# Development Notes for lxst-relay

## Quick start

```bash
# Run as script or directly (if executable)
python lxst_relay.py --help

# Run with custom config directory
python lxst_relay.py --config /path/to/config

# Optional verbose output
python lxst_relay.py -v --config /path/to/config
```

## Architecture

- Single-file Python app (`lxst_relay.py`) using CLI argparse
- No external dependencies beyond the script (imports RNS, LXMF from system/site)
- Each voice channel = its own Reticulum node with persistent identity
- Channels persisted to `${configdir}/channels/<name>/identity` and admins file
- LXMF bot handles `/create_channel <name>` commands

## Commands & arguments

Common:
- `--config, -c`  : path to config directory (defaults to `~/.lxst-relay` or `/etc/lxst-relay`)
- `--rnsconfig`   : alternative Reticulum config directory
- `--channel, -n` : lobby channel name (default: `"default"`)
- `--version`      : show version and exit
- `-v, --verbose`  : increase logging verbosity
- `--announce_interval` : seconds between network announces (0 = once at startup)

## Operations

- Creating a channel: Send `/create_channel <name>` to the LXMF bot
- Listing channels: Send `/channels` or `/channels_json` to the bot
- Admins: Creator of each channel is its admin; admins stored in `${configdir}/channels/<name>/admins`
- Identity: Stored in `${configdir}/identity`; regenerated if missing

## Gotchas

- Channel names cannot contain `/` or have adjacent directories (`..`)
- First run creates a new RNS identity in config dir
- Signal handlers (`SIGINT`, `SIGTERM`) properly clean up participants before exit
- No test framework; testing done manually via calls/messages or by inspecting logs
- Logs to RNS; use `-v` and/or `--rnsconfig` to control verbosity
- If `--rnsconfig` unset, RNS uses system-wide location; set explicitly on first run for reproducible setups

## Project layout

```
lxst_relay.py       # Main application entrypoint
lxst-relay          # Executable wrapper (generated symlink or copy)
.git/               # Version control only
.gitignore          # Ignore patterns
```