fix(mesh): ride out the radio restart during apply — no false errors, no setup modal

Applying RF settings deliberately restarts the radio daemon (~15-20s).
Two things treated that healthy, expected gap as a fault (operator,
2026-08-06):

- radio_state was single-shot: a query landing inside the restart
  window reported "The radio daemon did not answer the state query"
  for a restart that was working correctly. It now retries for ~30s
  and says the radio is restarting while it waits. A real device-level
  refusal (not an RNode) still returns immediately.
- The device-setup modal auto-opens for any detected-but-unconnected
  port, so the restart looked like a newly plugged stick and
  interrupted the apply. Apply and Reboot now suppress auto-detect for
  90s via mesh.suppressDeviceDetect().

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

core/archipelago/src/mesh/mod.rs

@@ -2155,22 +2155,51 @@ impl MeshService {
     /// interface including the radio-confirmed r_* parameters. The LoRa
     /// settings panel's source for "what is the device actually running".
     pub async fn radio_state(&self) -> Result<serde_json::Value> {
-        let status = self.state.status.read().await;
-        if !status.device_connected {
-            anyhow::bail!("No mesh device connected. Check USB connection.");
+        // Retry across a reconnect window. Applying settings deliberately
+        // restarts the radio daemon (~15s), and the session is legitimately
+        // absent while it comes back — a single-shot query inside that window
+        // reported "the daemon did not answer" for what is a healthy,
+        // in-progress restart (operator, 2026-08-06).
+        const ATTEMPTS: u32 = 6;
+        let mut last_err = anyhow::anyhow!("No mesh device connected. Check USB connection.");
+        for attempt in 0..ATTEMPTS {
+            if attempt > 0 {
+                tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(4)).await;
+            }
+            if !self.state.status.read().await.device_connected {
+                last_err = anyhow::anyhow!(
+                    "The radio is not connected right now — if settings were just applied it \
+                     is restarting and comes back within about 20 seconds."
+                );
+                continue;
+            }
+            let (tx, rx) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel();
+            if self
+                .state
+                .send_cmd(listener::MeshCommand::QueryRadioState { reply: tx })
+                .await
+                .is_err()
+            {
+                last_err = anyhow::anyhow!("Mesh listener not running");
+                continue;
+            }
+            match tokio::time::timeout(std::time::Duration::from_secs(10), rx).await {
+                Ok(Ok(Ok(state))) => return Ok(state),
+                Ok(Ok(Err(e))) => {
+                    // A real device-level refusal (e.g. not an RNode radio) —
+                    // retrying cannot change it.
+                    return Err(anyhow::anyhow!(e));
+                }
+                Ok(Err(_)) => {
+                    last_err =
+                        anyhow::anyhow!("Mesh session ended before the state query completed")
+                }
+                Err(_) => {
+                    last_err = anyhow::anyhow!("The radio daemon did not answer the state query")
+                }
+            }
         }
-        drop(status);
-
-        let (tx, rx) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel();
-        self.state
-            .send_cmd(listener::MeshCommand::QueryRadioState { reply: tx })
-            .await
-            .map_err(|_| anyhow::anyhow!("Mesh listener not running"))?;
-        let state = tokio::time::timeout(std::time::Duration::from_secs(10), rx)
-            .await
-            .map_err(|_| anyhow::anyhow!("The radio daemon did not answer the state query"))?
-            .map_err(|_| anyhow::anyhow!("Mesh session ended before the state query completed"))?;
-        state.map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!(e))
+        Err(last_err)
     }
 
     /// Current mesh-AI assistant settings (issue #50).

neode-ui/src/stores/mesh.ts

@@ -356,9 +356,19 @@ export const useMeshStore = defineStore('mesh', () => {
   // The modal waits for 2 sightings so it doesn't flash during the couple of
   // seconds an ordinary reconnect (same radio, transient blip) needs.
   const detectSightings = ref<Record<string, number>>({})
+  /** Epoch-ms until which the device-setup modal must NOT auto-open: an
+   *  operator-initiated radio restart (settings apply, Reboot Radio) takes
+   *  the radio down for ~15-20s, and the modal treated that healthy,
+   *  expected gap as "a new stick was plugged in" and interrupted the flow
+   *  (operator, 2026-08-06). */
+  const suppressDetectUntil = ref(0)
+  function suppressDeviceDetect(ms = 90_000) {
+    suppressDetectUntil.value = Date.now() + ms
+  }
   const undismissedDetectedDevices = computed(() => {
     const s = status.value
     if (!s) return []
+    if (Date.now() < suppressDetectUntil.value) return []
     return (s.detected_devices || []).filter(p =>
       dismissedDetected.value[p] !== pluggedAt(s, p) &&
       // The port the live session occupies is not a candidate…
@@ -1148,6 +1158,7 @@ export const useMeshStore = defineStore('mesh', () => {
     latestBlockHeight,
     fetchStatus,
     undismissedDetectedDevices,
+    suppressDeviceDetect,
     dismissDetectedDevice,
     flashFlowPath,
     openFlashFlow,

neode-ui/src/views/mesh/MeshDevicePanel.vue

@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ async function handleReboot() {
   rebooting.value = true
   rebootError.value = null
   rebootMessage.value = null
+  // Same as apply: the radio goes away on purpose for ~15-20s.
+  mesh.suppressDeviceDetect()
   try {
     const res = await mesh.rebootRadio()
     // The backend now waits for the device's acknowledgement and says what
@@ -101,6 +103,9 @@ async function loadRnodeConfig() {
 async function applyRnodeSettings() {
   rnodeApplying.value = true
   rnodeResult.value = null
+  // Applying deliberately restarts the radio daemon; without this the
+  // "new device detected" modal interrupts the flow mid-apply.
+  mesh.suppressDeviceDetect()
   try {
     const res = await mesh.applyRnodeConfig({
       enabled: rnodeForm.value.enabled,