Setting up your local LoRes Node

Previously we covered getting LoRes Node up and running on your development machine in a way that would automatically load the App Repo you’re working on. With a new node, there’s a little bit of setup needed to get everything up and running, so let’s go through that quickly.

To do this, you should have the node running at http://localhost:8200.

Admin User Setup

When you visit LoRes Node you should automatically get redirected to the page entitled “Setup your admin password”. You need an admin password to create users. Go ahead and hit the “Generate admin password” button and save the password it creates in your password manager.

Then, you can go ahead and log in as the Admin user using this password.

Node Steward Setup

As Admin, Create a Node Steward

You need to create a non-admin user to actually do anything. This type of user is called a Node Steward. When you’re logged in as admin you should be on a Node Steward’s page, which says “No node stewards found”. Hit the + (plus) button on the right of the page to take you to the new node steward form, and set a name for that steward (maybe just your own name).

This will present you with a Node Steward ID and a Temporary Access Code. Hit the button to copy all those details to the clipboard. I like to open a text editor for the moment and paste those details into a document. We only need that access code for a moment, so there’s no sense in putting it in a password manager.

Log in as Node Steward

Go back to the Lores Node home page and hit the log in button. From the login page click on the link “to set a password” (or just click here).

On that page, enter the Node Steward ID and Temporary Access Code that you just pasted into a text document. And, pick a new password (maybe generate one using your password manager). At this point you want to save the ID and new password in your password manager (you wont need the temporary access code again).

With that done, you can go ahead and login as that Node Steward user.

Region Setup

Now that you’re logged in, you should see a welcome page that lets you join a region or create a new region. A Region is a LoRes Mesh, a set of LoRes Nodes that are linked together (presumably across a neighbourhood). We’re just testing apps here, so you probably don’t need a real region. I recommend that you select the “New Region” tab, and enter a region name that’s unique to you, like octavia-test-region or whatever.

You can certainly join a real region if you need to test your app that way. Perhaps you want to setup a test region across more than one development computer. Or, perhaps your neighbourhood organisation has a testing region for this purpose. If you want to join a region, you’ll also need the node id of one other LoRes Node in that region.

Node Name

Once you’ve set your region, you’ll the be asked for a Node Name. I like the use the hostname of my computer for this, since it’s your reference to this particular node. If your computer doesn’t have a cool name, just pick something that identifies it, like octavias-laptop.

You’re ready to go 🚀

With all that, you should be ready. If everything has worked, your LoRes Node installation should show Local apps and App repositories in the navbar on the left. We’ll be using those nav items a lot as we develop apps, starting in the next section.