Running

With no command, rettui starts the terminal UI (Using the TUI); --web starts the Web UI. The other commands work from a shell, without a UI.

The first start

Reticulum's default config only reaches your local network, so a new install usually hears no one. The first time rettui starts, in either UI, it opens a Getting started guide (g in the Status tab, or Getting started on the web UI's Status page, opens it again):

• Your name: the display name others see in your announces.

• Identity (terminal UI): use the identity file from Sideband, NomadNet, MeshChat or another rettui, to keep that address (see Data and Storage). The web UI says where the file is instead.

• Entry points: public entry points to connect through, the ones Colorado Mesh's mesh-client recommends, under the same headings (all but RNS Dublin Mainnet, whose address no longer exists):

  Group	Entry point	Address
  Primary & global backbone	RNS Between The Borders	reticulum.betweentheborders.com:4242
  	RMAP World	rmap.world:4242
  	RNS Simply Equipped	rns.simplyequipped.com:4242
  	RNS Beleth	rns.beleth.net:4242
  North America	MichMesh	rns.michmesh.net:7822
  Specialty	Ratspeak & Colorado Mesh	rns.ratspeak.org:4242

  Each ticked adds a TCP interface to that entry point to your Reticulum config. rettui tries each as the guide opens (a connection, closed at once) and shows how quickly it answered (up · 120 ms); one that refuses, doesn't answer, or whose name isn't found is greyed out and can't be ticked (down · refused), and it's tried again when the guide is opened a minute or more later. If none answer, the guide says so: the device may be offline, or a firewall may block them.

  When the config has nothing besides the Auto interface (which reaches your local network only), the three that answer fastest are ticked: a fresh install needs a connection for discovery to hear of others, and with a few, one being down doesn't leave you unconnected. While they're being tried, the ticks move to the fastest as answers come in; once you tick or untick one yourself, they stay as you set them. A config with interfaces of its own (an entry point, a radio) isn't given any unless you tick them; one it already has (by address) shows as in your config already. Each operator sees your IP address, and anyone watching your connection can tell you use Reticulum. They stay connected alongside the entry points discovery finds.

• Also find entry points near you over time: turns on interface discovery, as Reticulum's manual recommends, connecting to up to two entry points others announce (see Settings and Reticulum Config). You'll connect to hosts you didn't choose. Discovery hears of entry points through a connection you already have, so it needs one to start. Like the entry points, it's ticked only for a config with nothing besides the Auto interface: a config you've set up yourself is changed only as you ask. When the config is Python Reticulum's (in ~/.reticulum, ~/.config/reticulum or /etc/reticulum), the guide says it's shared with NomadNet, Sideband and rnsd, since changes to it are theirs too.

• Pick a propagation node automatically (see Messaging): ticked the first time the guide opens, unless you picked a node by hand, with a warning under it while it's ticked: the node picked sees who your messages are for and when you collect them, and could lose them. Opened again later, it's as you set it.

• Learn more: Reticulum's manual (getting started, understanding Reticulum), RMAP World's map and directory.rns.recipes for finding entry points, using a LoRa radio (RNode Radios: rettui doesn't flash radios, the page covers the tools that do), the words you'll meet (Glossary), and this wiki.

Nothing changes until you choose Apply; if the Reticulum config changed, Reticulum restarts to connect. As each entry point connects, rettui says so; for one that hasn't within 45 seconds, it says why, in plain words, and keeps trying (in the log, and in the footer in the terminal UI). Not now (or Esc) closes it for good. If another program (such as rnsd) runs the shared instance, the guide leaves its config alone and says so. Installs from before the guide existed don't see it at start.

First steps

On a new install, the Status tab (in both UIs) shows five first steps, ticked as you take them: hear from others, announce yourself, choose a propagation node, back up your identity, and send a message. The terminal UI shows them on one line with the next one and its key (for example next: Back up your identity (b)); the web UI lists them with how to take each. Backing up is ticked when b saves a copy; the web UI can't make one, so it has an I've done it button for a copy you made yourself. Once all five are taken the line goes away; x (terminal UI) or Hide (web UI) hides it sooner, for good. Installs from before the first steps existed don't show them.

Commands

rettui                      # the TUI
rettui --web [ADDRESS]      # the web UI (default 127.0.0.1:8740)
rettui fetch <hash>[:/page/x.mu] [--raw] [--identify] [-o FILE]
rettui send <address> "text" [-a FILE]... [--mode auto|direct|propagated|paper]
rettui listen [--seconds N]  # announce, then print incoming messages
rettui sync [--node HASH]    # download messages from the propagation node
rettui ping <address>        # how long a Link takes to set up, and how many hops away
rettui address [--link]      # print your LXMF address (--link: as an lxma:// link with your key)

--data-dir DIR uses another data directory, and --rns-config DIR another Reticulum config.

send --mode paper writes a paper message instead of sending it. It prints the lxm:// link, and before it the QR code if the output is a terminal wide enough to show it.

Which Reticulum config

By default, rettui uses the first Reticulum config it finds in /etc/reticulum, ~/.config/reticulum, or ~/.reticulum. If a shared instance is already running from that config (rnsd, NomadNet, Sideband), rettui joins it. Use --rns-config DIR to choose a different config. The Reticulum tab edits that config file.