Merge mcarper/keymindCascade into mqtt-observer-plus

Integrates Mike Carper's transmission-reliability work (direct retries with
SNR-adaptive backoff and CR, flood retry controls, alt-path replies, flood
channel gates) plus its upstream/dev base (as of 2026-07-06) on top of the
observer stack. The flex branch is untouched; this branch is the experimental
integration line.

Conflict-resolution decisions, for future re-syncs (git rerere is enabled and
has recorded these):
- NodePrefs adopts keymind/upstream member order + retry/flood tail. Member
  order is in-memory only: /com_prefs stays field-by-field with the same
  canonical file order both sides already share through offset 294; keymind
  appends the retry tail at 295+ (new canonical size 676). Flex fleet files
  load unchanged; retry fields default via direct_retry_prefs_magic.
- loadPrefsInt keeps the fork's legacy MQTT-gap recovery but moves its
  detection boundary from 'extra > 5' to 'extra > LEGACY_MQTT_GAP_3SLOT (864)'
  so keymind-size tails take the normal read path. COM_PREFS_TAIL_BYTES
  retired.
- Dispatcher/RadioLibWrappers: fork watchdog additions + keymind TX overrides
  and CAD busy counter are unioned; RxReservePacketManager::queueOutbound
  follows upstream's new bool return (false when shedding).
- CommonCLI: fork observer dispatch + versioned /mqtt_prefs machinery kept;
  keymind CLI (retry/flood/radioat) taken; duplicate CAD/FEM handlers and
  sanitise lines deduped (kept keymind placements to minimize future diff).
- MyMesh (repeater/room): fork alerter/OTA/observer wiring kept; keymind
  scheduled-radio system replaces the old pending_* temp-radio members;
  applySavedRadioParams() replaces raw setParams at startup.
- ESP32Board: fork manifest-OTA + keymind powerOff/deepSleep and stopOTAUpdate
  unioned; startOTAUpdate keeps fork's STA-aware IP with keymind's idempotency
  guard.
- build.sh taken wholesale from keymind (fleet builds use GH Actions).

Verified: Heltec_v3_repeater_observer_mqtt, Heltec_v3_repeater,
heltec_v4_repeater_observer_mqtt, Heltec_v3_room_server_observer_mqtt build;
host migration harness (13 MQTT + non-MQTT scenarios) passes with updated
expectations (676-byte /com_prefs; odd-size files normalize on save, not
load); native unit tests 13/13.

.github/FUNDING.yml

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+github: meshcore-dev

.github/actions/setup-build-environment/action.yml

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ runs:
   steps:
 
     - name: Init Cache
-      uses: actions/cache@v4
+      uses: actions/cache@v5
       with:
         path: |
           ~/.cache/pip
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ runs:
         key: ${{ runner.os }}-pio
 
     - name: Install Python
-      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v6
       with:
-        python-version: '3.11'
+        python-version: '3.13'
 
     - name: Install PlatformIO
       shell: bash

.github/workflows/build-companion-firmwares.yml

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
       - name: Clone Repo
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
       - name: Setup Build Environment
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-build-environment
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@ jobs:
         run: /usr/bin/env bash build.sh build-companion-firmwares
 
       - name: Upload Workflow Artifacts
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
         with:
           name: companion-firmwares
           path: out
 
       - name: Create Release
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v3
         if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
         with:
           name: Companion Firmware ${{ env.GIT_TAG_VERSION }}

.github/workflows/build-repeater-firmwares.yml

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
       - name: Clone Repo
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
       - name: Setup Build Environment
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-build-environment
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@ jobs:
         run: /usr/bin/env bash build.sh build-repeater-firmwares
 
       - name: Upload Workflow Artifacts
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
         with:
           name: repeater-firmwares
           path: out
 
       - name: Create Release
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v3
         if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
         with:
           name: Repeater Firmware ${{ env.GIT_TAG_VERSION }}

.github/workflows/build-room-server-firmwares.yml

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
       - name: Clone Repo
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
       - name: Setup Build Environment
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-build-environment
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@ jobs:
         run: /usr/bin/env bash build.sh build-room-server-firmwares
 
       - name: Upload Workflow Artifacts
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
         with:
           name: room-server-firmwares
           path: out
 
       - name: Create Release
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v3
         if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
         with:
           name: Room Server Firmware ${{ env.GIT_TAG_VERSION }}

.github/workflows/github-pages.yml

@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
       - name: Checkout Repo
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
       - name: Setup Python
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
         with:
-          ruby-version: 3.x
+          python-version: '3.13'
 
       - name: Build
         run: |
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ jobs:
           mkdocs build
 
       - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
-        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
+        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v4.1.0
         with:
           github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           cname: docs.meshcore.io

.github/workflows/pr-build-check.yml

@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
       - name: Clone Repo
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
       - name: Setup Build Environment
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-build-environment

.github/workflows/stale-bot.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+name: 'Run Stale Bot'
+on:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: '30 1 * * *' # daily at 1:30am
+  workflow_dispatch: {}
+
+permissions:
+  actions: write
+  issues: write
+  pull-requests: write
+
+jobs:
+  close-issues:
+    # only run on main repo, not forks
+    if: github.repository == 'meshcore-dev/MeshCore'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Close Stale Issues
+        uses: actions/stale@v10
+        with:
+          repo-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          # auto close issues
+          days-before-issue-stale: 60
+          days-before-issue-close: 7
+          exempt-issue-labels: "keep-open"
+          stale-issue-label: "stale"
+          stale-issue-message: "This issue is stale because it has been open for 60 days with no activity. Remove the stale label or add a comment if this issue is still relevant, otherwise this issue will automatically close in 7 days."
+          close-issue-message: "This issue was closed because it has been inactive for 7 days since being marked as stale."
+          # don't auto close prs
+          days-before-pr-stale: -1
+          days-before-pr-close: -1
+