Supply Drop BBS — User Guide

Welcome to Supply Drop BBS. This guide covers everything from creating your account to sending mail, navigating rooms, and (for operators) managing the system.

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Table of contents

1. What is Supply Drop BBS?
2. Connecting
3. Creating an account
4. Logging in and out
5. Your account status
6. Getting help
7. Rooms
8. Reading messages
9. Writing messages
10. Mail (private messages)
11. Who's online and finding users
12. Your profile
13. Blocking users
14. System administration
15. Password recovery
16. Quick-reference card

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1. What is Supply Drop BBS?

Supply Drop BBS is a text-based bulletin board system designed for digital radio networks (LoRa mesh, Meshtastic, APRS) as well as conventional internet connections. The same BBS can accept users from multiple radio transports simultaneously — a MeshCore user and a Meshtastic user can be in the same room and send each other direct messages.

Because radio frames are small, commands are kept short: single letters where possible. Every command that works on radio also works over a network connection.

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2. Connecting

How you connect depends on how the BBS operator has set things up.

Method	What you type / do
MeshCore radio	Send a direct message to the BBS node
Meshtastic radio	Send a DM to the BBS node
Unix socket / CLI	nc -U /var/run/supply-drop-bbs/cli.sock
SSH / Telnet	Address and port provided by your operator

Once connected you'll see a short welcome banner and the anonymous help menu:

REGISTER <user>  create an account
LOGIN <user>     log in to your account
Q  quit
H  help

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3. Creating an account

Type REGISTER followed by your desired username:

REGISTER alice

Username rules

• Letters, digits, hyphens, and underscores only
• 3–32 characters
• Case-insensitive at login (stored exactly as typed)
• The names bbs and system are reserved and cannot be registered

One message (radio only)

On a radio transport (MeshCore or Meshtastic) you can register in a single message by including a password after the username:

REGISTER alice hunter2pass

This creates the account and logs you straight in — no back-and-forth prompts. On a multi-hop mesh link every extra round-trip is another chance for a message to be lost, so the one-message form is far more reliable over radio. The password is everything after the username, so it may contain spaces (a passphrase works).

This one-message form is offered only on the radio transports. Over the CLI socket, use the step-by-step flow below (where password input is hidden).

Heads-up: the password travels in that message, so it is visible over the air (and in your client's sent history) — the same as typing a password at a prompt on radio. Use something you don't reuse elsewhere. There is no confirmation step, so type it carefully.

Step by step (password not on the command line)

Send just the username and the BBS walks you through a password and a confirmation — two short steps, each naming the account so you always know where you are:

REGISTER alice
Registering 'alice'. Choose a password (min 8 characters):
> ••••••••

Confirm the password for 'alice':
> ••••••••

Display name. New accounts use your username as the display name. Set a separate display name at any time with PROFILE (see section 12). Registration deliberately has no display-name step: on a mesh radio a lost prompt could otherwise capture the wrong message as your name (or password).

Password must be at least 8 characters. It is stored as a hashed value — the BBS never stores your password in plain text.

Retyping a command mid-registration is safe. If a prompt is lost over the air and you resend REGISTER <name> (or LOGIN <name>), the BBS restarts that flow instead of treating your command as a password. To abort entirely, send CANCEL.

After confirmation you are immediately logged in:

Welcome, alice. Type 'H' for commands.

First user is automatically sysop

The very first account created on a fresh BBS is automatically given Sysop (full administrator) permission. Every subsequent account starts as Unvalidated and must be approved by an Aide or Sysop before it can post messages or read rooms.

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4. Logging in and out

Logging in

Like registration, login works in one message (radio transports only) or step by step.

One message (radio only):

LOGIN alice hunter2pass

Logs you straight in — no prompt round-trip. The same heads-up applies: the password is visible over the air.

Step by step — send just the username and you'll be prompted (input is hidden on supporting clients):

LOGIN alice
Enter the password for 'alice':
> ••••••••

After three wrong attempts the login workflow is cancelled and you must type LOGIN <username> again to retry.

If an operator reset your account to a temporary password, one-message login still drops into a "choose a new password" prompt — that step can't be skipped.

Logging out

Q

or

LOGOUT

Your session ends immediately. Any active workflow (composing a message, etc.) is discarded.

