diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 336a15e..00595ba 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,34 +1,62 @@
 # MeshAI
 
-LLM-powered mesh intelligence assistant for Meshtastic networks. MeshAI connects to your mesh as a physical node, monitors network health in real-time, and answers questions about your infrastructure over LoRa.
+**An LLM-powered assistant for LoRa mesh networks — on Meshtastic *and* MeshCore, at the same time.**
 
-## What It Does
+MeshAI connects to your mesh, watches network health and the world around it in real time, answers questions over the air, and broadcasts the alerts that matter — weather, wildfire, road, seismic, RF, and mesh-health — with a full web dashboard to drive it all.
 
-MeshAI runs on your Meshtastic node and provides:
+> ### 🤖 Built with AI ("vibecoded")
+> In the interest of transparency: **MeshAI was vibecoded** — designed, built, debugged, and documented in close collaboration with LLM coding assistants. The architecture, most of the implementation, and this README were produced that way. It's a real, running project on a live mesh, but expect the pragmatic style, opinionated shortcuts, and occasional rough edges that come with the territory. Issues and PRs are welcome.
 
-- **Mesh Intelligence** — 5-pillar health scoring, per-region breakdowns, infrastructure monitoring, coverage gap analysis, and environmental sensing
-- **Conversational Queries** — ask "how's the mesh?" or "tell me about MHR" and get data-driven answers over LoRa
-- **Node Distance** — GPS-based distance calculations between any two nodes on the mesh
-- **Multi-Source Awareness** — aggregates data from multiple Meshview instances and MeshMonitor with staggered polling
-- **Feeder Gateway Tracking** — identifies which physical MQTT gateways hear each node and signal quality
-- **Subscriptions** — scheduled daily/weekly health reports and instant alerts delivered via DM
-- **LLM Chat** — general conversation, knowledge base lookups, and weather queries
-- **Multi-Backend** — supports Google Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, and local LLMs via LiteLLM
+![MeshAI dashboard](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/dashboard.png)
 
-## Quick Start
+---
+
+## Highlights
+
+- **Dual-transport** — runs on **Meshtastic** and **MeshCore** simultaneously. Each mesh is first-class: independent connection, routing, and behavior, one shared brain.
+- **Conversational bot** — DM it "how's the mesh?" or ask about weather, fires, roads, or a specific node, and get a data-driven answer over LoRa. The reply goes back on whichever mesh you asked from.
+- **Per-mesh awareness** — it watches chat on each mesh separately (rolling short-term memory), so "what's happening on the mesh?" answers about *your* mesh. Private DMs stay private; curated knowledge stays separate.
+- **Broadcast intelligence** — weather alerts, wildfire updates, road/traffic, seismic, RF/band conditions, and mesh-health notifications, formatted to fit LoRa and routed per-mesh, per-family.
+- **Mesh health** — a 5-pillar health score with per-region breakdowns, infrastructure monitoring, coverage-gap analysis, and battery/solar tracking (Meshtastic).
+- **Web dashboard** — a clean React UI to configure every transport, route every message type, watch a live activity feed, browse contacts, and tune the bot — no config-file spelunking required.
+- **Knowledge base (RAG)** — optional hybrid retrieval over a large curated vector store for survival/comms/technical Q&A.
+- **Multi-backend LLM** — Google Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, or any OpenAI-compatible local model (Ollama, LiteLLM, etc.).
+
+---
+
+## The dashboard
+
+Everything is driven from the web UI, organized into **General**, **Meshtastic**, and **MeshCore** sections — each mesh mirrors the other so there's nothing to relearn when you add the second transport.
+
+**Live activity log** — every broadcast, on both meshes, with per-mesh badges and Sent/Skip status:
+
+![Activity Log](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/activity.png)
+
+**Per-family routing** — decide exactly where each message type goes: broadcast vs. DM, which channel, which recipients — independently for each mesh:
+
+![Routing](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/mt-routing.png)
+
+**MeshCore contacts & companion** — the live roster from your MeshCore companion node, with names, types, last-heard, position, and optional telemetry polling:
+
+![MeshCore Contacts](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/mc-contacts.png)
+
+**Data feeds** — turn environmental sources on/off and tune thresholds in one place:
+
+![Data Feeds](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/datafeeds.png)
+
+**Nodes & health** — per-node infrastructure detail: battery, utilization, coverage, neighbors, hardware:
+
+![Nodes & Health](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/nodes.png)
+
+---
+
+## Quick start
 
 ```bash
-# Clone
 git clone https://github.com/zvx-echo6/meshai.git
 cd meshai
-
-# Install
 pip install -e .
-
-# Configure (interactive TUI)
-meshai --config
-
-# Run
+meshai --config     # interactive setup TUI
 meshai
 ```
 
