Meshtastic-Android/docs/roadmap.md

Roadmap

Last updated: 2026-03-17

Forward-looking priorities for the Meshtastic KMP multi-target effort. For current state, see kmp-status.md. For the full gap analysis, see decisions/architecture-review-2026-03.md.

Architecture Health (Immediate)

These items address structural gaps identified in the March 2026 architecture review. They are prerequisites for safe multi-target expansion.

Item	Impact	Effort	Status
Purge java.util.Locale from commonMain (3 files)	High	Low	✅
Replace ConcurrentHashMap in commonMain (3 files)	High	Low	✅
Create core:testing shared test fixtures	Medium	Low	✅
Add feature module commonTest (settings, node, messaging)	Medium	Medium	✅
Desktop Koin checkModules() integration test	Medium	Low	✅
Auto-wire Desktop ViewModels via K2 Compiler (eliminate manual wiring)	Medium	Low	✅
here	Migrate to JetBrains Compose Multiplatform dependencies	High	Low

Active Work

Desktop Feature Completion (Phase 4)

Objective: Complete desktop wiring for all features and ensure full integration.

Current State (March 2026):

• ✅ Settings: ~35 screens with real configuration, including theme/about parity and desktop language picker support
• ✅ Nodes: Adaptive list-detail with node management
• ✅ Messaging: Adaptive contacts with message view + send
• ✅ Connections: Dynamic discovery of platform-supported transports (TCP, Serial/USB, BLE)
• ❌ Map: Placeholder only, needs MapLibre or alternative
• ⚠️ Firmware: Placeholder wired into nav graph; native DFU not applicable to desktop
• ⚠️ Intro: Onboarding flow (may not apply to desktop)

Implementation Steps:

1. Tier 1: Core Wiring (Essential)
   • Complete Map integration (MapLibre or equivalent)
   • Verify all features accessible via navigation
   • Test navigation flows end-to-end
2. Tier 2: Polish (High Priority)
   • Additional desktop-specific settings polish
   • ✅ MenuBar integration and Keyboard shortcuts
   • Window management
   • State persistence
3. Tier 3: Advanced (Nice-to-have)
   • Performance optimization
   • Advanced map features
   • Theme customization
   • Multi-window support

Transport	Platform	Status
TCP	Desktop (JVM)	✅ Done — shared StreamFrameCodec + TcpTransport in core:network
Serial/USB	Desktop (JVM)	✅ Done — jSerialComm
MQTT	All (KMP)	❌ Planned — Ktor/MQTT (currently Android-only via Eclipse Paho)
BLE	Android	✅ Done — Kable
BLE	Desktop	✅ Done — Kable (JVM)
BLE	iOS	❌ Future — Kable/CoreBluetooth

Desktop Feature Gaps

Feature	Status
Settings	✅ ~35 real screens (7 desktop-specific) + desktop locale picker with in-place recomposition
Node list	✅ Adaptive list-detail with real NodeDetailContent
Messaging	✅ Adaptive contacts with real message view + send
Connections	✅ Unified shared UI with dynamic transport detection
Metrics logs	✅ TracerouteLog, NeighborInfoLog, HostMetricsLog
Map	❌ Needs MapLibre or equivalent
Charts	✅ Vico KMP charts wired in commonMain (Device, Environment, Signal, Power, Pax)
Debug Panel	✅ Real screen (mesh log viewer via shared DebugViewModel)
Notifications	✅ Desktop native notifications with system tray icon support
MenuBar	✅ Done — Native application menu bar with File/View menus
About	✅ Shared commonMain screen (AboutLibraries KMP produceLibraries + per-platform JSON)
Packaging	✅ Done — Native distribution pipeline in CI (DMG, MSI, DEB)

Near-Term Priorities (30 days)

1. core:testing module — ✅ Done (established shared fakes for cross-module commonTest)
2. Feature commonTest bootstrap — ✅ Done (131 shared tests across all 7 features covering integration and error handling)
3. Radio transport abstraction — ✅ Done: Defined RadioTransport interface in core:repository/commonMain and replaced IRadioInterface; Next: continue extracting remaining platform transports from app/repository/radio/ into core modules
4. feature:connections module — ✅ Done: Extracted connections UI into KMP feature module with dynamic transport availability detection
5. Navigation 3 parity baseline — ✅ Done: shared TopLevelDestination in core:navigation; both shells use same enum; parity tests in core:navigation/commonTest and desktop/test
6. iOS CI gate — add iosArm64()/iosSimulatorArm64() to convention plugins and CI (compile-only, no implementations)
7. Build-logic consolidation — ✅ Done: Created meshtastic.kmp.feature convention plugin (modelled after NiA's AndroidFeatureImplConventionPlugin). Composes kmp.library + kmp.library.compose + koin and wires common Compose/Lifecycle/Koin/androidMain deps. All 7 feature modules migrated; ~100 duplicated dep lines eliminated.