Cancelling a workflow mid-way

If you're in the middle of a prompt sequence and want to back out without logging out:

CANCEL

or

STOP

This works at any point in any workflow.

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5. Your account status

Checking who you are

WHOAMI

Output:

Logged in as alice (user). Current room: Lobby

Account levels

Level	What you can do
Unvalidated	Log in, check WHOAMI, read help, log out. Cannot post or read rooms.
User	Full access to rooms, messages, and mail
Aide	Everything a User can do, plus: approve/reject new users, ban accounts, edit rooms
Sysop	Everything an Aide can do, plus: unban accounts, create/delete rooms

Unvalidated accounts

After registration you'll see this message if you try a room command:

Your account is pending validation by an aide.
Type H for help, WHOAMI to see your status, or Q to log out.

This is normal. A sysop or aide has been notified automatically. Once they approve your account you can start using the BBS without logging out — your session is upgraded in place.

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6. Getting help

H

Shows the quick command list for your current access level.

Help topics

H all lists the help topics. Each topic has a single-letter shortcut and a full-word form — both work (e.g. H M is the same as H mail):

H M  mail      — private messaging
H R  reading   — reading messages in a room (incl. .FF fast-forward)
H P  posting   — writing and deleting messages
H U  users     — finding and listing user accounts
H N  nav       — navigating between rooms
H A  acct      — your profile and password
H aide         — moderation commands (Aide+)
H sysop        — administration commands (Sysop+)

Help on a specific command

H N          — explain the N (read new) command
H M          — explain the M (mail) command
H BAN        — explain the BAN command

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7. Rooms

Rooms are the public spaces of the BBS. Think of them like channels or bulletin boards — everyone who can access a room sees the same messages.

Built-in rooms

Every Supply Drop BBS ships with five permanent rooms that cannot be deleted or reconfigured by the sysop:

Room	Who can access	Purpose
Lobby	Everyone (Unvalidated and up)	General public space
Mail	Users and up	Private one-on-one messages — see section 10
Aides	Aides and Sysops only	Moderator coordination
Sysop	Sysops only	System operator space
System	Sysops only (read-only for others)	System announcements

Sysops can create additional rooms and configure their minimum access level. Your room list (K) only shows rooms you have access to.

List rooms

K

Output shows each room with an unread-message indicator:

Rooms:
* General (3 new) [here]
  Announcements
* Tech Talk (1 new)
  Off Topic

• * means there are unread messages
• [here] marks your current room
• (3 new) shows the unread count

Change room

C General

or by room number:

C 3

Room names are case-insensitive.

Jump to next room with unread messages

G

Moves you to the next room (in list order) that has messages you haven't read. Wraps around. Useful for quickly working through activity across all rooms.

Skip past unread messages without reading them

.FF

Fast-forward: marks everything in the current room as read without actually reading the messages. Useful when you've been away and just want a clean slate in a busy room.

Go to Mail

M

Switches you into your private Mail room. See section 10.

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8. Reading messages

All reading commands work in whichever room you are currently in. Switch rooms with C first, then read.

Read new messages

N

Shows the messages you haven't read yet, oldest first, up to five at a time. Type N again to continue to the next batch.

[General — new messages]
#12 alice: Has anyone tried the new firmware?
#13 bob: Yes! Much better range on the 915 MHz band.
#14 carol: Same here, went from 2 km to almost 4 km.
(more — type N again or F 14 to continue)

Read forward (oldest first)

F

Reads from the very beginning of the room. To start from a specific message:

F 42

Reads messages with IDs higher than 42.

Read newest first

R

Shows the five most recent messages, newest at the top. Good for catching up quickly.

Scan message headers

S

Shows a one-line summary for each recent message — ID, sender, and the first 40 characters of the message. No body text is shown.

[General — scan]
#12 alice: Has anyone tried the new firmware?
#13 bob: Yes! Much better range on the 915 MHz ba…
#14 carol: Same here, went from 2 km to almost 4 …
(more — type F <id> to read from a message)

Use F <id> to jump to a specific message after scanning.

Message format

Each message shows:

#<id> <sender>: <body>

For direct mail (when you're in the Mail room):

#<id> [DM→<recipient>] <sender>: <body>

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9. Writing messages

Write a message to the current room

Inline (recommended on radio links):

E Has anyone tried the new firmware?

