refactor: Remove AIDL API and modernize service architecture

[jamesarich]

Summary

Remove the deprecated AIDL API and all associated infrastructure, unlocking a comprehensive modernization of the radio communication architecture. This PR eliminates thousands of lines of legacy code and replaces it with a modern, testable, KMP-compatible architecture.

262 files changed: +3,978 / −6,537 (net −2,559 lines)

Before: AIDL-based Architecture

graph TD
    subgraph "Client Apps / UI"
        VM[ViewModels]
    end

    subgraph "core:api (AIDL)"
        AIDL[IMeshService.aidl]
        Binder[Bound Service Binder]
        BC[Broadcast Receivers]
    end

    subgraph "Service Layer"
        MS[MeshService<br/>God-class]
        MR[MeshRouter<br/>Service Locator]
    end

    subgraph "Handlers"
        FRP[FromRadioPacketHandler]
        MMP[MeshMessageProcessor]
        MDH[MeshDataHandler]
        MCH[MeshConfigHandler]
        NIH[NeighborInfoHandler]
        TRH[TracerouteHandler]
    end

    subgraph "Radio"
        DRC[DirectRadioControllerImpl<br/>~450 lines, 17 deps, 44 functions]
    end

    VM -->|"IPC / Binder"| AIDL
    AIDL --> Binder
    Binder --> MS
    MS -->|"broadcasts"| BC
    BC -->|"intents"| VM
    MS --> MR
    MR -->|"lazy getters"| FRP
    MR -->|"lazy getters"| MMP
    MR -->|"lazy getters"| MDH
    MR -->|"lazy getters"| MCH
    MR -->|"lazy getters"| NIH
    MR -->|"lazy getters"| TRH
    MS --> DRC

    style AIDL fill:#ff6b6b,stroke:#c92a2a
    style Binder fill:#ff6b6b,stroke:#c92a2a
    style BC fill:#ff6b6b,stroke:#c92a2a
    style MR fill:#ff6b6b,stroke:#c92a2a
    style MS fill:#ffa94d,stroke:#e67700
    style DRC fill:#ffa94d,stroke:#e67700

Loading

After: Modern KMP Architecture

graph TD
    subgraph "UI Layer"
        VM[ViewModels]
    end

    subgraph "core:repository — segregated interfaces"
        CMD["Command interfaces<br/>Admin · Messaging · Node · Query"]
        READ["Read providers<br/>ConnectionState · Traceroute · NeighborInfo"]
        WRITE["ServiceStateWriter<br/>(write-only)"]
    end

    subgraph "core:service / core:data"
        DRC[RadioControllerImpl<br/>delegates to 4 sub-controllers]
        SR[ServiceRepositoryImpl]
        CS[CommandSender]
        H[Packet handlers<br/>direct injection, no service locator]
    end

    VM -->|"suspend calls"| CMD
    VM -->|"observe StateFlow"| READ
    DRC -.implements.-> CMD
    SR -.implements.-> READ
    SR -.implements.-> WRITE
    DRC --> CS
    H -->|"set* / emit*"| WRITE
    CS -->|"sends to radio"| H

Loading

What was removed

• core:api module — AIDL interfaces, bound service, broadcast-based command dispatch
• ServiceBroadcasts / ServiceAction — intent-based command routing and status broadcasts
• MeshActionHandler — folded into the radio controller
• MeshRouter — service-locator facade with zero routing logic
• Publishing infrastructure — JitPack/Maven publishing from all modules
• Legacy patterns — runBlocking in UI paths, redundant compiler flags, stale kotlin-android plugin references, Parcelable plumbing in core:model

Architecture improvements

Radio controller redesign

• Interface Segregation — RadioController split into 4 focused sub-interfaces: AdminController, MessagingController, NodeController, QueryController
• Composition over a God object — the ~450-line, 17-dependency controller is now RadioControllerImpl, a thin composition root that assembles four focused impls (AdminControllerImpl, MessagingControllerImpl, NodeControllerImpl, QueryControllerImpl) via Kotlin interface delegation; its constructor is unchanged so DI + the integration test are untouched
• Direct suspend calls — replaced broadcast-based command dispatch with type-safe suspend functions (admin sends are fire-and-forget; the device is the source of truth)

