active(t *testing.T) {
db := setupCapabilityTestDB(t)
defer db.conn.Close()
pubkey := "aabbccdd11223344"
db.conn.Exec("INSERT INTO nodes (public_key, name, role, last_seen) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?)",
pubkey, "RepActive", "repeater", recentTS(1))
store := NewPacketStore(db, nil)
// A non-advert packet (payload_type=1, TXT_MSG) with the repeater pubkey
// indexed as a path hop. Index by lowercase pubkey directly to mirror
// the resolved-path entries that decode-window writes.
pt := 1
relayed := &StoreTx{
RawHex: "0100",
PayloadType: &pt,
PathJSON: `["aa"]`,
FirstSeen: recentTS(2),
}
store.mu.Lock()
relayed.ID = len(store.packets) + 1
relayed.Hash = "test-relay-1"
store.packets = append(store.packets, relayed)
store.byHash[relayed.Hash] = relayed
store.byTxID[relayed.ID] = relayed
store.byPathHop[pubkey] = append(store.byPathHop[pubkey], relayed)
store.mu.Unlock()
info := store.GetRepeaterRelayInfo(pubkey, 24)
if info.LastRelayed == "" {
t.Fatalf("expected non-empty LastRelayed for active relayer, got empty (RelayActive=%v)", info.RelayActive)
}
if !info.RelayActive {
t.Errorf("expected RelayActive=true within 24h window, got false (LastRelayed=%s)", info.LastRelayed)
}
if info.RelayCount1h != 0 {
t.Errorf("expected RelayCount1h=0 (relay was 2h ago, outside 1h window), got %d", info.RelayCount1h)
}
if info.RelayCount24h != 1 {
t.Errorf("expected RelayCount24h=1 (relay was 2h ago, inside 24h window), got %d", info.RelayCount24h)
}
}
// TestRepeaterRelayActivity_Idle verifies that a repeater whose pubkey
// has not appeared as a relay hop reports an empty LastRelayed and
// relayActive=false.
func TestRepeaterRelayActivity_Idle(t *testing.T) {
db := setupCapabilityTestDB(t)
defer db.conn.Close()
pubkey := "ccddeeff55667788"
db.conn.Exec("INSERT INTO nodes (public_key, name, role, last_seen) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?)",
pubkey, "RepIdle", "repeater", recentTS(1))
store := NewPacketStore(db, nil)
info := store.GetRepeaterRelayInfo(pubkey, 24)
if info.LastRelayed != "" {
t.Errorf("expected empty LastRelayed for idle repeater, got %q", info.LastRelayed)
}
if info.RelayActive {
t.Errorf("expected RelayActive=false for idle repeater, got true")
}
if info.RelayCount1h != 0 || info.RelayCount24h != 0 {
t.Errorf("expected zero relay counts for idle repeater, got 1h=%d 24h=%d", info.RelayCount1h, info.RelayCount24h)
}
}
// TestRepeaterRelayActivity_Stale verifies that a repeater whose only
// relay-hop appearances are older than the configured window reports
// a non-empty LastRelayed but relayActive=false.
func TestRepeaterRelayActivity_Stale(t *testing.T) {
db := setupCapabilityTestDB(t)
defer db.conn.Close()
pubkey := "1122334455667788"
db.conn.Exec("INSERT INTO nodes (public_key, name, role, last_seen) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?)",
pubkey, "RepStale", "repeater", recentTS(1))
store := NewPacketStore(db, nil)
pt := 1
staleTS := time.Now().UTC().Add(-48 * time.Hour).Format("2006-01-02T15:04:05.000Z")
old := &StoreTx{
RawHex: "0100",
PayloadType: &pt,
PathJSON: `["11"]`,
FirstSeen: staleTS,
}
store.mu.Lock()
old.ID = len(store.packets) + 1
old.Hash = "test-relay-stale"
store.packets = append(store.packets, old)
store.byHash[old.Hash] = old
store.byTxID[old.ID] = old
store.byPathHop[pubkey] = append(store.byPathHop[pubkey], old)
store.mu.Unlock()
info := store.GetRepeaterRelayInfo(pubkey, 24)
if info.LastRelayed != staleTS {
t.Errorf("expected LastRelayed=%q (stale ts), got %q", staleTS, info.LastRelayed)
}
if info.RelayActive {
t.Errorf("expected RelayActive=false for relay older than window, got true")
}
if info.RelayCount1h != 0 || info.RelayCount24h != 0 {
t.Errorf("expected zero relay counts for stale (>24h) repeater, got 1h=%d 24h=%d", info.RelayCount1h, info.RelayCount24h)
}
}
// TestRepeaterRelayActivity_IgnoresAdverts verifies that adverts originated
// by the repeater itself (payload_type=4) are NOT counted as relay activity —
// adverts demonstrate liveness, not relaying.
func TestRepeaterRelayActivity_IgnoresAdverts(t *testing.T) {
db := setupCapabilityTestDB(t)
defer db.conn.Close()
pubkey := "deadbeef00000001"
db.conn.Exec("INSERT INTO nodes (public_key, name, role, last_seen) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?)",
pubkey, "RepAdvertOnly", "repeater", recentTS(1))
store := NewPacketStore(db, nil)
// Self-advert with the repeater as its own first hop. Should NOT count.