@@ -38,272 +66,89 @@ Or with Docker:
 mkdir -p meshai/data && cd meshai
 curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docker-compose.yml
 curl -o data/config.yaml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/config.example.yaml
-# Edit data/config.yaml
+# edit data/config.yaml, then:
 docker compose up -d
 ```
 
-## Commands
-
-| Command | Description |
-|---------|-------------|
-| `!health` | Mesh health overview with colored status dots |
-| `!region` | List all regions with health status |
-| `!region [name]` | Detailed region breakdown |
-| `!neighbors [node]` | Top infrastructure neighbors with signal quality |
-| `!sub daily 6pm` | Subscribe to daily health reports |
-| `!sub weekly 8am sun` | Subscribe to weekly digest |
-| `!sub alerts` | Subscribe to instant alerts on issues |
-| `!unsub [type]` | Remove a subscription |
-| `!mysubs` | List your active subscriptions |
-| `!clear` | Clear conversation history |
-| `!help` | Show available commands |
-| `!help [cmd]` | Detailed help for a command |
-| `!quakes` | Recent earthquakes in monitored area |
-| `!fires` | Active wildfires from NIFC |
-| `!hotspots` | NASA FIRMS satellite fire detections |
-| `!hotspots --new` | Only hotspots not matching known fires |
-| `!traffic` | Traffic incidents from TomTom |
-| `!space` | Space weather conditions (solar/geomagnetic) |
-| `!water` | USGS stream gauge readings |
-| `!air` | Air quality index |
-
-Commands can be disabled in config if another service (like MeshMonitor) handles them.
-
-## Mesh Intelligence
-
-MeshAI continuously polls mesh data sources and computes a 5-pillar health score:
-
-| Pillar | Weight | What It Measures |
-|--------|--------|------------------|
-| Infrastructure | 30% | Router uptime — how many infra nodes are online |
-| Utilization | 25% | Channel busyness — RF congestion across the mesh |
-| Coverage | 20% | Gateway reach — how many monitoring sources see each node |
-| Behavior | 15% | Traffic patterns — detecting noisy or misconfigured nodes |
-| Power | 10% | Battery health — infrastructure nodes only |
-
-### Health Display
-
-`!health` shows a compact overview with personality:
-
-```
-📡 Mesh 🟢 healthy
-🏗️ 15/16 routers up
-❌ Down: TVM Tablerock Relay
-📶 152 full coverage, 94 on thin ice
-🔥 Hayden Peak Router at 21% util
-🔋 All infra powered ✅
-🌡️ 29-34°C across 2 sensors
-Treasure Valley 🟢 | Magic Valley 🟢
-```
-
-Status dots: 🔵 perfect (100) · 🟢 healthy (75+) · 🟠 warning (50+) · 🔴 critical (<50)
-
-### Monitoring Rules
-
-Infrastructure nodes (routers, repeaters) are monitored individually with full detail — battery, offline alerts, coverage, neighbors, hardware. Client nodes dying is normal and not tracked. Channel utilization and environmental sensors are monitored for all nodes.
-
-### Conversational Queries
-
-Ask questions naturally over LoRa:
-
-- "how's the mesh?" → health overview with top issues
-- "tell me about MHR" → full node detail with neighbors, coverage, feeders
-- "where do we need more coverage?" → named gaps with specific nodes
-- "how far is MHR from AIDA?" → GPS distance calculation
-- "which nodes only reach one gateway?" → named nodes with their gateway
-- "which gateway has the best signal?" → feeder comparison
-
-### Geographic Regions
-
-Regions are configurable with local names, descriptions, aliases, and cities — all manageable through the TUI. No hardcoded geography in the code.
-
-```yaml
-mesh_intelligence:
-  regions:
-    - name: "South Central ID"
-      local_name: "Magic Valley"
-      description: "Twin Falls area"
-      aliases: ["southern Idaho", "magic valley"]
-      cities: ["Twin Falls", "Burley", "Jerome"]
-      lat: 42.5
-      lon: -114.5
-      radius_km: 80
-```
-
-## Environmental Feeds
-
-MeshAI integrates real-time environmental data for situational awareness beyond mesh network health.
-
-### USGS Earthquake Monitoring
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  usgs:
-    enabled: true
-    min_magnitude: 2.5
-    radius_km: 500
-    center_lat: 43.6150
-    center_lon: -116.2023
-```
-
-No API key required. Data from [USGS Earthquake Hazards Program](https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/).
-
-### NWS Weather Alerts
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  nws:
-    enabled: true
-    zone: IDZ025         # NWS zone ID
-    point: "43.6150,-116.2023"
-```
-
-No API key required. Find your zone at [NWS Zone Lookup](https://alerts.weather.gov/).
-
-### NOAA Space Weather
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  noaa_space:
-    enabled: true
-```
-
-No API key required. Data from [NOAA SWPC](https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/).
-
-### NIFC Wildfire Perimeters
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  nifc:
-    enabled: true
-    radius_km: 200
-    center_lat: 43.6150
-    center_lon: -116.2023
-```
-
-No API key required. Data from [NIFC Open Data](https://data-nifc.opendata.arcgis.com/).
-
-### NASA FIRMS Satellite Fire Detection
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  firms:
-    enabled: true
-    map_key: "your-map-key"    # Required
-    radius_km: 200
-    center_lat: 43.6150
-    center_lon: -116.2023
-    source: VIIRS_SNPP         # VIIRS_SNPP, VIIRS_NOAA20, MODIS_NRT
-    day_range: 1               # 1, 2, or 10 days
-```
-
-**API Key Required**: Register at [NASA FIRMS](https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/area/). Free MAP_KEY provides access to near real-time satellite fire detections. Hotspots are cross-referenced against NIFC perimeters to identify potential new ignitions.
-
-### TomTom Traffic
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  tomtom:
-    enabled: true
-    api_key: "your-api-key"    # Required
-    bbox: "-117.5,42.5,-115.0,44.5"  # lon1,lat1,lon2,lat2
-```
-
-**API Key Required**: Register at [TomTom Developer Portal](https://developer.tomtom.com/). Free tier includes 2,500 requests/day.
-
-### 511 Road Conditions
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  fiveonone:
-    enabled: true
-    state: ID                  # State code
-    api_key: "your-api-key"    # If required by state
-    bbox: [-117.5, 42.5, -115.0, 44.5]
-```
-
-API key requirements vary by state. Check your state's 511 developer portal.
-
-### USGS Water Services
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  usgs_water:
-    enabled: true
-    sites: ["13206000", "13202000"]  # USGS site numbers
-```
-
-No API key required. Find sites at [USGS Water Services](https://waterservices.usgs.gov/).
-
-### AirNow Air Quality
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  airnow:
-    enabled: true
-    api_key: "your-api-key"    # Required
-    zipcode: "83702"
-```
-
-**API Key Required**: Register at [AirNow API](https://docs.airnowapi.org/).
-
-### Dashboard Configuration
-
-```yaml
-dashboard:
-  enabled: true
-  host: 0.0.0.0
-  port: 8080
-```
-
-The web dashboard provides real-time visualization of mesh nodes, environmental conditions, and alerts with WebSocket push notifications.
+The dashboard comes up on `http://localhost:8080`.
 
 ---
 
-## Data Sources
+## Transports
 
-MeshAI aggregates from multiple sources using staggered tick-based polling (one API call per 30-second tick):
+MeshAI speaks two mesh protocols. **Meshtastic is always the base transport.** **MeshCore turns on automatically the moment you set a MeshCore host** — there's no separate on/off toggle to forget.
 
-### Meshview
+### Meshtastic
 
-Unauthenticated REST API. Supports multiple instances.
+Connect over TCP (recommended) or serial:
 
-| Endpoint | Interval | Data |
-|----------|----------|------|
-| `/api/packets` | 30s | Near real-time packet feed |
-| `/api/nodes` | 2 min | Node list with metadata |
-| `/api/stats` | 3 min | Traffic statistics |
-| `/api/edges` | 3 min | Node-to-node connections |
-| `/api/traceroutes` | 5 min | Route data |
-| `/api/packets_seen` | 10 min | Per-gateway RSSI/SNR (sampled) |
+```yaml
+connection:
+  type: "tcp"           # or "serial"
+  tcp_host: "192.168.1.100"
+  tcp_port: 4403
+  # serial_port: "/dev/ttyUSB0"
+```
 
-### MeshMonitor
+### MeshCore
 
-Authenticated (Bearer token). Single instance.
+MeshAI attaches to a MeshCore **companion** (the pyMC / MeshCore companion frame server) over TCP and acts as a node on the MeshCore mesh:
 
-| Endpoint | Interval | Data |
-|----------|----------|------|
-| `/api/v1/packets` | 60s | Packet feed |
-| `/api/v1/nodes` | 2 min | Nodes with battery, utilization, hardware |
-| `/api/v1/telemetry` | 2 min | Environmental sensors, device metrics |
-| `/api/v1/traceroutes` | 5 min | Route data |
-| `/api/v1/channels` | 5 min | Channel configuration |
-| `/api/v1/network` | 5 min | Network statistics |
-| `/api/v1/solar` | 10 min | Solar estimates |
+```yaml
+connection:
+  meshcore_host: "192.168.1.253"   # blank = MeshCore off
+  meshcore_port: 5050
+```
 
-### Rate Limiting
+Once connected, MeshCore gets its own **Connection**, **Routing**, **Scheduled Broadcasts**, **Contacts & Companion**, and **Danger Zones** pages in the dashboard — the same capabilities as Meshtastic, using MeshCore's own idioms (channels by name, contacts by pubkey). Messages are sized to fit whichever mesh they go out on.
 
-Built-in protection for all sources: HTTP 429 backoff with Retry-After, exponential backoff on consecutive errors, slow response warnings, and optional polite mode for shared instances.
+---
 
-### Source Configuration
+## The conversational bot
+
+DM MeshAI on either mesh and it answers with the LLM, using live mesh data, environmental feeds, and (optionally) a knowledge base. A few things it's careful about:
+
+- **Answers on the mesh you asked from.** A MeshCore DM gets a MeshCore reply; a Meshtastic DM gets a Meshtastic reply. Each mesh's "answer DMs" switch is independent.
+- **Per-mesh chat memory.** It keeps a short rolling window of recent channel chatter *per mesh* (configurable retention, default 14 days) so "what's happening on the mesh?" reflects the mesh you're on. Ask about the other mesh by name to cross over.
+- **Three separate lanes.** Shared channel context, your private DM history, and the curated knowledge base never bleed into each other.
+- **LoRa-fit replies.** Responses are chunked to a per-mesh character budget with sentence-aware splitting and continuation prompts.
+
+### Commands
+
+Alongside natural-language questions, a set of `!` commands are available (all toggleable, so they can defer to another service like MeshMonitor):
+
+| Category | Commands |
+|----------|----------|
+| Mesh | `!health` · `!mesh` · `!status` · `!region [name]` · `!neighbors [node]` |
+| Weather / RF | `!wx-alerts` · `!solar` · `!hf` · `!satpass` |
+| Fire | `!fire` · `!hotspots` · `!ignitions` |
+| Hazards | `!avalanche` · `!roads` / `!traffic` · `!rivers` / `!gauges` |
+| Utility | `!help` · `!clear` |
+
+---
+
+## Mesh intelligence (Meshtastic)
+
+MeshAI continuously aggregates mesh data and computes a **5-pillar health score**:
+
+| Pillar | Weight | Measures |
+|--------|--------|----------|
+| Infrastructure | 30% | Router/repeater uptime |
+| Utilization | 25% | Channel busyness / RF congestion |
+| Coverage | 20% | How many monitoring sources see each node |
+| Behavior | 15% | Traffic patterns (noisy/misconfigured nodes) |
+| Power | 10% | Battery health of infrastructure nodes |
+
+Infrastructure nodes are tracked individually (battery, offline alerts, coverage, neighbors, hardware); client nodes coming and going is normal and ignored. Regions are fully configurable — local names, aliases, cities, and radius — with no hardcoded geography.
+
+Data comes from one or more **Meshview** instances and a **MeshMonitor** instance, polled on a staggered schedule with built-in rate-limiting:
 
