Packet Monitor

The Packet Monitor is a diagnostic tool that displays raw Meshtastic packets as they are received from the mesh network. It provides visibility into the low-level packet traffic for debugging and analysis purposes.

Accessing the Packet Monitor

The Packet Monitor appears at the bottom of the Map tab once enabled in Settings. It requires appropriate permissions to view.

What the Packet Monitor Shows

Incoming Packets Only

The Packet Monitor displays only incoming packets received from the mesh network. It acts as a "radio sniffer" showing what your node hears over the air, not what MeshMonitor transmits.

Packets That Appear

Packet Type	Description
TEXT_MESSAGE (1)	Text messages received from other nodes
POSITION (3)	GPS position updates from nodes
NODEINFO (4)	Node information broadcasts
ROUTING (5)	Routing acknowledgments and errors
ADMIN (6)	Administrative messages
PAXCOUNTER (34)	Paxcounter telemetry
TELEMETRY (67)	Device/environment telemetry
TRACEROUTE (70)	Traceroute responses
NEIGHBORINFO (71)	Neighbor information

Packets That Do NOT Appear

The following packets are not logged to the Packet Monitor:

Outgoing packets sent by MeshMonitor:

• Outgoing text messages - Messages you send via the chat interface
• Outgoing traceroute requests - Traceroutes initiated manually or by Auto Traceroute
• Outgoing position requests - Position exchange requests
• Auto-acknowledge responses - Automated replies sent by MeshMonitor
• Auto-welcome messages - Welcome messages sent to new nodes
• Auto-announcements - Scheduled announcement messages

Internal management packets (to/from local node):

• ADMIN_APP (6) - Administrative packets for local device configuration
• ROUTING_APP (5) - Routing acknowledgments to/from your connected node

These internal packets are filtered to reduce noise and keep the log focused on actual mesh traffic. ADMIN and ROUTING packets between remote nodes on the mesh are still logged.

This is by design - the Packet Monitor shows mesh network traffic, not MeshMonitor's internal operations or local device management.

Filtering Packets

Use the packet type dropdown to filter by specific packet types (portnums). Common filters include:

• All Types - Show all received packets
• TEXT_MESSAGE - Show only text messages
• POSITION - Show only position updates
• TELEMETRY - Show only telemetry data
• TRACEROUTE - Show only traceroute responses
• NODEINFO - Show only node information packets

Traceroute Filter

If you filter on TRACEROUTE and see no results, this likely means no traceroute operations have been performed on your mesh recently. Traceroute packets only appear when:

1. A node on your mesh initiates a traceroute
2. The traceroute response is received back

To see traceroute packets, initiate a traceroute from MeshMonitor's Node Details page or from another device on your mesh.

Packet Information

Each packet entry shows:

• Timestamp - When the packet was received
• From Node - The sending node's ID and name
• To Node - The destination (broadcast or specific node)
• Channel - The channel number
• Port Type - The Meshtastic portnum/application type
• SNR/RSSI - Signal quality metrics
• Hop Count - Number of hops the packet traveled
• Encrypted - Whether the packet was encrypted
• Payload Preview - A summary of the packet contents

Permissions

Viewing the Packet Monitor requires:

• channel_0:read permission
• messages:read permission

These permissions are typically granted to admin users or can be configured per-user in the Admin tab.

Use Cases

The Packet Monitor is useful for:

• Debugging connectivity issues - See if packets are being received
• Analyzing mesh traffic patterns - Understand what types of traffic flow through your node
• Verifying encryption - Check which packets are encrypted vs unencrypted
• Signal quality analysis - Monitor SNR/RSSI values over time
• Troubleshooting packet delivery - Verify packets are reaching your node