Desktop: Network Explorer

The Almena Desktop application includes a Network Explorer that provides a real-time view of the peer-to-peer network.

Accessing the Network Explorer

1. Open the Almena Desktop application.
2. On the login screen, authenticate via QR code or use the skip button (for development).
3. Navigate to the Network tab in the bottom dock.

Network Map

The Network Explorer displays an interactive world map powered by geographic data. Each node in the P2P network appears as a marker on the map:

• Your node — Displayed as a larger marker (6px) at your geolocation.
• Peer nodes — Shown as smaller markers (4px) at their respective locations.

The map automatically centers on your node's geographic position based on your public IP address.

Peer List

Below the map, you will see a list of all discovered peers with the following information:

• Peer ID — A truncated identifier (first 12 characters) for each node.
• Connection status — A colored dot indicates:
  • Green — Connected and active.
  • Gray — Discovered but currently disconnected.
• Network type — Whether the peer is on your local network (LAN) or on the internet.
• Addresses — Number of network addresses associated with the peer.

Daemon Control

The top-right corner of the application header shows the Daemon Status Button:

• Red dot — Daemon is stopped. Click to start it.
• Green dot — Daemon is running. Click to stop it.
• Yellow dot — Checking daemon status.

When starting the daemon, the application retries up to 5 times (with 500ms delays) to allow the gRPC server to initialize.

Current Limitations

• Peer discovery is limited to local network (LAN) via mDNS. Internet peer discovery is not yet available.
• Geolocation data is fetched from a public API (ipapi.co) and requires internet access.
• The Dashboard and Settings sections are under development.