 ```yaml
 mesh_sources:
-  - name: "local-meshview"
+  - name: "meshview"
     type: meshview
     url: "http://192.168.1.100:8080"
     enabled: true
-
   - name: "meshmonitor"
     type: meshmonitor
     url: "http://192.168.1.100:3333"
@@ -311,285 +156,91 @@ mesh_sources:
     enabled: true
 ```
 
-## Knowledge Base (RAG)
+---
 
-MeshAI uses a hybrid knowledge retrieval system with two backends:
+## Environmental & hazard feeds
 
-### Primary: RECON Qdrant Backend
+MeshAI pulls real-time situational data and turns it into LoRa broadcasts and query answers. Sources include **NWS weather alerts**, **NIFC wildfire perimeters**, **NASA FIRMS satellite fire detections**, **USGS earthquakes**, **USGS stream gauges**, **road/traffic (511 / TomTom)**, **NOAA space weather**, and **avalanche/RF-propagation** feeds.
 
-Queries [RECON](https://forge.echo6.co/matt/recon)'s knowledge extraction pipeline — 2.8M+ vectors covering survival skills, communications, medical, technical documentation, Meshtastic docs, and more. Uses the same embedding infrastructure as RECON:
+Everything is switched on/off and tuned from the dashboard's **Data Feeds** page — enable a source, set thresholds and geography, and route its output per-mesh on the **Routing** page. Broadcast wording is tightened to fit a single LoRa packet without dropping the important details (e.g. affected towns on a weather alert).
 
-- **Dense embeddings**: TEI service with BAAI/bge-m3 (1024-dim)
-- **Sparse embeddings**: bge-m3-sparse with IDF modifier
-- **Search**: Qdrant hybrid with Reciprocal Rank Fusion (dense + sparse)
+---
 
-No data is copied — MeshAI queries RECON's Qdrant and TEI services over the network.
+## Knowledge base (RAG)
+
+Optional hybrid retrieval for survival, comms, medical, and technical Q&A.
+
+- **Primary** — queries a **Qdrant** hybrid store (dense `bge-m3` + sparse, Reciprocal Rank Fusion) over a large curated vector set, via a networked TEI embedding service. Nothing is copied locally.
+- **Fallback** — a local **SQLite** knowledge base (FTS5 keyword + `bge-small-en-v1.5` vectors) if the vector service is unreachable.
 
 ```yaml
 knowledge:
   enabled: true
-  backend: auto            # "qdrant", "sqlite", or "auto" (try qdrant, fall back)
+  backend: auto          # qdrant | sqlite | auto
   qdrant_host: "192.168.1.150"
   qdrant_port: 6333
   qdrant_collection: "recon_knowledge_hybrid"
   tei_host: "192.168.1.150"
   tei_port: 8090
-  sparse_host: "192.168.1.150"
-  sparse_port: 8091
-  use_sparse: true
   top_k: 5
 ```
 
-### Fallback: Local SQLite
+The curated channel chatter your bot observes is used only as short-term *context* — it is never written into the knowledge base.
 
-If the Qdrant backend is unreachable, MeshAI falls back to a local SQLite knowledge base using FTS5 keyword search and `bge-small-en-v1.5` vector embeddings (384-dim).
+---
 
-```bash
-# Build from Meshtastic ZIM file
-python scripts/zim_to_knowledge.py meshtastic.zim --output knowledge.db
-```
+## LLM configuration
 
 ```yaml
-knowledge:
-  enabled: true
-  backend: sqlite
-  db_path: /data/meshai_knowledge.db
-  top_k: 5
+llm:
+  backend: "google"          # google | openai | anthropic
+  api_key: "your-api-key"
+  model: "gemini-2.5-flash"
 ```
 
-Requires `sqlite-vec` and `fastembed` for the SQLite backend.
+Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint works for local models — point `base_url` at Ollama (`http://localhost:11434/v1`), LiteLLM (`http://localhost:4000/v1`), or Open WebUI.
+
+---
 
 ## Architecture
 