The BBS echoes your draft and waits for confirmation:

Has anyone tried the new firmware?
Type . to send

Send a lone . to post it:

.
Message posted.

If the confirmation prompt is lost in transit, just send . again — the draft is preserved and will not be double-posted.

Prompt flow (alternative):

E

Enter your message for General:
> Has anyone tried the new firmware?
Message posted.

The inline form is preferred on LoRa and other lossy links because the confirmation step makes the send idempotent: if "Message posted." never arrives, sending . safely retries without creating a duplicate.

Delete a message

D <id>

Example:

D 14

• You can delete your own messages in any room
• Aides and Sysops can delete anyone's messages

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10. Mail (private messages)

Mail is the BBS private-message system. Messages go directly to one recipient and are only visible to the sender and that recipient — no one else, including sysops and aides, can read your mail through the BBS interface.

System notifications — the BBS itself occasionally sends you mail from the username bbs (for example, when your account is validated). These are one-way notifications; you cannot reply to bbs.

Go to Mail

M

This switches your current room to your Mail inbox. All the reading commands (N, F, R, S) now operate on your mail.

Write a new mail

Inline (recommended on radio links):

E bob Hi Bob, did you get the antenna parts?

You can also prefix the username with @:

E @bob Hi Bob, did you get the antenna parts?

The BBS echoes the draft for confirmation:

To bob: Hi Bob, did you get the antenna parts?
Type . to send

Send . to post. If the confirmation prompt is lost in transit, sending . again is safe — the draft is preserved and will not be double-posted.

Prompt flow (alternative):

E

Enter recipient username:
> bob
Enter your message:
> Hi Bob, did you get the antenna parts?
Message posted.

The recipient does not have to be online. They'll see it the next time they check their mail.

Read new mail

N

Shows mail you haven't read yet.

Browse all your mail

F      — forward (oldest first)
R      — reverse (newest first)
S      — scan headers

Delete a mail message

D <id>

Either the sender or the recipient can delete a mail message.

Mail notifications

When you log in and have unread mail, the BBS will notify you. On radio transports you may receive an unsolicited push notification:

You have 2 unread messages. Reply 'mail' to read.

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11. Who's online and finding users

Who's online

W

Lists everyone currently connected and their permission level:

Online (3 users):
alice [sysop]
bob [user]
carol [user]
(+1 unauthenticated)

The (+n unauthenticated) line shows sessions that have connected but not yet logged in or registered.

Listing user accounts

W shows who is connected right now; U shows the account directory — everyone who has registered, online or not.

U          — list active accounts
U banned   — list banned accounts
U all      — list every account, any status (Sysop only)

Searching for a user

S <query>

Finds accounts whose username contains <query> (substring match). Handy when you remember part of a callsign but not the whole thing.

Note: S on its own (with no query) scans message headers in your current room — see section 8. S <query> searches users.

User details

WHOIS <username>

Shows account details for one user: permission level, status, display name, join date, last login, and how many sessions they currently have active.

WHOIS alice
User: alice
Level: sysop  Status: active
Name: Alice Wonderland
Joined: 2026-05-01
Last login: 2026-06-15
Online (1 session)

(The Name, Last login, and Online lines appear only when applicable.)

These commands are also grouped under H U (the Users help topic).

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12. Your profile

Change your display name

PROFILE

Your display name is shown next to your messages. It can be anything up to the system limit. To remove your display name and show only your username:

Enter your new display name (- to clear, CANCEL to abort):
> -

Send - to clear your display name, type a new one to change it, or send CANCEL to leave it unchanged. (On the CLI/web an empty line also leaves it unchanged, but mesh radios can't send an empty message — use CANCEL.)

Change your password

PASSWD

The BBS will walk you through three steps:

Current password:
> ••••••••

New password (min 8 characters):
> ••••••••

Confirm new password:
> ••••••••

Password changed successfully.

• You have three attempts to enter your current password correctly. After three failures the workflow is cancelled for security.
• The new password must be at least 8 characters.
• If the confirmation doesn't match, you are asked to enter the new password again (not starting over from the current-password check).

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13. Blocking users

If another user's messages are unwelcome, you can block them. Blocked users' messages are hidden from your view — they do not know they are blocked, and their messages still appear to everyone else.