ServiceRepository ISP decomposition

• Interface Segregation — ServiceRepository decomposed into focused sub-interfaces: ConnectionStateProvider, TracerouteResponseProvider, NeighborInfoResponseProvider, ServiceStateWriter (ServiceRepository extends all for compatibility)
• Read-side narrowing — ViewModels inject the minimal interface they need:
  • MessageViewModel → MessagingController + ConnectionStateProvider
  • NodeListViewModel → AdminController + ConnectionStateProvider
  • NodeDetailViewModel → QueryController
  • ContactsViewModel, ConnectionsViewModel, LocalStatsWidgetStateProvider → ConnectionStateProvider
  • MetricsViewModel → TracerouteResponseProvider
• Write-side adoption — 9 handlers that only mutate state now inject ServiceStateWriter instead of the full repository (TracerouteHandlerImpl, NeighborInfoHandlerImpl, MeshMessageProcessorImpl, MeshConfigFlowManagerImpl, MeshConfigHandlerImpl, MeshDataHandlerImpl, FromRadioPacketHandlerImpl, MqttManagerImpl, MeshServiceOrchestrator); PacketHandlerImpl (read-only) injects ConnectionStateProvider. The genuinely mixed read+write holders (MeshConnectionManagerImpl, RadioControllerImpl) keep the full interface.
• DI bindings — sub-interfaces registered in both Android (@Single(binds=[...])) and Desktop (single<>) Koin modules; verified by KoinVerificationTest (Android) and DesktopKoinTest

New abstractions

• NodeAddress sealed class — type-safe node addressing (Local, Broadcast, ByNum, ById)
• ContactKey value class — consolidated contact-key parsing (was duplicated in 6 places), with a nullable-channel accessor that preserves legacy-DM semantics
• CommandSender — replaces stringly-typed sender identification
• DeviceVersion @JvmInline value class — zero-overhead version comparison with pre-compiled regex
• RequestTimer — shared request-timing utility extracted from NeighborInfo/Traceroute handlers
• editSettings { } DSL (AdminEditScope) — replaces begin/commitEditSettings ceremony and removes destNum/packetId boilerplate

Behavioral improvements

• Idempotent node ops — setFavorite/setIgnored(Boolean) skip the radio command when state is unchanged (replacing toggles; mirrors the SDK and fixes a latent un-favorite bug in SendMessageUseCase)
• Forced manual verification on contact import (security fix)
• Hardened orchestrator — CAS loop in start() eliminates a race condition

SDK alignment

The interface shapes deliberately mirror meshtastic-sdk (AdminApi/TelemetryApi/RoutingApi, layered controllers) to ease a future migration. Two further SDK-alignment items — AdminResult<T> return types (R4) and a NodeId value class (R5) — were investigated and deferred to the SDK migration: R4 would reimplement the SDK's admin RPC engine and reverse the intentional fire-and-forget design; R5 is a ~350-site change that overlaps NodeAddress.ByNum. Both come naturally with the SDK swap.

Testing

• New/expanded suites: RadioControllerImplTest, NodeAddressTest, CommandSenderImplTest, NeighborInfoHandlerImplTest, RequestTimerTest, ConnectionsViewModelTest
• Strengthened assertions (replaced no-op atLeast(0) with exactly(0); added idempotency no-op assertions)
• Koin graph verified on Android + desktop

Build

• Unified JDK target to 21 across all modules
• Removed publishing infrastructure and redundant OptimizeNonSkippingGroups compiler flag
• Ktor log level set to INFO with HttpClient tag

Documentation

• Architecture guide documents the RadioController composition + ServiceRepository ISP patterns
• Refreshed module READMEs (core:service, core:repository, core:model); module dependency graphs regenerated
• Session handover notes for future contributors

[codecov]

❌ 1 Tests Failed:

Tests completed	Failed	Passed	Skipped
2493	1	2492	0

View the top 1 failed test(s) by shortest run time

org.meshtastic.core.database.DatabaseManagerWithDbRetryTest::withDb retries against current database when previous pool closes during switch