 ```
-┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
-│                              MeshAI                                  │
-├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
-│                                                                      │
-│  DATA SOURCES              INTELLIGENCE              DELIVERY        │
-│  ┌─────────────┐          ┌──────────────┐         ┌────────────┐   │
-│  │ Meshview ×N  │─────┐   │ Health Engine │────────▶│  Reporter  │   │
-│  │ (staggered)  │     │   │ 5-pillar     │         │ Tier 1/2   │   │
-│  └─────────────┘     ▼   │ scoring      │         └─────┬──────┘   │
-│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌──────┴──┐            │               │          │
-│  │ MeshMonitor │─▶│  Data   │─┘          │         ┌─────▼──────┐   │
-│  │ (staggered) │  │  Store  │            │         │   Router   │   │
-│  └─────────────┘  │ SQLite  │            │         │ scope/dist │   │
-│                   └─────────┘            │         └─────┬──────┘   │
-│                        │                 │               │          │
-│                   ┌────▼────┐      ┌─────▼──────┐  ┌────▼────┐    │
-│                   │ Feeder  │      │    LLM     │  │ Chunker │    │
-│                   │ Sampling│      │  Backend   │  │LoRa-fit │    │
-│                   └─────────┘      └────────────┘  └────┬────┘    │
-│                                                         │         │
-│  KNOWLEDGE             ALERTS             DELIVERY      │         │
-│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐    │         │
-│  │ RECON/Qdrant│  │   Alert     │  │ Subscription │    │         │
-│  │ 2.8M vectors│  │   Engine    │  │   Manager    │    │         │
-│  │ (network)   │  │ 17 triggers │  │ daily/weekly │    │         │
-│  ├─────────────┤  │  scaling    │  │   alerts     │    │         │
-│  │ SQLite FTS5 │  │  cooldown   │  └──────┬───────┘    │         │
-│  │ (fallback)  │  └──────┬──────┘         │            │         │
-│  └─────────────┘         │          ┌─────▼────────┐   │         │
-│                          └─────────▶│  Responder   │◀──┘         │
-│  ┌─────────────┐                    │ ACK-paced DM │             │
-│  │ Conversation│                    │ Channel alert│             │
-│  │   History   │                    └──────────────┘             │
-│  └─────────────┘                                                 │
-│                                                                   │
-└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
-         │                    │
-    ┌────▼────┐          ┌────▼────┐
-    │  TEI    │          │ Qdrant  │
-    │ bge-m3  │          │ hybrid  │
-    │ cortex  │          │ cortex  │
-    └─────────┘          └─────────┘
+                       ┌─────────────────────────────┐
+   Meshtastic ────────▶│                             │◀──────── MeshCore
+   (TCP / serial)      │      CompositeTransport      │     (companion / pyMC TCP)
+                       │   per-mesh routing + sizing  │
+                       └──────────────┬──────────────┘
+                                      │
+        ┌─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┐
+        ▼                             ▼                             ▼
+  ┌───────────┐              ┌─────────────────┐            ┌──────────────┐
+  │  Router   │              │  Notification    │            │  Mesh Data   │
+  │ LLM / cmd │              │  Pipeline        │            │  Store +     │
+  │ DM gating │              │  weather · fire  │            │  Health      │
+  │ per-mesh  │              │  road · seismic  │            │  Engine      │
+  │ context   │              │  RF · mesh-health│            │  5-pillar    │
+  └─────┬─────┘              └────────┬─────────┘            └──────┬───────┘
+        │                            │                              │
+   ┌────▼─────┐   ┌──────────────┐   │        ┌──────────────┐      │
+   │   LLM    │   │  Knowledge   │   │        │ Env / Central │◀─────┘
+   │ backend  │   │  Qdrant/FTS5 │   │        │ feed adapters │
+   └──────────┘   └──────────────┘   ▼        └──────────────┘
+                                ┌──────────┐
+                                │ Responder│  ACK-paced, LoRa-fit,
+                                │ + Chunker│  routed per mesh
+                                └──────────┘
+                                      │
+                              Web Dashboard (React) ── configure everything
 ```
 
-## Dashboard API Reference
+---
 
-The dashboard exposes a REST API (default port 8080):
-
-### Core Endpoints
-
-| Endpoint | Method | Description |
-|----------|--------|-------------|
-| `/api/health` | GET | System health check |
-| `/api/status` | GET | Full system status with health scores |
-| `/api/nodes` | GET | Connected mesh nodes |
-| `/api/messages` | GET | Recent mesh messages |
-
-### Environmental Data
-
-| Endpoint | Method | Description |
-|----------|--------|-------------|
-| `/api/env/earthquakes` | GET | Recent earthquakes |
-| `/api/env/weather` | GET | Weather conditions and alerts |
-| `/api/env/fires` | GET | Active wildfires from NIFC |
-| `/api/env/hotspots` | GET | NASA FIRMS satellite detections |
-| `/api/env/traffic` | GET | Traffic incidents |
-| `/api/env/water` | GET | Stream gauge readings |
-| `/api/env/space` | GET | Space weather data |
-| `/api/env/air` | GET | Air quality readings |
-
-### Alerts
-
-| Endpoint | Method | Description |
-|----------|--------|-------------|
-| `/api/alerts/active` | GET | Currently active alerts |
-| `/api/alerts/history` | GET | Historical alerts (`?severity=`, `?source=`, `?limit=`, `?offset=`) |
-| `/api/alerts/{id}/ack` | POST | Acknowledge an alert |
-| `/api/subscriptions` | GET | Alert subscriptions |
-
-### WebSocket
-
-Connect to `/ws` for real-time updates:
-
-```javascript
-const ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:8080/ws');
-ws.onmessage = (event) => {
-  const data = JSON.parse(event.data);
-  // data.type: 'message', 'alert', 'node_update', 'health_update'
-};
-```
-
-## Message Chunking
-
-Long responses are split into mesh-friendly chunks with sentence-aware splitting, configurable limits, and continuation prompts. Command output (like `!health`) packs multiple lines into 2-3 messages using newlines within each message to minimize airtime usage.
-
-```yaml
-response:
-  max_length: 200       # Max chars per message
-  max_messages: 3       # Messages before continuation prompt
-```
-
-## Alerting
-
-Real-time alerts when mesh conditions change, with scaling cooldowns to prevent spam.
-
-### Alert Conditions (17 total, each toggleable)
-
-| Pillar | Condition | Default Threshold |
-|--------|-----------|-------------------|
-| Infrastructure | Router goes offline | — |
-| Infrastructure | Router recovery | — |
-| Infrastructure | New router appears | — |
-| Power | Battery warning | <50% |
-| Power | Battery critical | <25% |
-| Power | Battery emergency | <10% |
-| Power | 7-day declining trend | >10% drop with rate |
-| Power | USB → battery (power outage) | — |
-| Power | Solar not charging during day | — |
-| Utilization | Sustained high utilization | >20% for 6h |
-| Utilization | Packet flood | >500 pkts/24h |
-| Coverage | Infra drops to single gateway | — |
-| Coverage | Feeder gateway stops responding | — |
-| Coverage | Region total blackout | All infra offline |
-| Scores | Mesh health score drop | <70/100 |
-| Scores | Region health score drop | <60/100 |
-
-### Scaling Cooldown
-
-Alerts don't spam. When a condition triggers:
-1. **Alert 1**: fires immediately
-2. **Alert 2**: 12 hours later (if still in condition)
-3. **Alert 3**: 24 hours after that
-4. **Alert 4**: 48 hours after that
-5. **Stops** until condition resolves
-
-When the condition clears, one recovery notification fires and the tracker resets.
-
-### Delivery
-
-Alerts are delivered two ways:
-- **Channel broadcast**: configurable channel index for mesh-wide visibility
-- **DM to subscribers**: users who ran `!sub alerts` receive DMs matching their scope
-
-### Critical Nodes
-
-Designate important infrastructure (e.g., MHR, HPR) as critical. When a critical node goes offline, alerts use priority formatting.
-
-```yaml
-mesh_intelligence:
-  critical_nodes: ["MHR", "HPR"]
-  alert_channel: 0        # Channel for broadcast alerts (-1 = disabled)
-```
-
-All conditions and thresholds are configurable via the TUI under Mesh Intelligence → Alert Rules.
-
-## LLM Configuration
-
-```yaml
-llm:
-  backend: "google"            # openai, anthropic, google
-  api_key: "your-api-key"
-  model: "gemini-2.0-flash"
-```
-
-### Local LLMs
-
-MeshAI works with any OpenAI-compatible API:
-
-- **LiteLLM**: `base_url: "http://localhost:4000/v1"`
-- **Open WebUI**: `base_url: "http://localhost:3000/api"`
-- **Ollama**: `base_url: "http://localhost:11434/v1"`
-
-## Docker
-
-### TCP Connection (recommended)
-
-```yaml
-connection:
-  type: "tcp"
-  tcp_host: "192.168.1.100"
-  tcp_port: 4403
-```
-
-### Serial Connection
-
-```yaml
-connection:
-  type: "serial"
-  serial_port: "/dev/ttyUSB0"
-```
-
-Edit `docker-compose.serial.yml` to match your device path.
-
-### Environment Variables
-
-```bash
-LLM_API_KEY=your-key-here docker compose up -d
-```
-
-## Running Alongside Other Services
-
-### advBBS
-
-MeshAI coexists with [advBBS](https://github.com/zvx-echo6/advbbs) on the same node. BBS protocol messages (sync, RAP, mail notifications) are automatically filtered. No configuration needed.
-
-```yaml
-bot:
-  filter_bbs_protocols: true
-```
-
-### MeshMonitor
-
-MeshAI integrates with [MeshMonitor](https://github.com/Yeraze/meshmonitor) at two levels: it fetches MeshMonitor's auto-responder patterns to avoid duplicate responses, and it uses MeshMonitor's API as a data source for mesh intelligence (battery, telemetry, traceroutes, solar).
-
-```yaml
-meshmonitor:
-  enabled: true
-  url: "http://192.168.1.100:8080"
-  inject_into_prompt: true
-  refresh_interval: 300
-```
-
-## Running as a Service
+## Running as a service
 
 ```ini
 # /etc/systemd/system/meshai.service
 [Unit]
-Description=MeshAI - Meshtastic Mesh Intelligence
+Description=MeshAI
 After=network.target
 
 [Service]
@@ -606,22 +257,34 @@ WantedBy=multi-user.target
 
 ```bash
 sudo systemctl daemon-reload
-sudo systemctl enable meshai
-sudo systemctl start meshai
+sudo systemctl enable --now meshai
 ```
 
+Every deployment is designed to survive a reboot; the dashboard's connection settings drive both transports.
+
+---
+
+## Playing nice with other services
+
+- **advBBS** — MeshAI coexists on the same Meshtastic node; BBS protocol traffic (sync, RAP, mail) is auto-filtered (`bot.filter_bbs_protocols: true`).
+- **MeshMonitor** — MeshAI reads MeshMonitor's auto-responder patterns to avoid duplicate replies, and uses its API as a mesh-intelligence data source.
+- **MeshCore companion** — MeshAI attaches as its own companion identity so it can share the radio without evicting other companion clients.
+
+---
+
 ## Acknowledgments
 
-- [Meshtastic](https://meshtastic.org/) — the mesh networking platform
-- [MeshMonitor](https://github.com/Yeraze/meshmonitor) by Yeraze — monitoring integration and data source
-- [advBBS](https://github.com/zvx-echo6/advbbs) — BBS coexistence design
-- [sqlite-vec](https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vec) by Alex Garcia — vector search in SQLite
-- [fastembed](https://github.com/qdrant/fastembed) by Qdrant — fast local embeddings
+- [Meshtastic](https://meshtastic.org/) — the mesh platform it started on
+- [MeshCore](https://meshcore.io/) & [pyMC](https://github.com/rightup/pyMC_core) — the second transport
+- [MeshMonitor](https://github.com/Yeraze/meshmonitor) by Yeraze — monitoring integration & data source
+- [advBBS](https://github.com/zvx-echo6/advbbs) — coexistence design
+- [Qdrant](https://github.com/qdrant/qdrant) · [sqlite-vec](https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vec) · [fastembed](https://github.com/qdrant/fastembed) — retrieval stack
+- The LLM coding assistants that vibecoded most of this
 
 ## License
 
-MIT License
+MIT
 
 ## Author
 
-K7ZVX - matt@echo6.co
+K7ZVX — matt@echo6.co
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index 336a15e..00595ba 100644
--- a/work/README.md
+++ b/work/README.md
@@ -1,34 +1,62 @@
 # MeshAI
 
-LLM-powered mesh intelligence assistant for Meshtastic networks. MeshAI connects to your mesh as a physical node, monitors network health in real-time, and answers questions about your infrastructure over LoRa.
+**An LLM-powered assistant for LoRa mesh networks — on Meshtastic *and* MeshCore, at the same time.**
 
-## What It Does
+MeshAI connects to your mesh, watches network health and the world around it in real time, answers questions over the air, and broadcasts the alerts that matter — weather, wildfire, road, seismic, RF, and mesh-health — with a full web dashboard to drive it all.
 
