Four steps: install the CLI, flash the gateway, point it at your network, and pair a sensor. Roughly ten minutes.
New here? Take the guided tour
Instead of reading top to bottom, let the assistant walk you through the interface — it highlights each control and explains what it's for. Open the WebMCP console (bottom-right) and hit Play guided tour.
What you'll need
A Meadowlark Gateway (rev C or later) and a USB-C cable
Node.js 20+ on your workstation
2.4 GHz Wi-Fi credentials for the gateway's home network
At least one Meadowlark sensor to pair
1 · Install the Meadowlark CLI
The meadow CLI flashes firmware, pushes config, and streams logs from the gateway over USB.
Install
npm install -g @meadowlark/clibrew install meadowlark/tap/meadowcurl -fsSL https://get.meadowlark.dev | sh
What "verify" checks
It runs meadow --version and pings the release channel so you know the CLI can reach Meadowlark's servers before you depend on it mid-flash.
2 · Flash the gateway firmware
A new gateway ships with a minimal bootloader. Flashing installs the real firmware and its radio stack.
Put the gateway in bootloader mode
Connect the gateway to your workstation with USB-C.
Hold BOOT, tap RESET, then release BOOT. The status LED turns steady amber.
Click Detect device — it should appear as tty.meadow0.
No device detected
3 · Configure the gateway
The gateway needs your Wi-Fi, a region (for radio duty-cycle limits), and an MQTT endpoint to publish sensor data to.
4 · Pair a sensor
Pairing exchanges keys between the gateway and a sensor so its readings are accepted and decrypted.
Click Enter pairing mode. The gateway listens for 60 seconds.
On the sensor, hold the pairing button for 5 seconds until its LED blinks twice.
Click Scan for sensors and confirm the device ID that appears.
Idle
Troubleshooting
"No device detected" after entering bootloader mode
Try a different USB-C cable — many are power-only. On Linux, add yourself to thedialout group and re-log.
Gateway won't join Wi-Fi
The radio is 2.4 GHz only. Check the SSID isn't 5 GHz-exclusive and that the password has no leading/trailing spaces.
"Test connection" fails on MQTT
Use the mqtts:// scheme and port 8883 for TLS. A plain mqtt://endpoint is rejected unless you pass --insecure when saving.
Sensor never shows up in a scan
The region on the sensor and the gateway must match. A US915 sensor is invisible to an EU868 gateway.