Stack Traces | 20.2s run time

java.lang.AssertionError: expected:<42424242> but was:<null>
	at org.junit.Assert.fail(Assert.java:89)
	at org.junit.Assert.failNotEquals(Assert.java:835)
	at org.junit.Assert.assertEquals(Assert.java:120)
	at kotlin.test.junit.JUnitAsserter.assertEquals(JUnitSupport.kt:32)
	at kotlin.test.AssertionsKt__AssertionsKt.assertEquals(Assertions.kt:63)
	at kotlin.test.AssertionsKt.assertEquals(Unknown Source)
	at kotlin.test.AssertionsKt__AssertionsKt.assertEquals$default(Assertions.kt:62)
	at kotlin.test.AssertionsKt.assertEquals$default(Unknown Source)
	at org.meshtastic.core.database.DatabaseManagerWithDbRetryTest$withDb retries against current database when previous pool closes during switch$1.invokeSuspend(DatabaseManagerWithDbRetryTest.kt:99)
	at kotlin.coroutines.jvm.internal.BaseContinuationImpl.resumeWith(ContinuationImpl.kt:34)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.DispatchedTask.run(DispatchedTask.kt:100)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.test.TestDispatcher.processEvent$kotlinx_coroutines_test(TestDispatcher.kt:24)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.test.TestCoroutineScheduler.tryRunNextTaskUnless$kotlinx_coroutines_test(TestCoroutineScheduler.kt:98)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.test.TestBuildersKt__TestBuildersKt$runTest$2$1$workRunner$1.invokeSuspend(TestBuilders.kt:326)
	at kotlin.coroutines.jvm.internal.BaseContinuationImpl.resumeWith(ContinuationImpl.kt:34)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.DispatchedTask.run(DispatchedTask.kt:100)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.EventLoopImplBase.processNextEvent(EventLoop.common.kt:256)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.BlockingCoroutine.joinBlocking(Builders.kt:54)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.BuildersKt__BuildersKt.runBlockingImpl(Builders.kt:30)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.BuildersKt.runBlockingImpl(Unknown Source)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.BuildersKt__Builders_concurrentKt.runBlockingK(Builders.concurrent.kt:172)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.BuildersKt.runBlockingK(Unknown Source)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.BuildersKt__Builders_concurrentKt.runBlockingK$default(Builders.concurrent.kt:157)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.BuildersKt.runBlockingK$default(Unknown Source)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.test.TestBuildersJvmKt.createTestResult(TestBuildersJvm.kt:10)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.test.TestBuildersKt__TestBuildersKt.runTest-8Mi8wO0(TestBuilders.kt:309)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.test.TestBuildersKt.runTest-8Mi8wO0(TestBuilders.kt:1)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.test.TestBuildersKt__TestBuildersKt.runTest-8Mi8wO0(TestBuilders.kt:167)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.test.TestBuildersKt.runTest-8Mi8wO0(TestBuilders.kt:1)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.test.TestBuildersKt__TestBuildersKt.runTest-8Mi8wO0$default(TestBuilders.kt:159)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.test.TestBuildersKt.runTest-8Mi8wO0$default(TestBuilders.kt:1)
	at org.meshtastic.core.database.DatabaseManagerWithDbRetryTest.withDb retries against current database when previous pool closes during switch(DatabaseManagerWithDbRetryTest.kt:69)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DirectMethodHandleAccessor.invoke(DirectMethodHandleAccessor.java:103)
	at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:580)
	at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:59)
	at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
	at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:56)
	at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:17)
	at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunBefores.evaluate(RunBefores.java:26)
	at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunAfters.evaluate(RunAfters.java:27)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:306)
	at org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner$HelperTestRunner$1.evaluate(RobolectricTestRunner.java:524)
	at org.robolectric.internal.SandboxTestRunner.executeInSandbox(SandboxTestRunner.java:494)
	at org.robolectric.internal.SandboxTestRunner.access$900(SandboxTestRunner.java:67)
	at org.robolectric.internal.SandboxTestRunner$7.evaluate(SandboxTestRunner.java:442)
	at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner$1.evaluate(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:100)
	at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runLeaf(ParentRunner.java:366)
	at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:103)
	at org.robolectric.internal.SandboxTestRunner.access$600(SandboxTestRunner.java:67)
	at org.robolectric.internal.SandboxTestRunner$6.evaluate(SandboxTestRunner.java:333)
	at org.robolectric.internal.SandboxTestRunner$3.evaluate(SandboxTestRunner.java:233)
	at org.robolectric.internal.SandboxTestRunner$5.lambda$evaluate$0(SandboxTestRunner.java:317)
	at org.robolectric.internal.bytecode.Sandbox.lambda$runOnMainThread$0(Sandbox.java:101)
	at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:317)
	at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1144)
	at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:642)
	at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1583)

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[github-actions]

✅ Docs staleness check passed

This PR includes updates to docs/en/ alongside the source changes. Thank you!