-MeshAI runs on your Meshtastic node and provides:
+> ### 🤖 Built with AI ("vibecoded")
+> In the interest of transparency: **MeshAI was vibecoded** — designed, built, debugged, and documented in close collaboration with LLM coding assistants. The architecture, most of the implementation, and this README were produced that way. It's a real, running project on a live mesh, but expect the pragmatic style, opinionated shortcuts, and occasional rough edges that come with the territory. Issues and PRs are welcome.
 
-- **Mesh Intelligence** — 5-pillar health scoring, per-region breakdowns, infrastructure monitoring, coverage gap analysis, and environmental sensing
-- **Conversational Queries** — ask "how's the mesh?" or "tell me about MHR" and get data-driven answers over LoRa
-- **Node Distance** — GPS-based distance calculations between any two nodes on the mesh
-- **Multi-Source Awareness** — aggregates data from multiple Meshview instances and MeshMonitor with staggered polling
-- **Feeder Gateway Tracking** — identifies which physical MQTT gateways hear each node and signal quality
-- **Subscriptions** — scheduled daily/weekly health reports and instant alerts delivered via DM
-- **LLM Chat** — general conversation, knowledge base lookups, and weather queries
-- **Multi-Backend** — supports Google Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, and local LLMs via LiteLLM
+![MeshAI dashboard](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/dashboard.png)
 
-## Quick Start
+---
+
+## Highlights
+
+- **Dual-transport** — runs on **Meshtastic** and **MeshCore** simultaneously. Each mesh is first-class: independent connection, routing, and behavior, one shared brain.
+- **Conversational bot** — DM it "how's the mesh?" or ask about weather, fires, roads, or a specific node, and get a data-driven answer over LoRa. The reply goes back on whichever mesh you asked from.
+- **Per-mesh awareness** — it watches chat on each mesh separately (rolling short-term memory), so "what's happening on the mesh?" answers about *your* mesh. Private DMs stay private; curated knowledge stays separate.
+- **Broadcast intelligence** — weather alerts, wildfire updates, road/traffic, seismic, RF/band conditions, and mesh-health notifications, formatted to fit LoRa and routed per-mesh, per-family.
+- **Mesh health** — a 5-pillar health score with per-region breakdowns, infrastructure monitoring, coverage-gap analysis, and battery/solar tracking (Meshtastic).
+- **Web dashboard** — a clean React UI to configure every transport, route every message type, watch a live activity feed, browse contacts, and tune the bot — no config-file spelunking required.
+- **Knowledge base (RAG)** — optional hybrid retrieval over a large curated vector store for survival/comms/technical Q&A.
+- **Multi-backend LLM** — Google Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, or any OpenAI-compatible local model (Ollama, LiteLLM, etc.).
+
+---
+
+## The dashboard
+
+Everything is driven from the web UI, organized into **General**, **Meshtastic**, and **MeshCore** sections — each mesh mirrors the other so there's nothing to relearn when you add the second transport.
+
+**Live activity log** — every broadcast, on both meshes, with per-mesh badges and Sent/Skip status:
+
+![Activity Log](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/activity.png)
+
+**Per-family routing** — decide exactly where each message type goes: broadcast vs. DM, which channel, which recipients — independently for each mesh:
+
+![Routing](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/mt-routing.png)
+
+**MeshCore contacts & companion** — the live roster from your MeshCore companion node, with names, types, last-heard, position, and optional telemetry polling:
+
+![MeshCore Contacts](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/mc-contacts.png)
+
+**Data feeds** — turn environmental sources on/off and tune thresholds in one place:
+
+![Data Feeds](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/datafeeds.png)
+
+**Nodes & health** — per-node infrastructure detail: battery, utilization, coverage, neighbors, hardware:
+
+![Nodes & Health](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docs/images/nodes.png)
+
+---
+
+## Quick start
 
 ```bash
-# Clone
 git clone https://github.com/zvx-echo6/meshai.git
 cd meshai
-
-# Install
 pip install -e .
-
-# Configure (interactive TUI)
-meshai --config
-
-# Run
+meshai --config     # interactive setup TUI
 meshai
 ```
 