Medium-Term Priorities (60 days)

1. App module thinning — Extracted ChannelViewModel, NodeMapViewModel, NodeContextMenu, EmptyDetailPlaceholder to shared modules.
   • ✅ Done: Extracted remaining 5 ViewModels: SettingsViewModel, RadioConfigViewModel, DebugViewModel, MetricsViewModel, UIViewModel to shared KMP modules.
   • ✅ Done: Extracted service, worker, and radio files from app to core:service/androidMain and core:network/androidMain.
   • Next: Extract remaining Android-specific files (e.g., Navigation files, App Widgets, message queues, and root Activity logic) out of :app to establish a truly thin app module.
2. ✅ Done: Serial/USB transport — direct radio connection on Desktop via jSerialComm
3. MQTT transport — cloud relay operation (KMP, benefits all targets)
4. Evaluate KMP-native testing tools — Evaluate Mokkery or Mockative to replace mockk in commonMain of core:testing for iOS readiness. Integrate Turbine for shared Flow testing.
5. Desktop ViewModel auto-wiring — ✅ Done: ensured Koin K2 Compiler Plugin generates ViewModel modules for JVM target; eliminated manual wiring in DesktopKoinModule
6. KMP charting — ✅ Done: Vico charts migrated to feature:node/commonMain using KMP artifacts; desktop wires them directly
7. Navigation contract extraction — ✅ Done: shared TopLevelDestination enum in core:navigation; icon mapping in core:ui; parity tests in place. Both shells derive from the same source of truth.
8. Dependency stabilization — track stable releases for CMP, Koin, Lifecycle, Nav3

Longer-Term (90+ days)

1. iOS proof target — declare iosArm64()/iosSimulatorArm64() in KMP modules; BLE via Kable/CoreBluetooth
2. Platform-Native UI Interop —
   • iOS Maps & Camera: Implement MapLibre or MKMapView via Compose Multiplatform's UIKitView. Leverage AVCaptureSession wrapped in UIKitView to fulfill the LocalBarcodeScannerProvider contract.
   • Desktop Maps: Implement maps via SwingPanel wrapper, utilizing experimental interop blending (compose.interop.blending=true) to ensure tooltips and Compose overlays render correctly on top of the native JComponent.
   • Web (wasmJs) Integrations: Leverage HtmlView to embed raw DOM elements (e.g., <video>, <iframe>, or canvas-based maps) directly into the Compose UI tree while binding the root app via CanvasBasedWindow.
3. core:api contract split — separate transport-neutral service contracts from Android AIDL packaging
4. Native packaging — ✅ Done: DMG, MSI, DEB distributions for Desktop via release pipeline
5. Module maturity dashboard — living inventory of per-module KMP readiness
6. Shared UI vs Shared Logic split — If the iOS target utilizes native SwiftUI instead of Compose Multiplatform, evaluate splitting feature modules into pure sharedLogic (business rules, ViewModels) and sharedUI (Compose Multiplatform) to prevent dragging Compose dependencies into pure native iOS apps.

Design Principles

1. Solve in commonMain first. If it doesn't need platform APIs, it belongs in commonMain.
2. Interfaces in commonMain, implementations per-target. The repository pattern is established — extend it. Prefer dependency injection (Koin) with interfaces over expect/actual declarations whenever possible to keep architecture decoupled and highly testable.
3. UI Interop Strategies. When a Compose Multiplatform equivalent doesn't exist (e.g., Maps, Camera), use standard interop APIs rather than extracting the entire screen to native code. Use AndroidView for Android, UIKitView for iOS, SwingPanel for JVM/Desktop, and HtmlView for Web (wasmJs). Always wrap these in a shared commonMain interface contract (like LocalBarcodeScannerProvider).
4. Stubs are a valid first implementation. Every target starts with no-op stubs, then graduates to real implementations.
5. Feature modules stay target-agnostic in commonMain. Platform UI goes in platform source sets. Keep the UI layer dumb and rely on shared ViewModels (Unidirectional Data Flow) to drive state.
6. Transport is a pluggable adapter. BLE, serial, TCP, MQTT all implement RadioInterfaceService.
7. CI validates every target. If a module declares jvm(), CI compiles it. No exceptions. Run tests on appropriate host runners (macOS for iOS, Linux for JVM/Android) to catch platform regressions.
8. Test in commonTest first. ViewModel and business logic tests belong in commonTest so every target runs them. Use shared core:testing utilities to minimize duplication.
9. Zero Platform Leaks. Never import java.* or android.* inside commonMain. Use KMP-native alternatives like kotlinx-datetime and Okio.