Installing RobinNet

RobinNet is a lightweight Python application designed to run on Linux systems.

It is intentionally simple to deploy and can run on:

• Raspberry Pi
• home servers
• cloud VPS
• emergency field nodes
• laptops

Python 3.10 or newer.

Required Python packages:

• fastapi
• uvicorn
• requests

Install dependencies:

pip install fastapi uvicorn requests

Example directory layout:

robinnet/
├── robinnet/
│   ├── api.py
│   ├── cli.py
│   ├── daemon.py
│   ├── db.py
│   ├── main.py
│   ├── models.py
│   └── sync.py
│
└── data/

The database files will be created inside the data directory.

Before running a node, you must initialize the node identity.

Example:

python -m robinnet.cli \
  --db ./data/node.db \
  init-node \
  --name alpha \
  --operator "Rich"

Optional fields:

python -m robinnet.cli \
  --db ./data/node.db \
  init-node \
  --name alpha \
  --operator "Rich" \
  --callsign N2XYZ \
  --location "Albany NY"

This creates:

• node UUID
• node name
• operator information
• transport profile

Run the RobinNet node:

ROBINNET_DB=./data/node.db \
python -m robinnet.main

The API server will start on:

http://localhost:8080

You can verify it using:

curl http://localhost:8080/api/v1/health

The daemon performs:

• periodic peer sync
• message expiration
• maintenance tasks

Start the daemon:

ROBINNET_DB=./data/node.db \
python -m robinnet.daemon

In production deployments, the daemon may run under:

• systemd
• tmux
• screen
• docker container

You can run multiple RobinNet nodes on the same machine for testing.

Example:

Node A:

ROBINNET_DB=./data/alpha.db \
ROBINNET_PORT=8081 \
python -m robinnet.main

Node B:

ROBINNET_DB=./data/bravo.db \
ROBINNET_PORT=8082 \
python -m robinnet.main

Each node uses its own database.

Once a node is installed, see:

testing