RNode Flasher (RMAP)

A browser-based flasher for Reticulum RNode firmware. Flash, provision and configure LoRa boards over USB directly from the browser - no drivers, no Python install, nothing to set up on the user side.

Built for rmap.world.

Pick your board, pick the firmware, plug in over USB, click Flash. Done.

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✨ What makes it different

Compared to other RNode / LoRa web flashers, this one adds:

• 📥 Automatic firmware download - firmware is fetched live from each project's official GitHub releases (with a version picker), cached server-side and streamed. No hunting for .zip files, no manual uploads.
• ⚡ True one-click flash - a single button runs flash → automatic EEPROM provisioning → firmware-hash setup in sequence (for RNode Official / CE). Most flashers leave provisioning as separate manual steps.
• 🎛️ In-browser after-flash config - Bluetooth on/off & pairing, display rotation & brightness, and full LoRa / TNC (standalone) setup - no rnodeconf.
• 🧩 Many projects & boards in one place - Official, CE, microReticulum/TN, RTNode and the SenseCAP T1000-E; ESP32 and nRF52 (DFU).
• 💾 Remembers your choices across reloads · 🌍 built-in page translator · 📊 usage stats · two clean interfaces (card / dropdown).
• 🔌 100% browser (Web Serial) - nothing to install for the end user.

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Two interfaces (same engine)

File	Style
index.html	Card + accordion UI (visual, step-by-step in one screen)
index2.html	Simple dropdown UI (minimal)

Both share the same flashing engine and the same features, and link to each other from the top bar.

Features

• Flashes ESP32 boards (via esptool-js) and nRF52 boards via DFU (Heltec T114, LilyGO T-Echo, RAK4631, SenseCAP T1000-E).
• Automatic RNode EEPROM provisioning + firmware hash for RNode Official / CE; other firmware is flashed as-is, with manual provisioning available if needed.
• Multiple firmware sources, versions fetched live from GitHub releases: RNode Official (markqvist), RNode CE (Liberated Embedded Systems), microReticulum / Transport Node (attermann), RTNode v4 (jrl290), RNode T1000-E (idan2025).
• After-flash tools: Bluetooth on/off + pairing, display rotation & brightness, LoRa parameters & TNC (standalone) mode, plus manual flash / provision / wipe / full-erase.
• Remembers your selections across reloads, page translator (any language), console/log, usage stats (visits & devices flashed), credits.
• ~20 supported boards: Heltec LoRa32 v2/v3/v4, Heltec T114, the LilyGO LoRa32 / T-Beam / T3S3 / T-Deck / T-Echo family, RAK4631, Seeed XIAO ESP32S3 & SenseCAP T1000-E, generic homebrew, and the RNode handheld.

How it works

1. The browser talks to the board over the Web Serial API.
2. ESP32 flashing is done in-browser with esptool-js; nRF52 with a JS port of Adafruit's DFU tool. Provisioning uses rnode.js (Liam Cottle).
3. Firmware is not bundled. A tiny Python server (server.py) acts as a proxy: it fetches the requested release .zip/.bin from the project's official GitHub release and streams it to the browser.
   • This proxy is required because GitHub release assets do not send CORS headers, so the browser cannot download them directly.
   • On the server, firmware for a specific version is cached on disk (fw_cache/) and streamed in 64 KB chunks, so RAM usage stays tiny even with many users. In the browser it lives only in RAM and is discarded after flashing.

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Quick start (local)

Requirements: Python 3 (standard library only - no pip packages), and a browser with Web Serial: Chrome, Edge, or Firefox (with dom.serial.enabled).

cd flasher
python server.py            # serves on http://localhost:8000  (or: python server.py 8080)

Then open:

• Card UI: http://localhost:8000/index.html
• Dropdown UI: http://localhost:8000/index2.html

Web Serial works on localhost without HTTPS. Plug your board in over USB, press Connect, choose the port, then Flash now.

Linux: serial port permissions

On Linux, USB serial ports are owned by root:dialout. If the browser fails with Failed to open serial port, your user likely isn't in the dialout group.

Fix it permanently:

sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER
# Log out and back in for the change to take effect

Or grant access for the current session (adjust the device path as needed — check with ls /dev/ttyACM* /dev/ttyUSB*):

sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyACM0

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Hosting on your own server (VPS)

The app is fully portable: it uses relative URLs, so it works from any path.

1. Upload the whole flasher/ folder (HTML, rmap.css, the *.js files, devices.js, the js/ libraries, the img/ folder and server.py) to your server, e.g. wwwroot/flasher.

2. Install: only Python 3. Nothing else.

3. Run the proxy server (e.g. with screen, tmux or a systemd service):

   cd /var/www/flasher
   python3 server.py 8000
   

4. HTTPS is mandatory. Web Serial only works in a secure context - on a public domain that means HTTPS (on localhost it's fine without). Put a reverse proxy with TLS in front of server.py.

   Caddy (automatic HTTPS, simplest):

   flasher.example.com {
       reverse_proxy localhost:8000
   }
   

   nginx (sub-path under an existing site):

   location /flasher/ {
       proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000/;
       proxy_set_header Host $host;
   }
   

   Then the entry point is https://example.com/flasher/index.html.

The fw_cache/ folder is created automatically and can be cleared anytime.

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Credits

Built on the great work of:

• rnode.js & the original web flasher - Liam Cottle (MIT) - the flashing & provisioning engine.
• esptool-js - Espressif.
• RNode Firmware & Reticulum - Mark Qvist / markqvist.
• RNode Firmware CE - Liberated Embedded Systems.
• microReticulum / Transport Node - attermann.
• RTNode v4 - jrl290.
• RNode T1000-E firmware - idan2025 (SenseCAP T1000-E).

EEPROM provisioning is community (unsigned) - perfectly fine for normal Reticulum use.

License

This project's own code is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (share with attribution, no commercial use, no modifications/derivatives). Bundled third-party libraries in js/ keep their own licenses. See LICENSE.