[github-actions]

🖼️ Preview staleness check — advisory

This PR modifies UI composables but does not update any *Previews.kt files.

Previews power screenshot tests and in-app docs screenshots. Keeping them current ensures visual regression coverage stays accurate.

Changed UI files:

feature/messaging/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/meshtastic/feature/messaging/component/MessageScreenComponents.kt
feature/messaging/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/meshtastic/feature/messaging/component/Reaction.kt
feature/messaging/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/meshtastic/feature/messaging/ui/contact/ContactItem.kt
feature/messaging/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/meshtastic/feature/messaging/ui/contact/Contacts.kt
feature/messaging/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/meshtastic/feature/messaging/ui/contact/ContactsViewModel.kt
feature/node/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/meshtastic/feature/node/component/NodeDetailsSection.kt

What to check:

Pattern	Preview file convention
feature/{name}/…/ui/ or component/	feature/{name}/…/*Previews.kt
core/ui/…/	core/ui/…/ (previews colocated)

Adding previews checklist:

1. Create or update a *Previews.kt file in the same module with @PreviewLightDark
2. Add @Suppress("PreviewPublic") if the preview is consumed by screenshot-tests
3. Add corresponding @PreviewTest function in screenshot-tests/src/screenshotTest/
4. Run ./gradlew :screenshot-tests:updateDebugScreenshotTest to generate reference images

If this PR does not require preview updates (e.g., logic-only change, non-visual refactor), add the skip-preview-check label to dismiss.

[jamesarich]

🔗 Release 2.8.0 Integration Report

Branch: release/2.8.0 | Status: ✅ Build + all tests passing

Integration Changes Required

1. CommandSenderImpl.kt — Lockdown PR (feat: firmware lockdown mode (provision / unlock / lock-now) #5439) adds sendLockdownPassphrase() with maxSessionSeconds and disable parameters. These needed to be wired through the new RadioController interface (post-AIDL). The implementation constructs LockdownAuth proto and sends via radioController.sendAdminPacket().

2. MeshActionHandlerImpl.kt — Car App (feat(car): Android Car App Library integration #5633) and App Functions (feat(ai): Add App Functions for system AI integration #5585) both call sendMessage(). After AIDL removal, this routes through SendMessageUseCase → MeshActionHandler → RadioController. Needed to ensure the handler supports both broadcast and DM paths.

3. ServiceRepositoryImpl.kt — Multiple consumers (Car, App Functions, Discovery) depend on ServiceRepository flows. After AIDL removal, ensured all flows (connectionState, meshPackets, nodeList) are properly exposed as StateFlow/SharedFlow.

4. RadioControllerImpl.kt — Discovery PR (feat(discovery): mesh network discovery #5275) registers a DiscoveryPacketCollectorRegistry that subscribes to radio packets. Ensured the new RadioController dispatches to registered collectors.

5. Test fixes across 4 files:

   • MeshConnectionManagerImplTest.kt — Updated for new connection lifecycle
   • MeshDataHandlerTest.kt — Adapted packet handling assertions
   • MeshActionHandlerImplTest.kt — New test for DM routing
   • ConnectionsViewModelTest.kt — Updated for StateFlow-based connection state

Merge Guidance

• Merge order: Fourth (after FTS5 search). This is the architectural pivot — everything after adapts to its API.
• Impact on other PRs: All other 2.8.0 PRs reference interfaces this PR restructures. Merging this first would require rebasing all others. Merging it fourth means only Lockdown (feat: firmware lockdown mode (provision / unlock / lock-now) #5439) and Discovery (feat(discovery): mesh network discovery #5275) need post-merge fixups.
• Recommendation: Consider merging this PR early and having remaining PRs rebase onto it, since its API surface is what everything else must conform to.