Activate
The activate
command is used to activate a drone with a token. This enables the drone to connect to the SkyHub network and start receiving commands.
Usage
sudo skycore activate --token <Drone Token> [options]
Parameters
--token, -t <token>
: The activation token for the drone (required)--services, -s <list>
: Comma-separated list of services to start (default: drone-mavros,mavproxy)
Available services:
drone-mavros
: ROS2 bridge for the flight controllercamera-proxy
: Video streaming servicemavproxy
: MAVLink proxy for the flight controllerws_proxy
: WebSocket proxy for telemetry
Examples
Basic activation with default services (drone-mavros and mavproxy):
sudo skycore activate --token 1234567890
Recommended approach with explicit service selection:
sudo skycore activate --token 1234567890 --services drone-mavros,mavproxy
Start all available services:
sudo skycore activate --token 1234567890 --services drone-mavros,camera-proxy,mavproxy,ws_proxy
Start only specific services:
sudo skycore activate --token 1234567890 --services camera-proxy,ws_proxy
How It Works
The activation process includes the following steps:
Contacts the activation server with the provided token
Downloads and configures the VPN connection
Sets up Docker credentials for accessing the container registry
Downloads the Docker Compose configuration
Starts the selected services (defaults to drone-mavros and mavproxy)
Creates a configuration file at
~/skycore.conf
Grants Docker permissions to the current user
The drone will be connected to the SkyHub network and ready to receive commands after successful activation.
Configuration File
During activation, SkyCore creates a configuration file at /home/skycore/skycore.conf
that contains:
activated
: Current activation status (true/false)token
: The token used for activationservices
: Comma-separated list of activated servicesactivation_date
: Timestamp of when the drone was activated
Example skycore.conf
:
activated: true
token: 4773854478
services: drone-mavros,mavproxy
activation_date: 2025-04-10 15:39:05
This file is used by the up
command to restart the same services after a reboot. You can manually edit the services
line to change which services will be started by the up
command.
Note
The configuration file is automatically created during activation, but you can modify it later to adjust which services should be managed by the up
command.
Managing Services
SkyCore provides commands to manage the Docker services after activation:
sudo skycore up
: Start the services listed in the configuration filesudo skycore down
: Stop all Docker services
# Start services from the configuration
sudo skycore up
# Stop all services
sudo skycore down
Environment Variables
STAGE
: Sets the environment to connect to (default:prod
)
To use a different environment:
STAGE=dev sudo skycore activate --token <Drone Token>
Troubleshooting
Common issues:
Connection Error: Ensure the Drone has internet connectivity
Authentication Failure: Verify the token is correct and hasn’t expired
VPN Connection Failure: Check if WireGuard is installed and properly configured
Docker Issues: Ensure Docker and Docker Compose are installed and running