[Bug]: Sending text with @meshtastic/core results in always sending to itself rather than destination

[Nate53085]

Before submitting

• I have searched existing issues to make sure this bug hasn't already been reported
• I have updated to the latest version of the software to verify the issue still exists
• I have cleared cache/cookies/storage or tried in a private/incognito window (if applicable)

Hardware

Other

Connection Type

Serial

Local or Hosted

https://client.meshtastic.org

Firmware Version

2.7.15

Operating System

Macos

Browser

No response

Expected Behavior

I'm trying to send a text message via @meshtastic/core in response to recieving a text message:

meshDevice.events.onMessagePacket.subscribe(async (messagePacket: Types.PacketMetadata<string>) => {
      const response = "Ack"
      await meshDevice.sendText(response, messagePacket.from, true, messagePacket.channel)
    });

Actual Behavior

No matter what I put as destination, the client sets destination to itself. The following code example registers to listen to a text message and is intended to send a simple ack back to the sender. Instead, I see the sendText sent to itself over and over until it stack overflows

I've tried both messagePacket.from and messagePacket.from.toString(16)

Steps to Reproduce

Once you are connected to a device via serial, run the above JS

Relevant console output

b2a7cb8c
19:32:34:992    DEBUG   [iMeshDevice]   SendText 📤 Sending message to 2997341068 on channel 0
19:32:34:992    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   SendPacket 📤 Sending TEXT_MESSAGE_APP to 2997341068
19:32:34:992    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   HandleMeshPacket 📦 Received TEXT_MESSAGE_APP packet
message package
{
  id: 975740062,
  rxTime: 2026-03-05T19:32:34.000Z,
  type: 'direct',
  from: 2997341068,
  to: 2997341068,
  channel: 0,
  data: 'Ack'
}
b2a7cb8c
19:32:34:992    DEBUG   [iMeshDevice]   SendText 📤 Sending message to 2997341068 on channel 0
19:32:34:992    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   SendPacket 📤 Sending TEXT_MESSAGE_APP to 2997341068
19:32:34:992    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   HandleMeshPacket 📦 Received TEXT_MESSAGE_APP packet
message package
{
  id: 795716825,
  rxTime: 2026-03-05T19:32:34.000Z,
  type: 'direct',
  from: 2997341068,
  to: 2997341068,
  channel: 0,
  data: 'Ack'
}
b2a7cb8c
19:32:34:993    DEBUG   [iMeshDevice]   SendText 📤 Sending message to 2997341068 on channel 0
19:32:34:993    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   SendPacket 📤 Sending TEXT_MESSAGE_APP to 2997341068
19:32:34:993    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   HandleMeshPacket 📦 Received TEXT_MESSAGE_APP packet
message package
node:internal/util/inspect:1109
    if (!isStackOverflowError(err)) throw err;
         ^

RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded
    at formatRaw (node:internal/util/inspect:1109:10)
    at formatValue (node:internal/util/inspect:883:10)
    at inspect (node:internal/util/inspect:386:10)
    at formatWithOptionsInternal (node:internal/util/inspect:2349:40)
    at formatWithOptions (node:internal/util/inspect:2211:10)
    at console.value (node:internal/console/constructor:329:14)
    at console.log (node:internal/console/constructor:374:61)
    at SimpleEventDispatcher$2.<anonymous> (/Users/natebourgoin/source/weather/src/meshthing.ts:25:15)
    at Subscription.execute (/Users/natebourgoin/source/weather/node_modules/@meshtastic/core/dist/mod.js:11649:13)
    at SimpleEventDispatcher$2._dispatch (/Users/natebourgoin/source/weather/node_modules/@meshtastic/core/dist/mod.js:11841:9)

Node.js v22.13.1

Screenshots

No response

Additional Context

No response

[Nate53085]

Note that the message in the logs is me just printing out the message to show myself that the to was the same as the from

[Nate53085]

Meshtastic versions:

"@meshtastic/core": "^2.6.7",
"@meshtastic/transport-node-serial": "^0.0.2"

[Nate53085]

Further digging, if I filter out events where to === from, I can stop the stack overflow but am still seeing unexpected behavior. I get the expected message, send the epected message, then recieve the message I just sent and then error (I believe the original packet errors with a "be nice on the network" error 38. I attempted to filter by my node id but that is private on mesh device and registering for the "mynodeinfo" event doesn't seem to work:

16:55:30:189    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   HandleMeshPacket 📦 Received TEXT_MESSAGE_APP packet
{
  id: 2824015404,
  rxTime: 2026-03-06T16:54:56.000Z,
  type: 'direct',
  from: 1771864472,
  to: 2997341068,
  channel: 0,
  data: 'Test'
}
16:55:30:190    DEBUG   [iMeshDevice]   SendText 📤 Sending message to 1771864472 on channel 0
16:55:30:190    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   SendPacket 📤 Sending TEXT_MESSAGE_APP to 1771864472
16:55:30:190    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   HandleMeshPacket 📦 Received TEXT_MESSAGE_APP packet
{
  id: 757209825,
  rxTime: 2026-03-06T16:55:30.000Z,
  type: 'direct',
  from: 2997341068,
  to: 1771864472,
  channel: 0,
  data: 'Ack'
}
16:55:30:190    DEBUG   [iMeshDevice]   SendText 📤 Sending message to 2997341068 on channel 0
16:55:30:190    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   SendPacket 📤 Sending TEXT_MESSAGE_APP to 2997341068
16:55:30:190    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   HandleMeshPacket 📦 Received TEXT_MESSAGE_APP packet
{
  id: 869976528,
  rxTime: 2026-03-06T16:55:30.000Z,
  type: 'direct',
  from: 2997341068,
  to: 2997341068,
  channel: 0,
  data: 'Ack'
}
16:55:31:573    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   HandleFromRadio 🚧 Received Queue Status: [object Object]
16:55:31:578    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   HandleFromRadio 🚧 Received Queue Status: [object Object]
16:55:31:598    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   HandleMeshPacket 📦 Received ROUTING_APP packet
16:55:32:038    TRACE   [iMeshDevice]   HandleMeshPacket 📦 Received ROUTING_APP packet
Error received for packet 757209825: undefined
{ id: 757209825, error: 38 }

[Nate53085]

I now have an example that successfully sends a message to the original sender. This may not be a bug afterall but either a request for enhancement of documentation OR improved developer experience.

What I had to make sure to do was:

• Register for onMyNodeInfo before configuring the meshdevice
• Only respond to messages where myNodeInfo.myNodeNum !== messagePackage.from and myNodeInfo.myNodeNum === messagePacket.to

Something like:

meshDevice.events.onMessagePacket.subscribe(async (messagePacket: Types.PacketMetadata<string>) => {
    // Filter messages we don't respond to
    if (myNodeInfo.myNodeNum === messagePacket.from || myNodeInfo.myNodeNum !== messagePacket.to) {
      return;
    }

    const response = "Ack";
    // Parse the command and get the destination
    // Send to the right command in the command map to collect the response
    await meshDevice.sendText(response, messagePacket.from, true, messagePacket.channel).catch((error) => {
      console.error(error);
    });
  });