# Packets

The Packets page shows every transmission captured by your mesh observers.

[Screenshot: packets table with grouped view]

## Grouped vs ungrouped view

By default, packets are **grouped by hash**. Each row represents one unique transmission, with a count of how many observers heard it.

Click **Ungroup** to see every individual observation as its own row.

Click the **▶** arrow on a grouped row to expand it and see all observations of that packet.

## What each row shows

- **Time** — when the packet was received
- **From** — sender node name or hash prefix
- **Type** — packet type (Advert, Channel Msg, Direct Msg, ACK, Request, Response, Trace, Path)
- **Observer** — which observer captured the packet
- **SNR** — signal-to-noise ratio in dB
- **RSSI** — received signal strength
- **Hops** — how many relay hops the packet took

## Filters

### Observer filter

Select a specific observer to see only packets it captured. Saved across sessions.

### Type filter

Filter by packet type (e.g., show only Adverts or Channel Messages).

### Area filter

If [areas are configured](area-filter.md), an area pill bar appears above the packet list. Selecting an area shows only **ADVERT packets** whose transmitting node's GPS position falls within that area. Other packet types (Channel Msg, Direct Msg, ACK, etc.) have encrypted senders without an attributable GPS position, so they are not shown when an area filter is active.

### Time window

Choose how far back to look: 15 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, 24 hours, etc. On mobile, the window is capped at 3 hours for performance.

### Wireshark-style filter bar

Type filter expressions for advanced filtering:

```
type:advert snr>5 hops<3
from:MyNode observer:SJC
```

See the filter bar's help tooltip for all supported fields and operators.

## Packet detail

Click any row to open the **detail pane** on the right showing:

- Full packet metadata (hash, type, size, timestamp)
- Decoded payload fields
- Hop path with resolved node names
- All observers that heard this packet, sorted by SNR

### Hex breakdown

The detail pane includes a hex dump of the raw packet bytes with field boundaries highlighted.

## Observation sorting

When viewing a grouped packet's observations, they're sorted by SNR (best signal first). This helps you see which observer had the clearest reception.

## Display options

- **Hex hashes** — toggle to show packet hashes in hex format
- **Panel resize** — drag the detail pane border to resize it
- **Keyboard shortcuts** — press `Esc` to close the detail pane

## Tips

- Grouped view is best for understanding what's happening on the mesh
- Ungrouped view is best for debugging signal paths and comparing observers
- The time window filter is your best friend for managing large datasets
- Packet hashes in the URL are deep-linkable — share a link to a specific packet