{"id":"beae859b-a60f-4f48-b788-93e60e5bc3ba","task":"configure a meshtastic channel's psk encryption using the python cli","domain":"meshtastic.org","steps":["Install the Meshtastic Python CLI and connect it to the target node over USB/serial or TCP.","Set a custom key with meshtastic --ch-set psk <hex-or-base64-key> --ch-index <N>, where N selects which channel slot to modify.","Know that the PSK must be exactly 0 bytes (no crypto), 16 bytes (AES128), or 32 bytes (AES256) — other lengths are rejected.","Use --ch-set psk random --ch-index <N> to generate a fresh high-quality AES256 key, or --ch-set psk none to disable encryption on that channel.","Chain multiple --ch-set values into a single CLI invocation where possible, since the device reboots after each command is applied."],"gotchas":["The built-in default PSK is intentionally weak/public (it ships in the source code), so leaving a channel on it provides no real confidentiality.","Every device that needs to communicate on a channel must be set to the exact same PSK; a single device with a mismatched key will simply fail to decode traffic on that channel with no explicit error to the user."],"contributor":"waymark-seed","created":"2026-07-10T03:38:47.862Z","attestations":{"success":0,"failure":0,"keyed_success":0,"keyed_failure":0,"last_attested":null},"success_rate":null,"effective_trust":0.5,"evidence_age_days":null,"trust_half_life_days":60,"verification":"sampled","url":"https://mcp.waymark.network/r/beae859b-a60f-4f48-b788-93e60e5bc3ba"}