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On-air sequences

This section describes the on-air event sequence for each delivery method. The bytes placed on the wire are normative (see Delivery methods and sizing); the scheduling (retry cadence, timeouts, path-request timing) is informative and lives in Router internals. The relevant cadence constants are MAX_DELIVERY_ATTEMPTS = 5 (LXMRouter.py:30), DELIVERY_RETRY_WAIT = 10 s (LXMRouter.py:32), PATH_REQUEST_WAIT = 7 s (LXMRouter.py:33), and MAX_PATHLESS_TRIES = 1 (LXMRouter.py:34).

Opportunistic

  1. If there is no path to the destination, request one and wait (informative cadence). After MAX_PATHLESS_TRIES the message may be sent pathless.
  2. Send a single Reticulum Packet whose payload is packed[16:] (the destination hash is omitted; LXMessage.py:631).
  3. The message state becomes SENT. Delivery is confirmed by a Reticulum proof; on timeout the router re-queues up to MAX_DELIVERY_ATTEMPTS.

No link is established. Suitable only for messages within the single-packet content limit.

Direct

  1. Ensure a path, then establish a Reticulum Link to the destination’s lxmf/delivery endpoint.
  2. When the link is ACTIVE (LXMessage.py:647):
    • if representation is PACKET, send one Packet carrying the full packed bytes over the link (LXMessage.py:633);
    • if representation is RESOURCE, transfer packed as a Reticulum Resource over the link (LXMessage.py:650-651), with compression negotiated per the peer’s advertised support.
  3. On link failure before delivery, tear down and retry.

Propagated

  1. Establish a Link to the configured outbound propagation node.
  2. Send propagation_packed (the encrypted envelope, see Propagation) as a Packet or Resource depending on size (LXMessage.py:634-635,652-653).
  3. Success marks the message SENT (not DELIVERED): final delivery to the recipient happens asynchronously when the recipient syncs from the node.

Paper

No Reticulum transport. pack() produces the encrypted paper form; as_uri() renders it as an lxm:// URI (LXMessage.py:687-702) or as_qr() as a QR code. The recipient ingests the URI out of band.

State model (informative)

A message moves through the states GENERATING (0x00) -> OUTBOUND (0x01) -> SENDING (0x02) -> SENT (0x04) -> DELIVERED (0x08), with terminal REJECTED (0xFD), CANCELLED (0xFE), and FAILED (0xFF) (LXMessage.py:14-21). These are local lifecycle states, not on-wire values, and an implementation MAY model the lifecycle differently.