pt := 4
adv := &StoreTx{
RawHex: "0140de",
PayloadType: &pt,
PathJSON: `["de"]`,
FirstSeen: recentTS(2),
}
store.mu.Lock()
adv.ID = len(store.packets) + 1
adv.Hash = "test-advert-1"
store.packets = append(store.packets, adv)
store.byHash[adv.Hash] = adv
store.byTxID[adv.ID] = adv
store.byPathHop[pubkey] = append(store.byPathHop[pubkey], adv)
store.mu.Unlock()
info := store.GetRepeaterRelayInfo(pubkey, 24)
if info.LastRelayed != "" {
t.Errorf("expected empty LastRelayed (adverts ignored), got %q", info.LastRelayed)
}
if info.RelayActive {
t.Errorf("expected RelayActive=false (adverts ignored), got true")
}
if info.RelayCount1h != 0 || info.RelayCount24h != 0 {
t.Errorf("expected zero relay counts (adverts ignored), got 1h=%d 24h=%d", info.RelayCount1h, info.RelayCount24h)
}
}
+21
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@@ -1097,10 +1097,20 @@ func (s *Server) handleNodes(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
if s.store != nil {
hashInfo := s.store.GetNodeHashSizeInfo()
mbCap := s.store.GetMultiByteCapMap()
relayWindow := s.cfg.GetHealthThresholds().RelayActiveHours
for _, node := range nodes {
if pk, ok := node["public_key"].(string); ok {
EnrichNodeWithHashSize(node, hashInfo[pk])
EnrichNodeWithMultiByte(node, mbCap[pk])
if role, _ := node["role"].(string); role == "repeater" || role == "room" {
info := s.store.GetRepeaterRelayInfo(pk, relayWindow)
if info.LastRelayed != "" {
node["last_relayed"] = info.LastRelayed
}
node["relay_active"] = info.RelayActive
node["relay_count_1h"] = info.RelayCount1h
node["relay_count_24h"] = info.RelayCount24h
}
}
}
}
@@ -1197,6 +1207,17 @@ func (s *Server) handleNodeDetail(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
EnrichNodeWithHashSize(node, hashInfo[pubkey])
mbCap := s.store.GetMultiByteCapMap()
EnrichNodeWithMultiByte(node, mbCap[pubkey])
if role, _ := node["role"].(string); role == "repeater" || role == "room" {
ht := s.cfg.GetHealthThresholds()
info := s.store.GetRepeaterRelayInfo(pubkey, ht.RelayActiveHours)
if info.LastRelayed != "" {
node["last_relayed"] = info.LastRelayed
}
node["relay_active"] = info.RelayActive
node["relay_window_hours"] = info.WindowHours
node["relay_count_1h"] = info.RelayCount1h
node["relay_count_24h"] = info.RelayCount24h
}
}
name := ""
+2 -1
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@@ -155,7 +155,8 @@
"infraSilentHours": 72,
"nodeDegradedHours": 1,
"nodeSilentHours": 24,
"_comment": "How long (hours) before nodes show as degraded/silent. 'infra' = repeaters & rooms, 'node' = companions & others."
"relayActiveHours": 24,
"_comment": "How long (hours) before nodes show as degraded/silent. 'infra' = repeaters & rooms, 'node' = companions & others. relayActiveHours: a repeater is shown as 'actively relaying' if its pubkey appeared as a path hop in a non-advert packet within this window (issue #662)."
},
"defaultRegion": "SJC",
"mapDefaults": {
+1
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@@ -531,6 +531,7 @@
<table class="node-stats-table" id="node-stats">
<tr><td>Status</td><td><span title="${si.statusTooltip}">${statusLabel}</span> <span style="font-size:11px;color:var(--text-muted);margin-left:4px">${statusExplanation}</span></td></tr>
<tr><td>Last Heard</td><td>${renderNodeTimestampHtml(lastHeard || n.last_seen)}</td></tr>
${(n.role === 'repeater' || n.role === 'room') ? `<tr><td title="Last time this repeater appeared as a relay hop in a non-advert packet observed by the network. Distinct from 'Last Heard' (which counts the repeater's own adverts). See issue #662.">Last Relayed</td><td>${n.last_relayed ? renderNodeTimestampHtml(n.last_relayed) + ' ' + (n.relay_active ? '<span style="color:var(--status-green);font-size:11px">🟢 actively relaying</span>' : '<span style="color:var(--status-yellow);font-size:11px">🟡 alive (idle)</span>') : '<span style="color:var(--text-muted)">never observed as relay hop</span> <span style="color:var(--status-yellow);font-size:11px">🟡 alive (idle)</span>'}${(n.relay_count_1h != null || n.relay_count_24h != null) ? ` <span style="color:var(--text-muted);font-size:11px;margin-left:4px">(${n.relay_count_1h || 0} relays/hr, ${n.relay_count_24h || 0} relays/24h)</span>` : ''}</td></tr>` : ''}
<tr><td>First Seen</td><td>${renderNodeTimestampHtml(n.first_seen)}</td></tr>
<tr><td>Total Packets</td><td>${stats.totalTransmissions || stats.totalPackets || n.advert_count || 0}${stats.totalObservations && stats.totalObservations !== (stats.totalTransmissions || stats.totalPackets) ? ' <span class="text-muted" style="font-size:0.85em">(seen ' + stats.totalObservations + '×)</span>' : ''}</td></tr>
<tr><td>Packets Today</td><td>${stats.packetsToday || 0}</td></tr>