Toggle block (block if not blocked, unblock if blocked)

B <username>

Force block

B +<username>

Force unblock

B -<username>

Blocking is per-session-and-database — it persists across logins.

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14. System administration

These commands are available to Aides and Sysops only. Use H aide or H sysop from within a session to see the current list.

Viewing pending registrations

New users start as Unvalidated. When someone registers, the BBS automatically sends a direct mail message from bbs to every active sysop, so you know to check. The new user does not see this notification.

To list all accounts waiting for approval:

PENDING

Output:

Pending validation (2):
  newuser1 (joined 2026-05-09)
  newuser2 (joined 2026-05-09)
Use V <username> to validate, B <username> to ban.

You can also check from the command line (without starting the BBS):

supply-drop-bbs user list --pending

Validating (approving) a user

V <username>

The account is immediately promoted to User level. If they are currently logged in, their session is upgraded without requiring a re-login.

From the command line:

supply-drop-bbs user verify alice

Listing all users (CLI)

supply-drop-bbs user list

Output:

username             level        status       created
--------------------------------------------------------
alice                sysop        active       2026-05-01
bob                  user         active       2026-05-03
newuser1             unvalidated  active       2026-05-09

Banning a user (Aide+)

BAN <username>

Sets the account to Banned status. The user is immediately disconnected from all active sessions. They cannot log in again until unbanned.

'newuser2' has been banned.

Notes:

• An Aide cannot ban another Aide or a Sysop
• Banning is logged in the audit trail

Unbanning a user (Sysop only)

UNBAN <username>

Restores the account to Active status. The user can log in again.

Setting a user's permission level (Sysop only)

Promote a validated user to Aide or Sysop, or demote back to User:

.AIDE <username>     make them an Aide (moderator)
.SYSOP <username>    make them a Sysop (administrator)
.USER <username>     demote back to plain User

Notes:

• The account must already be validated (use V <username> first).
• You can't change your own level (prevents accidental self-lockout).
• The change applies immediately, including to any active session, and is logged in the audit trail.
• The same control is available in the web admin (Users → permission level).

Creating a room (Sysop only)

From within a session:

.C Ham Radio

From the command line:

supply-drop-bbs room create "Ham Radio"
supply-drop-bbs room create "Net Control" --description "Weekly net check-ins"

Deleting a room (Sysop only)

.DR Ham Radio

The five built-in rooms (Lobby, Mail, Aides, Sysop, System) cannot be deleted.

Resetting a user's password (Sysop only)

.PW <username>

Generates a single-use temporary password for the account and returns it to you — you never type a real password over the air:

Temporary password for 'alice': Kp7mQ2rtVx9d
They must change it at next login. Share it securely — it is visible on-air.

Convey that temporary password to the user out-of-band. The next time they log in with it, the BBS forces them to choose a new password before the session completes; the temporary password then stops working.

On-air note. The temporary password is shown in your session, which on a radio link is itself visible over the air — it is single-use and must be changed immediately, which limits exposure, but treat it as sensitive. The equivalent CLI command (supply-drop-bbs user set-password, section 15) sets a password directly without going over the air.

Editing the current room (Aide+)

.ER

Opens a workflow to edit the room you are currently in — its name, description, read-only flag, or minimum permission level.

Editing a user (Aide+)

.EU <username>

Edit another user's profile or permissions. Aides can use this but cannot promote anyone to Sysop — only a Sysop can do that (with .SYSOP, above).

Deleting a user (Sysop only)

.DU <username>

Soft-deletes the account: its status is set to deleted and any active sessions are ended immediately. The record is retained (not purged) so the username stays reserved and audit history is preserved.

Verification controls (Sysop only)

By default, new accounts are Unvalidated until an aide or sysop approves them (see section 5). A sysop can change that policy on the fly. All three settings take effect immediately and persist to config.toml.

OPENACCESS            — disable the verification requirement ("SHTF mode")
CLOSEACCESS           — restore the verification requirement
GUESTROOM <name>      — send unverified users to a guest room (created if needed)
GUESTROOM OFF         — disable the guest room

• OPENACCESS drops the gate: every new registration immediately receives User access with no approval step. Useful during an emergency when you need people on the air fast.
• CLOSEACCESS puts the gate back: new accounts must again be validated.
• GUESTROOM <name> places unverified users in a single guest room they cannot leave until they are validated — a middle ground that lets newcomers participate in one room without full access. GUESTROOM OFF turns it off.