@@ -38,272 +66,89 @@ Or with Docker:
 mkdir -p meshai/data && cd meshai
 curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/docker-compose.yml
 curl -o data/config.yaml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zvx-echo6/meshai/main/config.example.yaml
-# Edit data/config.yaml
+# edit data/config.yaml, then:
 docker compose up -d
 ```
 
-## Commands
-
-| Command | Description |
-|---------|-------------|
-| `!health` | Mesh health overview with colored status dots |
-| `!region` | List all regions with health status |
-| `!region [name]` | Detailed region breakdown |
-| `!neighbors [node]` | Top infrastructure neighbors with signal quality |
-| `!sub daily 6pm` | Subscribe to daily health reports |
-| `!sub weekly 8am sun` | Subscribe to weekly digest |
-| `!sub alerts` | Subscribe to instant alerts on issues |
-| `!unsub [type]` | Remove a subscription |
-| `!mysubs` | List your active subscriptions |
-| `!clear` | Clear conversation history |
-| `!help` | Show available commands |
-| `!help [cmd]` | Detailed help for a command |
-| `!quakes` | Recent earthquakes in monitored area |
-| `!fires` | Active wildfires from NIFC |
-| `!hotspots` | NASA FIRMS satellite fire detections |
-| `!hotspots --new` | Only hotspots not matching known fires |
-| `!traffic` | Traffic incidents from TomTom |
-| `!space` | Space weather conditions (solar/geomagnetic) |
-| `!water` | USGS stream gauge readings |
-| `!air` | Air quality index |
-
-Commands can be disabled in config if another service (like MeshMonitor) handles them.
-
-## Mesh Intelligence
-
-MeshAI continuously polls mesh data sources and computes a 5-pillar health score:
-
-| Pillar | Weight | What It Measures |
-|--------|--------|------------------|
-| Infrastructure | 30% | Router uptime — how many infra nodes are online |
-| Utilization | 25% | Channel busyness — RF congestion across the mesh |
-| Coverage | 20% | Gateway reach — how many monitoring sources see each node |
-| Behavior | 15% | Traffic patterns — detecting noisy or misconfigured nodes |
-| Power | 10% | Battery health — infrastructure nodes only |
-
-### Health Display
-
-`!health` shows a compact overview with personality:
-
-```
-📡 Mesh 🟢 healthy
-🏗️ 15/16 routers up
-❌ Down: TVM Tablerock Relay
-📶 152 full coverage, 94 on thin ice
-🔥 Hayden Peak Router at 21% util
-🔋 All infra powered ✅
-🌡️ 29-34°C across 2 sensors
-Treasure Valley 🟢 | Magic Valley 🟢
-```
-
-Status dots: 🔵 perfect (100) · 🟢 healthy (75+) · 🟠 warning (50+) · 🔴 critical (<50)
-
-### Monitoring Rules
-
-Infrastructure nodes (routers, repeaters) are monitored individually with full detail — battery, offline alerts, coverage, neighbors, hardware. Client nodes dying is normal and not tracked. Channel utilization and environmental sensors are monitored for all nodes.
-
-### Conversational Queries
-
-Ask questions naturally over LoRa:
-
-- "how's the mesh?" → health overview with top issues
-- "tell me about MHR" → full node detail with neighbors, coverage, feeders
-- "where do we need more coverage?" → named gaps with specific nodes
-- "how far is MHR from AIDA?" → GPS distance calculation
-- "which nodes only reach one gateway?" → named nodes with their gateway
-- "which gateway has the best signal?" → feeder comparison
-
-### Geographic Regions
-
-Regions are configurable with local names, descriptions, aliases, and cities — all manageable through the TUI. No hardcoded geography in the code.
-
-```yaml
-mesh_intelligence:
-  regions:
-    - name: "South Central ID"
-      local_name: "Magic Valley"
-      description: "Twin Falls area"
-      aliases: ["southern Idaho", "magic valley"]
-      cities: ["Twin Falls", "Burley", "Jerome"]
-      lat: 42.5
-      lon: -114.5
-      radius_km: 80
-```
-
-## Environmental Feeds
-
-MeshAI integrates real-time environmental data for situational awareness beyond mesh network health.
-
-### USGS Earthquake Monitoring
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  usgs:
-    enabled: true
-    min_magnitude: 2.5
-    radius_km: 500
-    center_lat: 43.6150
-    center_lon: -116.2023
-```
-
-No API key required. Data from [USGS Earthquake Hazards Program](https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/).
-
-### NWS Weather Alerts
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  nws:
-    enabled: true
-    zone: IDZ025         # NWS zone ID
-    point: "43.6150,-116.2023"
-```
-
-No API key required. Find your zone at [NWS Zone Lookup](https://alerts.weather.gov/).
-
-### NOAA Space Weather
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  noaa_space:
-    enabled: true
-```
-
-No API key required. Data from [NOAA SWPC](https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/).
-
-### NIFC Wildfire Perimeters
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  nifc:
-    enabled: true
-    radius_km: 200
-    center_lat: 43.6150
-    center_lon: -116.2023
-```
-
-No API key required. Data from [NIFC Open Data](https://data-nifc.opendata.arcgis.com/).
-
-### NASA FIRMS Satellite Fire Detection
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  firms:
-    enabled: true
-    map_key: "your-map-key"    # Required
-    radius_km: 200
-    center_lat: 43.6150
-    center_lon: -116.2023
-    source: VIIRS_SNPP         # VIIRS_SNPP, VIIRS_NOAA20, MODIS_NRT
-    day_range: 1               # 1, 2, or 10 days
-```
-
-**API Key Required**: Register at [NASA FIRMS](https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/area/). Free MAP_KEY provides access to near real-time satellite fire detections. Hotspots are cross-referenced against NIFC perimeters to identify potential new ignitions.
-
-### TomTom Traffic
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  tomtom:
-    enabled: true
-    api_key: "your-api-key"    # Required
-    bbox: "-117.5,42.5,-115.0,44.5"  # lon1,lat1,lon2,lat2
-```
-
-**API Key Required**: Register at [TomTom Developer Portal](https://developer.tomtom.com/). Free tier includes 2,500 requests/day.
-
-### 511 Road Conditions
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  fiveonone:
-    enabled: true
-    state: ID                  # State code
-    api_key: "your-api-key"    # If required by state
-    bbox: [-117.5, 42.5, -115.0, 44.5]
-```
-
-API key requirements vary by state. Check your state's 511 developer portal.
-
-### USGS Water Services
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  usgs_water:
-    enabled: true
-    sites: ["13206000", "13202000"]  # USGS site numbers
-```
-
-No API key required. Find sites at [USGS Water Services](https://waterservices.usgs.gov/).
-
-### AirNow Air Quality
-
-```yaml
-env:
-  airnow:
-    enabled: true
-    api_key: "your-api-key"    # Required
-    zipcode: "83702"
-```
-
-**API Key Required**: Register at [AirNow API](https://docs.airnowapi.org/).
-
-### Dashboard Configuration
-
-```yaml
-dashboard:
-  enabled: true
-  host: 0.0.0.0
-  port: 8080
-```
-
-The web dashboard provides real-time visualization of mesh nodes, environmental conditions, and alerts with WebSocket push notifications.
+The dashboard comes up on `http://localhost:8080`.
 
 ---
 
-## Data Sources
+## Transports
 
-MeshAI aggregates from multiple sources using staggered tick-based polling (one API call per 30-second tick):
+MeshAI speaks two mesh protocols. **Meshtastic is always the base transport.** **MeshCore turns on automatically the moment you set a MeshCore host** — there's no separate on/off toggle to forget.
 
-### Meshview
+### Meshtastic
 
-Unauthenticated REST API. Supports multiple instances.
+Connect over TCP (recommended) or serial:
 
-| Endpoint | Interval | Data |
-|----------|----------|------|
-| `/api/packets` | 30s | Near real-time packet feed |
-| `/api/nodes` | 2 min | Node list with metadata |
-| `/api/stats` | 3 min | Traffic statistics |
-| `/api/edges` | 3 min | Node-to-node connections |
-| `/api/traceroutes` | 5 min | Route data |
-| `/api/packets_seen` | 10 min | Per-gateway RSSI/SNR (sampled) |
+```yaml
+connection:
+  type: "tcp"           # or "serial"
+  tcp_host: "192.168.1.100"
+  tcp_port: 4403
+  # serial_port: "/dev/ttyUSB0"
+```
 
-### MeshMonitor
+### MeshCore
 
-Authenticated (Bearer token). Single instance.
+MeshAI attaches to a MeshCore **companion** (the pyMC / MeshCore companion frame server) over TCP and acts as a node on the MeshCore mesh:
 
-| Endpoint | Interval | Data |
-|----------|----------|------|
-| `/api/v1/packets` | 60s | Packet feed |
-| `/api/v1/nodes` | 2 min | Nodes with battery, utilization, hardware |
-| `/api/v1/telemetry` | 2 min | Environmental sensors, device metrics |
-| `/api/v1/traceroutes` | 5 min | Route data |
-| `/api/v1/channels` | 5 min | Channel configuration |
-| `/api/v1/network` | 5 min | Network statistics |
-| `/api/v1/solar` | 10 min | Solar estimates |
+```yaml
+connection:
+  meshcore_host: "192.168.1.253"   # blank = MeshCore off
+  meshcore_port: 5050
+```
 
-### Rate Limiting
+Once connected, MeshCore gets its own **Connection**, **Routing**, **Scheduled Broadcasts**, **Contacts & Companion**, and **Danger Zones** pages in the dashboard — the same capabilities as Meshtastic, using MeshCore's own idioms (channels by name, contacts by pubkey). Messages are sized to fit whichever mesh they go out on.
 
-Built-in protection for all sources: HTTP 429 backoff with Retry-After, exponential backoff on consecutive errors, slow response warnings, and optional polite mode for shared instances.
+---
 
-### Source Configuration
+## The conversational bot
+
+DM MeshAI on either mesh and it answers with the LLM, using live mesh data, environmental feeds, and (optionally) a knowledge base. A few things it's careful about:
+
+- **Answers on the mesh you asked from.** A MeshCore DM gets a MeshCore reply; a Meshtastic DM gets a Meshtastic reply. Each mesh's "answer DMs" switch is independent.
+- **Per-mesh chat memory.** It keeps a short rolling window of recent channel chatter *per mesh* (configurable retention, default 14 days) so "what's happening on the mesh?" reflects the mesh you're on. Ask about the other mesh by name to cross over.
+- **Three separate lanes.** Shared channel context, your private DM history, and the curated knowledge base never bleed into each other.
+- **LoRa-fit replies.** Responses are chunked to a per-mesh character budget with sentence-aware splitting and continuation prompts.
+
+### Commands
+
+Alongside natural-language questions, a set of `!` commands are available (all toggleable, so they can defer to another service like MeshMonitor):
+
+| Category | Commands |
+|----------|----------|
+| Mesh | `!health` · `!mesh` · `!status` · `!region [name]` · `!neighbors [node]` |
+| Weather / RF | `!wx-alerts` · `!solar` · `!hf` · `!satpass` |
+| Fire | `!fire` · `!hotspots` · `!ignitions` |
+| Hazards | `!avalanche` · `!roads` / `!traffic` · `!rivers` / `!gauges` |
+| Utility | `!help` · `!clear` |
+
+---
+
+## Mesh intelligence (Meshtastic)
+
+MeshAI continuously aggregates mesh data and computes a **5-pillar health score**:
+
+| Pillar | Weight | Measures |
+|--------|--------|----------|
+| Infrastructure | 30% | Router/repeater uptime |
+| Utilization | 25% | Channel busyness / RF congestion |
+| Coverage | 20% | How many monitoring sources see each node |
+| Behavior | 15% | Traffic patterns (noisy/misconfigured nodes) |
+| Power | 10% | Battery health of infrastructure nodes |
+
+Infrastructure nodes are tracked individually (battery, offline alerts, coverage, neighbors, hardware); client nodes coming and going is normal and ignored. Regions are fully configurable — local names, aliases, cities, and radius — with no hardcoded geography.
+
+Data comes from one or more **Meshview** instances and a **MeshMonitor** instance, polled on a staggered schedule with built-in rate-limiting:
 
