MeshTerm/scripts

scripts/

These are tools for the repository. None of them is in the wheel.

Script	What it is for
basemap-doctor.py	Finds why a user's map has no basemap: certificates, DNS, proxy, or colour depth
cardputer-zero/	build-deb.sh builds the Debian package for M5Stack's app store. Run it on the Cardputer Zero or on another arm64 Debian 13 system. store/ holds the listing for the store (app-builder.json, which czdev publish reads), its icon, and its screenshots. screenshot.py saves the display of a Cardputer as a 320×170 PNG over SSH, as the store wants a screenshot. store-publish.py sends a package to the store with M5Stack's czdev, with two corrections. The release workflow runs it after each release. launcher-entry.sh puts a source checkout in the Cardputer Zero's app launcher. remove takes it out. meshterm.png is the package's icon: the website's logo, at the launcher's 100×100 size. meshterm-dev.png is its negative, for the checkout's entry, so that the two entries look different. type-text.py types a pasted string (an API key, a Wi-Fi password) on the Cardputer's keyboard from another computer, over SSH
screenshots.py	Makes the screenshots of the website from the demo mesh (--demo): the main menu, the chat, the paths of a message, and the map, for the terminal, the Cardputer Zero, and the PicoCalc. They are the same at each run. The result goes to docs/screenshots/<set>/
picocalc-lyra/	Setup of the Calculinux device: console font, palette, Wi-Fi. xiao-radio/ is the kit for the XIAO radio (firmware build, flashing, UART setup)
uconsole/	The uConsole's always-on SPI bridge service. MeshTerm can also control that radio directly, with no script (refer to docs/devices/uconsole.md)

basemap-doctor.py

The map is the only part of MeshTerm that uses the network. MeshTerm logs each fetch failure on this path at DEBUG, and log_level is WARNING by default. Thus a user whose tiles do not arrive sees a blank ground and no explanation. This script prints the explanation and the correction.

To use it, tell the user to run this on the machine that has the problem:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jpmartineau/MeshTerm/main/scripts/basemap-doctor.py -o /tmp/basemap-doctor.py
python3 /tmp/basemap-doctor.py

Any python3 is correct. If that python3 does not have MeshTerm, the script reads the interpreter from the installed meshterm command's shebang, and it runs again with that interpreter. Thus the answer always comes from the app's own Python. A Mac often has three Pythons, and only one of them has the trust store that is important. Save the script to a file, as in the example. Do not pipe it into python3 -. When there is no file on the disk, the script cannot run again with the other interpreter.

Ask the user to paste all the output back to you. The output names the interpreter, the certificate store, the tile source, the number of cached tiles, and COLORTERM. Then it gives one verdict:

• curl reached it, Python did not. The Python's certificate store is empty. A python.org install on macOS has an empty store until the user runs Install Certificates.command.
• neither reached it. The problem is in the network path: a firewall, a proxy, a DNS filter, or an outage. There is nothing to correct in MeshTerm.
• both reached it. The tiles are correct. The problem is colour. When COLORTERM is not set, the terminal uses 256 colours, and the greens and blues of the basemap are too similar. Terminal.app cannot do 24-bit colour.

The exit status is 0 when the tiles arrive and 1 when they do not. Thus a script can use it.

screenshots.py

The website shows the same four screens for three platforms: the terminal, the Cardputer Zero, and the PicoCalc. This script makes all twelve images from the demo mesh. Each run gives the same pixels: the demo writes the same history, the clock of each run is set to 11:42 on Thursday 15 October 2026 in Montréal, and nothing moves on the screen when the script saves it.

pip install -e .[dev]           # Pillow, fontTools, and time-machine
meshterm emulate --fetch-fonts  # the Terminus font of the handheld sets, one time
python scripts/screenshots.py   # all three sets, into docs/screenshots/<set>/
python scripts/screenshots.py --only terminal

No window opens. MeshTerm runs in the process, in the session of the emulator, and the script types the keys. The terminal set uses Cascadia Mono, Segoe UI Symbol, and Segoe UI Emoji, which Windows has. On another system, change TEXT_FONTS and EMOJI_FONT at the top of the script. The first run downloads the tiles of the map. The later runs use the tile cache in the temporary directory.

After a change to a screen, run the script again, then rebuild the website (refer to the README of the meshterm.net repository).