Web admin panel

If the web admin is enabled, sysops can manage users, rooms, messages, and view audit logs through a browser interface. The URL is set by the operator (typically http://<bbs-host>:8080).

From the Users page you can:

• Filter to "pending verification" to see only unvalidated accounts
• Click verify to approve an account
• Click ban / unban to manage banned users
• Click delete to soft-delete an account — the same effect as .DU (status becomes deleted and active sessions end immediately)

Deleted accounts no longer appear in the Users list at all. The record is retained, so recovering one is a server-side operation (restore its status with a SQL query), not something done through the web UI.

An orange "N pending" badge appears in the page header whenever there are accounts waiting for approval.

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15. Password recovery

Supply Drop BBS is a radio-first system. There is no email-based password reset. Recovery requires a sysop or physical access to the server.

Option 1 — Contact the sysop

Tell the sysop your username. They can reset your password in three ways, from most to least convenient:

1. In-session — while connected to the BBS, the sysop types .PW <username>; the BBS returns a single-use temporary password for them to pass to you, and you set your own password at next login. No server access needed.
2. Web admin — log into the web admin panel → Users → find your account → reset password.
3. CLI — on the server, run:

   supply-drop-bbs user set-password <username> \
     --config /etc/supply-drop-bbs/config.toml

Option 2 — Delete and re-register

If you have no messages or content worth keeping, the sysop can delete your account and you can re-register with the same username.

Protecting yourself

• Use a memorable passphrase rather than a complex random password — you may be typing on a phone keyboard
• Note your password somewhere secure before you need it
• If your password may have been compromised, use PASSWD to change it immediately

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16. Quick-reference card

Anyone (before login)

Command	Action
REGISTER <user>	Create an account
LOGIN <user>	Log in
H	Help
Q	Quit

Logged in — navigation

Command	Action
K	List rooms
C <name>	Change to room by name (case-insensitive)
C <number>	Change to room by number
G	Jump to next room with unread messages
M	Go to Mail (private messages)

Logged in — reading

Command	Action
N	Read new messages (5 at a time)
F	Forward read from the beginning
F <id>	Forward read starting after message #id
R	Reverse read (newest first)
S	Scan message headers
.FF	Fast-forward past unread (mark all read)

Logged in — writing

Command	Action
E	Write a message (prompt flow)
E <text>	Stage inline message — send . to confirm
E <user> <text>	Stage inline mail — send . to confirm (when in Mail)
.	Confirm and post a staged draft
D <id>	Delete message #id

Logged in — account

Command	Action
WHOAMI	Show your username and level
W	Who's online
PROFILE	Edit your display name
PASSWD	Change your password
B <user>	Block / unblock a user (toggle)
B +<user>	Force block
B -<user>	Force unblock
CANCEL	Cancel the current workflow
Q	Log out

Logged in — finding users

Command	Action
U	List active accounts
U banned	List banned accounts
U all	List every account (Sysop only)
S <query>	Search users by username (substring)
WHOIS <user>	Show one user's account details

Help topics

Command	Shows
H	Quick command list
H all	List of help topics
H M / H mail	Mail / private message commands
H R / H reading	All reading commands (incl. .FF)
H P / H posting	Writing and deleting
H U / H users	Finding and listing user accounts
H N / H nav	Room navigation
H A / H acct	Profile and password
H <cmd>	Detail on one command (e.g. H N)

Aide commands

Command	Action
PENDING	List unvalidated accounts
V <user>	Validate (approve) an account
BAN <user>	Ban a user
.ER	Edit the current room
.EU <user>	Edit a user's profile / permissions (not to Sysop)

Sysop commands

Command	Action
UNBAN <user>	Lift a ban
.AIDE <user>	Promote a validated user to Aide
.SYSOP <user>	Promote a validated user to Sysop
.USER <user>	Demote a user back to plain User
.C <name>	Create a new room
.DR <name>	Delete a room
.DU <user>	Delete (soft) a user account
.PW <user>	Reset a user to a single-use temp password
OPENACCESS	Disable the verification requirement
CLOSEACCESS	Restore the verification requirement
GUESTROOM <name> | OFF	Set / disable the guest room for unverified users

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Supply Drop BBS is an open-source project by Mesh America.