LXMF

Type: Protocol Role in Styrene: Wire format for all fleet RPC messages

LXMF (Lightweight Extensible Message Format) is a message format and delivery protocol built on Reticulum. It provides reliable message delivery with store-and-forward capability.

Why Styrene Uses LXMF

Direct Reticulum links are point-to-point and ephemeral. LXMF adds:

  • Message persistence — Messages survive disconnection
  • Delivery confirmation — Know when messages arrive
  • Propagation nodes — Store-and-forward for offline devices
  • Extensible fields — Custom payload types

Message Structure

LXMF Message
├── Source (destination hash)
├── Destination (destination hash)
├── Timestamp
├── Title (optional)
├── Content (main payload)
├── Fields
│   ├── FIELD_COMMANDS (embedded actions)
│   ├── FIELD_CUSTOM_TYPE (Styrene uses this)
│   └── ... extensible ...
└── Signature

Styrene Wire Protocol

Styrene uses FIELD_CUSTOM_TYPE for RPC:

Type RangePurpose
0x01-0x0FControl (PING, PONG, HEARTBEAT)
0x10-0x1FStatus (STATUS_REQUEST/RESPONSE)
0x20-0x2FContent (CHAT, FILE_*)
0x30-0x3FNetwork (ANNOUNCE, PEER_*)
0x40-0x5FRPC Commands (EXEC, REBOOT, CONFIG_UPDATE)
0x60-0x7FRPC Responses
0x80-0x9FHub Services
0xA0-0xBFPub/Sub
0xC0-0xCFTerminal Sessions
0xD8-0xDETunnel Negotiation

See wire-protocol-migration for full protocol specification.

Propagation

LXMF supports propagation nodes that store messages for offline destinations:

TUI ──LXMF──→ Hub (propagation node) ──stores──→ styrened comes online ──delivers──→ styrened

The NomadNet Hub in Styrene acts as a propagation node for the fleet.

Transport Modes

ModeUse CaseLatency
DirectBoth parties online, same transportms-seconds
PropagatedDestination offline or different transportminutes-hours
OpportunisticDirect if possible, propagated otherwisevaries

Styrene uses opportunistic delivery by default.

Message Size

LXMF has no hard size limit, but:

  • Small messages (<500 bytes) can use single-packet delivery
  • Larger messages require link establishment
  • Over LoRa, practical limit is a few KB due to bandwidth

Styrene RPC messages are designed to fit in single packets when possible.

Resources

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