 ```yaml
 mesh_sources:
-  - name: "local-meshview"
+  - name: "meshview"
     type: meshview
     url: "http://192.168.1.100:8080"
     enabled: true
-
   - name: "meshmonitor"
     type: meshmonitor
     url: "http://192.168.1.100:3333"
@@ -311,285 +156,91 @@ mesh_sources:
     enabled: true
 ```
 
-## Knowledge Base (RAG)
+---
 
-MeshAI uses a hybrid knowledge retrieval system with two backends:
+## Environmental & hazard feeds
 
-### Primary: RECON Qdrant Backend
+MeshAI pulls real-time situational data and turns it into LoRa broadcasts and query answers. Sources include **NWS weather alerts**, **NIFC wildfire perimeters**, **NASA FIRMS satellite fire detections**, **USGS earthquakes**, **USGS stream gauges**, **road/traffic (511 / TomTom)**, **NOAA space weather**, and **avalanche/RF-propagation** feeds.
 
-Queries [RECON](https://forge.echo6.co/matt/recon)'s knowledge extraction pipeline — 2.8M+ vectors covering survival skills, communications, medical, technical documentation, Meshtastic docs, and more. Uses the same embedding infrastructure as RECON:
+Everything is switched on/off and tuned from the dashboard's **Data Feeds** page — enable a source, set thresholds and geography, and route its output per-mesh on the **Routing** page. Broadcast wording is tightened to fit a single LoRa packet without dropping the important details (e.g. affected towns on a weather alert).
 
-- **Dense embeddings**: TEI service with BAAI/bge-m3 (1024-dim)
-- **Sparse embeddings**: bge-m3-sparse with IDF modifier
-- **Search**: Qdrant hybrid with Reciprocal Rank Fusion (dense + sparse)
+---
 
-No data is copied — MeshAI queries RECON's Qdrant and TEI services over the network.
+## Knowledge base (RAG)
+
+Optional hybrid retrieval for survival, comms, medical, and technical Q&A.
+
+- **Primary** — queries a **Qdrant** hybrid store (dense `bge-m3` + sparse, Reciprocal Rank Fusion) over a large curated vector set, via a networked TEI embedding service. Nothing is copied locally.
+- **Fallback** — a local **SQLite** knowledge base (FTS5 keyword + `bge-small-en-v1.5` vectors) if the vector service is unreachable.
 
 ```yaml
 knowledge:
   enabled: true
-  backend: auto            # "qdrant", "sqlite", or "auto" (try qdrant, fall back)
+  backend: auto          # qdrant | sqlite | auto
   qdrant_host: "192.168.1.150"
   qdrant_port: 6333
   qdrant_collection: "recon_knowledge_hybrid"
   tei_host: "192.168.1.150"
   tei_port: 8090
-  sparse_host: "192.168.1.150"
-  sparse_port: 8091
-  use_sparse: true
   top_k: 5
 ```
 
-### Fallback: Local SQLite
+The curated channel chatter your bot observes is used only as short-term *context* — it is never written into the knowledge base.
 
-If the Qdrant backend is unreachable, MeshAI falls back to a local SQLite knowledge base using FTS5 keyword search and `bge-small-en-v1.5` vector embeddings (384-dim).
+---
 
-```bash
-# Build from Meshtastic ZIM file
-python scripts/zim_to_knowledge.py meshtastic.zim --output knowledge.db
-```
+## LLM configuration
 
 ```yaml
-knowledge:
-  enabled: true
-  backend: sqlite
-  db_path: /data/meshai_knowledge.db
-  top_k: 5
+llm:
+  backend: "google"          # google | openai | anthropic
+  api_key: "your-api-key"
+  model: "gemini-2.5-flash"
 ```
 
-Requires `sqlite-vec` and `fastembed` for the SQLite backend.
+Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint works for local models — point `base_url` at Ollama (`http://localhost:11434/v1`), LiteLLM (`http://localhost:4000/v1`), or Open WebUI.
+
+---
 
 ## Architecture
 
