VPS_PUBLIC

Public VPS + tunnel + radio multi-hop

A. Fixed-IP VPS (recommended for stable testnet)

1. Provision

Any small VPS (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Linode, AWS Lightsail):

• Ubuntu 22.04+
• 1 vCPU / 1–2 GB RAM · 20–40 GB disk
• Open ports: 8787 (faucet), 8788 (scanner), optionally 9100-9102 (validators)

Pick: Hetzner CX22 or DigitalOcean $6 droplet.

2. One-shot install (recommended)

On a fresh Ubuntu VPS as root:

# optional domain for HTTPS via Caddy
export MESHCHAIN_DOMAIN=faucet.yourdomain.com

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/krewdev/meshchain/main/deploy/vps-setup.sh | sudo bash

With a local checkout:

sudo MESHCHAIN_DOMAIN=faucet.yourdomain.com bash deploy/vps-setup.sh

What it installs:

• user meshchain
• Rust + release build (meshchain-node, scanner, CLI)
• testnet genesis (3 validators)
• systemd meshchain-testnet
• faucet :8787 + scanner :8788
• ufw rules
• optional Caddy if MESHCHAIN_DOMAIN is set

3. Useful commands after install

systemctl status meshchain-testnet
journalctl -u meshchain-testnet -n 50
tail -f /opt/meshchain/data/host/logs/faucet.log
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8787/info
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8788/api/v1/status

Env file: /etc/meshchain/testnet.env (see deploy/testnet.env.example).

4. Publish endpoints

1. DNS A record: faucet.yourdomain.com → VPS public IP
2. Wait for TLS (Caddy) if domain set
3. Update site faucet default + testnet/network.json:

"endpoints": {
  "faucet_api": "https://faucet.yourdomain.com",
  "faucet_ui": "https://meshchain-sigma.vercel.app/faucet/",
  "scanner_api": "https://faucet.yourdomain.com/api/"
}

4. On the Vercel faucet page, set Faucet API URL to your domain.

5. Firewall (if not using the script)

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 8787/tcp
sudo ufw allow 8788/tcp
# optional peer gossip:
# sudo ufw allow 9100:9102/tcp
sudo ufw enable

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B. Quick public tunnel (no VPS)

On a machine already running the host:

./scripts/start_testnet_host.sh
./scripts/start_public_tunnel.sh
# prints https://xxxx.trycloudflare.com

Use that URL as Faucet API URL on
https://meshchain-sigma.vercel.app/faucet/

Note: quick tunnels change URL on restart. For a stable link, use a named Cloudflare tunnel or a VPS.

Stop tunnel:

./scripts/stop_public_tunnel.sh

---

C. Radio multi-hop finality path

Validators keep TCP gossip for reliable lab finality.
tools/mesh_radio_relay.py carries compact messages over Meshtastic for multi-hop awareness:

# on host with radio + local validator :9100
python3 tools/mesh_radio_relay.py --port /dev/ttyUSB0 --tcp 127.0.0.1:9100

# mock (no hardware)
python3 tools/mesh_radio_relay.py --mock --tcp 127.0.0.1:9100

Over LoRa	Over TCP
hello, block_ack, small tx, block_hint	full blocks, full txs

Large blocks stay on TCP; radios extend reach between sites that each run a validator + relay.

Channel: MeshChain-Testnet-1 (private).

./scripts/meshtastic_hardware_test.sh
./scripts/meshtastic_hardware_test.sh --hardware /dev/ttyUSB0