 ```
-┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
-│                              MeshAI                                  │
-├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
-│                                                                      │
-│  DATA SOURCES              INTELLIGENCE              DELIVERY        │
-│  ┌─────────────┐          ┌──────────────┐         ┌────────────┐   │
-│  │ Meshview ×N  │─────┐   │ Health Engine │────────▶│  Reporter  │   │
-│  │ (staggered)  │     │   │ 5-pillar     │         │ Tier 1/2   │   │
-│  └─────────────┘     ▼   │ scoring      │         └─────┬──────┘   │
-│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌──────┴──┐            │               │          │
-│  │ MeshMonitor │─▶│  Data   │─┘          │         ┌─────▼──────┐   │
-│  │ (staggered) │  │  Store  │            │         │   Router   │   │
-│  └─────────────┘  │ SQLite  │            │         │ scope/dist │   │
-│                   └─────────┘            │         └─────┬──────┘   │
-│                        │                 │               │          │
-│                   ┌────▼────┐      ┌─────▼──────┐  ┌────▼────┐    │
-│                   │ Feeder  │      │    LLM     │  │ Chunker │    │
-│                   │ Sampling│      │  Backend   │  │LoRa-fit │    │
-│                   └─────────┘      └────────────┘  └────┬────┘    │
-│                                                         │         │
-│  KNOWLEDGE             ALERTS             DELIVERY      │         │
-│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐    │         │
-│  │ RECON/Qdrant│  │   Alert     │  │ Subscription │    │         │
-│  │ 2.8M vectors│  │   Engine    │  │   Manager    │    │         │
-│  │ (network)   │  │ 17 triggers │  │ daily/weekly │    │         │
-│  ├─────────────┤  │  scaling    │  │   alerts     │    │         │
-│  │ SQLite FTS5 │  │  cooldown   │  └──────┬───────┘    │         │
-│  │ (fallback)  │  └──────┬──────┘         │            │         │
-│  └─────────────┘         │          ┌─────▼────────┐   │         │
-│                          └─────────▶│  Responder   │◀──┘         │
-│  ┌─────────────┐                    │ ACK-paced DM │             │
-│  │ Conversation│                    │ Channel alert│             │
-│  │   History   │                    └──────────────┘             │
-│  └─────────────┘                                                 │
-│                                                                   │
-└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
-         │                    │
-    ┌────▼────┐          ┌────▼────┐
-    │  TEI    │          │ Qdrant  │
-    │ bge-m3  │          │ hybrid  │
-    │ cortex  │          │ cortex  │
-    └─────────┘          └─────────┘
+                       ┌─────────────────────────────┐
+   Meshtastic ────────▶│                             │◀──────── MeshCore
+   (TCP / serial)      │      CompositeTransport      │     (companion / pyMC TCP)
+                       │   per-mesh routing + sizing  │
+                       └──────────────┬──────────────┘
+                                      │
+        ┌─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┐
+        ▼                             ▼                             ▼
+  ┌───────────┐              ┌─────────────────┐            ┌──────────────┐
+  │  Router   │              │  Notification    │            │  Mesh Data   │
+  │ LLM / cmd │              │  Pipeline        │            │  Store +     │
+  │ DM gating │              │  weather · fire  │            │  Health      │
+  │ per-mesh  │              │  road · seismic  │            │  Engine      │
+  │ context   │              │  RF · mesh-health│            │  5-pillar    │
+  └─────┬─────┘              └────────┬─────────┘            └──────┬───────┘
+        │                            │                              │
+   ┌────▼─────┐   ┌──────────────┐   │        ┌──────────────┐      │
+   │   LLM    │   │  Knowledge   │   │        │ Env / Central │◀─────┘
+   │ backend  │   │  Qdrant/FTS5 │   │        │ feed adapters │
+   └──────────┘   └──────────────┘   ▼        └──────────────┘
+                                ┌──────────┐
+                                │ Responder│  ACK-paced, LoRa-fit,
+                                │ + Chunker│  routed per mesh
+                                └──────────┘
+                                      │
+                              Web Dashboard (React) ── configure everything
 ```
 
-## Dashboard API Reference
+---
 
-The dashboard exposes a REST API (default port 8080):
-
-### Core Endpoints
-
-| Endpoint | Method | Description |
-|----------|--------|-------------|
-| `/api/health` | GET | System health check |
-| `/api/status` | GET | Full system status with health scores |
-| `/api/nodes` | GET | Connected mesh nodes |
-| `/api/messages` | GET | Recent mesh messages |
-
-### Environmental Data
-
-| Endpoint | Method | Description |
-|----------|--------|-------------|
-| `/api/env/earthquakes` | GET | Recent earthquakes |
-| `/api/env/weather` | GET | Weather conditions and alerts |
-| `/api/env/fires` | GET | Active wildfires from NIFC |
-| `/api/env/hotspots` | GET | NASA FIRMS satellite detections |
-| `/api/env/traffic` | GET | Traffic incidents |
-| `/api/env/water` | GET | Stream gauge readings |
-| `/api/env/space` | GET | Space weather data |
-| `/api/env/air` | GET | Air quality readings |
-
-### Alerts
-
-| Endpoint | Method | Description |
-|----------|--------|-------------|
-| `/api/alerts/active` | GET | Currently active alerts |
-| `/api/alerts/history` | GET | Historical alerts (`?severity=`, `?source=`, `?limit=`, `?offset=`) |
-| `/api/alerts/{id}/ack` | POST | Acknowledge an alert |
-| `/api/subscriptions` | GET | Alert subscriptions |
-
-### WebSocket
-
-Connect to `/ws` for real-time updates:
-
-```javascript
-const ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:8080/ws');
-ws.onmessage = (event) => {
-  const data = JSON.parse(event.data);
-  // data.type: 'message', 'alert', 'node_update', 'health_update'
-};
-```
-
-## Message Chunking
-
-Long responses are split into mesh-friendly chunks with sentence-aware splitting, configurable limits, and continuation prompts. Command output (like `!health`) packs multiple lines into 2-3 messages using newlines within each message to minimize airtime usage.
-
-```yaml
-response:
-  max_length: 200       # Max chars per message
-  max_messages: 3       # Messages before continuation prompt
-```
-
-## Alerting
-
-Real-time alerts when mesh conditions change, with scaling cooldowns to prevent spam.
-
-### Alert Conditions (17 total, each toggleable)
-
-| Pillar | Condition | Default Threshold |
-|--------|-----------|-------------------|
-| Infrastructure | Router goes offline | — |
-| Infrastructure | Router recovery | — |
-| Infrastructure | New router appears | — |
-| Power | Battery warning | <50% |
-| Power | Battery critical | <25% |
-| Power | Battery emergency | <10% |
-| Power | 7-day declining trend | >10% drop with rate |
-| Power | USB → battery (power outage) | — |
-| Power | Solar not charging during day | — |
-| Utilization | Sustained high utilization | >20% for 6h |
-| Utilization | Packet flood | >500 pkts/24h |
-| Coverage | Infra drops to single gateway | — |
-| Coverage | Feeder gateway stops responding | — |
-| Coverage | Region total blackout | All infra offline |
-| Scores | Mesh health score drop | <70/100 |
-| Scores | Region health score drop | <60/100 |
-
-### Scaling Cooldown
-
-Alerts don't spam. When a condition triggers:
-1. **Alert 1**: fires immediately
-2. **Alert 2**: 12 hours later (if still in condition)
-3. **Alert 3**: 24 hours after that
-4. **Alert 4**: 48 hours after that
-5. **Stops** until condition resolves
-
-When the condition clears, one recovery notification fires and the tracker resets.
-
-### Delivery
-
-Alerts are delivered two ways:
-- **Channel broadcast**: configurable channel index for mesh-wide visibility
-- **DM to subscribers**: users who ran `!sub alerts` receive DMs matching their scope
-
-### Critical Nodes
-
-Designate important infrastructure (e.g., MHR, HPR) as critical. When a critical node goes offline, alerts use priority formatting.
-
-```yaml
-mesh_intelligence:
-  critical_nodes: ["MHR", "HPR"]
-  alert_channel: 0        # Channel for broadcast alerts (-1 = disabled)
-```
-
-All conditions and thresholds are configurable via the TUI under Mesh Intelligence → Alert Rules.
-
-## LLM Configuration
-
-```yaml
-llm:
-  backend: "google"            # openai, anthropic, google
-  api_key: "your-api-key"
-  model: "gemini-2.0-flash"
-```
-
-### Local LLMs
-
-MeshAI works with any OpenAI-compatible API:
-
-- **LiteLLM**: `base_url: "http://localhost:4000/v1"`
-- **Open WebUI**: `base_url: "http://localhost:3000/api"`
-- **Ollama**: `base_url: "http://localhost:11434/v1"`
-
-## Docker
-
-### TCP Connection (recommended)
-
-```yaml
-connection:
-  type: "tcp"
-  tcp_host: "192.168.1.100"
-  tcp_port: 4403
-```
-
-### Serial Connection
-
-```yaml
-connection:
-  type: "serial"
-  serial_port: "/dev/ttyUSB0"
-```
-
-Edit `docker-compose.serial.yml` to match your device path.
-
-### Environment Variables
-
-```bash
-LLM_API_KEY=your-key-here docker compose up -d
-```
-
-## Running Alongside Other Services
-
-### advBBS
-
-MeshAI coexists with [advBBS](https://github.com/zvx-echo6/advbbs) on the same node. BBS protocol messages (sync, RAP, mail notifications) are automatically filtered. No configuration needed.
-
-```yaml
-bot:
-  filter_bbs_protocols: true
-```
-
-### MeshMonitor
-
-MeshAI integrates with [MeshMonitor](https://github.com/Yeraze/meshmonitor) at two levels: it fetches MeshMonitor's auto-responder patterns to avoid duplicate responses, and it uses MeshMonitor's API as a data source for mesh intelligence (battery, telemetry, traceroutes, solar).
-
-```yaml
-meshmonitor:
-  enabled: true
-  url: "http://192.168.1.100:8080"
-  inject_into_prompt: true
-  refresh_interval: 300
-```
-
-## Running as a Service
+## Running as a service
 
 ```ini
 # /etc/systemd/system/meshai.service
 [Unit]
-Description=MeshAI - Meshtastic Mesh Intelligence
+Description=MeshAI
 After=network.target
 
 [Service]
@@ -606,22 +257,34 @@ WantedBy=multi-user.target
 
 ```bash
 sudo systemctl daemon-reload
-sudo systemctl enable meshai
-sudo systemctl start meshai
+sudo systemctl enable --now meshai
 ```
 
+Every deployment is designed to survive a reboot; the dashboard's connection settings drive both transports.
+
+---
+
+## Playing nice with other services
+
+- **advBBS** — MeshAI coexists on the same Meshtastic node; BBS protocol traffic (sync, RAP, mail) is auto-filtered (`bot.filter_bbs_protocols: true`).
+- **MeshMonitor** — MeshAI reads MeshMonitor's auto-responder patterns to avoid duplicate replies, and uses its API as a mesh-intelligence data source.
+- **MeshCore companion** — MeshAI attaches as its own companion identity so it can share the radio without evicting other companion clients.
+
+---
+
 ## Acknowledgments
 
-- [Meshtastic](https://meshtastic.org/) — the mesh networking platform
-- [MeshMonitor](https://github.com/Yeraze/meshmonitor) by Yeraze — monitoring integration and data source
-- [advBBS](https://github.com/zvx-echo6/advbbs) — BBS coexistence design
-- [sqlite-vec](https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vec) by Alex Garcia — vector search in SQLite
-- [fastembed](https://github.com/qdrant/fastembed) by Qdrant — fast local embeddings
+- [Meshtastic](https://meshtastic.org/) — the mesh platform it started on
+- [MeshCore](https://meshcore.io/) & [pyMC](https://github.com/rightup/pyMC_core) — the second transport
+- [MeshMonitor](https://github.com/Yeraze/meshmonitor) by Yeraze — monitoring integration & data source
+- [advBBS](https://github.com/zvx-echo6/advbbs) — coexistence design
+- [Qdrant](https://github.com/qdrant/qdrant) · [sqlite-vec](https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vec) · [fastembed](https://github.com/qdrant/fastembed) — retrieval stack
+- The LLM coding assistants that vibecoded most of this
 
 ## License
 
-MIT License
+MIT
 
 ## Author
 
-K7ZVX - matt@echo6.co
+K7ZVX — matt@echo6.co