diff --git a/QUICKSTART.md b/QUICKSTART.md
index ffbca8f..e118474 100644
--- a/QUICKSTART.md
+++ b/QUICKSTART.md
@@ -48,13 +48,10 @@ python3 -m venv .venv
 If `.venv/bin/meshnet-node` is missing, the editable install step did not finish
 successfully. Re-run the `.venv/bin/pip install -e ...` command above inside WSL.
 
-WSL2 is still useful for local development, but do not rely on it for the
-"another machine connects back to this node" LAN case. WSL2 commonly sits behind
-Windows NAT/port-proxy behavior and may not accept inbound traffic from other LAN
-machines without extra host networking setup. We intentionally leave that unfixed
-because it is useful for testing NAT/relay scenarios. If you just want to bring up
-a Windows node that other machines can reach directly, run the node in native
-Windows PowerShell instead.
+WSL2 sits behind Windows NAT and is **not directly reachable** from other LAN machines.
+Direct cross-host hops time out. The relay path (see below) solves this: the WSL2 node
+opens an outbound WebSocket to the relay server and all traffic flows through that tunnel.
+No firewall rules, no `--advertise-host` needed — just point at the public tracker URL.
 
 ### Native Windows PowerShell node (not WSL)
 
@@ -126,17 +123,21 @@ $env:HF_HOME = "D:\DEV\models"
   --port 8005
 ```
 
-One-line variants:
+One-line variants (direct LAN — node must be reachable by IP from other machines):
 
 ```powershell
-// only this works - when not behind NAT(wsl), and via IP. Revisit when relaying/RPC is implemented 
-.\.venv\Scripts\meshnet-node.exe start --tracker http://192.168.0.179:8081 --model Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct --advertise-host 192.168.0.20 
-.\.venv\Scripts\meshnet-node.exe start --tracker http://ai.neuron.d-popov.com --model Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct --advertise-host 192.168.0.20
+.\.venv\Scripts\meshnet-node.exe start --tracker http://192.168.0.179:8081 --model Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct --advertise-host 192.168.0.20
+```
+
+Via public hostname with relay (works from behind NAT, WSL2, 5G — no `--advertise-host` needed):
+
+```powershell
+.\.venv\Scripts\meshnet-node.exe start --tracker https://ai.neuron.d-popov.com --model Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct
 ```
 
 `--host 0.0.0.0` binds the node to all Windows interfaces. `--advertise-host`
-is what the tracker gives to other nodes, so it must be the Windows LAN IP that
-the tracker and peer nodes can actually reach.
+is what the tracker gives to other nodes for direct connections; omit it when using
+the relay path since all traffic flows through the relay tunnel instead.
 
 If you want verbose per-hop pipeline logs while debugging a split model, add
 `--debug`. Leave it off for normal runs; otherwise every generated token logs
@@ -145,6 +146,7 @@ lines like:
 ```text
   [node] pipeline hop 0: http://127.0.0.1:8005 start_layer=22
   [node] pipeline hop 0 returned text=' token'
+  [node] pipeline hop 1: wss://ai.neuron.d-popov.com/rpc/abc123 relay start_layer=12
 ```
 
 6. From the tracker machine, verify Windows is reachable:
@@ -158,27 +160,42 @@ connection reached the node process. If it times out or connection-refuses, chec
 the Windows Firewall rule, `--host 0.0.0.0`, the selected LAN IP, and that the
 node is still running.
 
-### Public tracker + WSS relay
+---
 
-For internet nodes, expose one public HTTPS host and proxy these paths:
+## Public tracker + relay (internet / NAT nodes)
 
-```text
-/v1/*   -> meshnet-tracker, for registration, heartbeats, routing, and OpenAI requests
-/ws     -> meshnet-relay, for outbound node gossip/bridge connections
-/rpc/*  -> meshnet-relay, for tracker-to-node relay requests
+This setup lets nodes connect from anywhere — behind home NAT, 5G, WSL2, or
+on a different continent — without opening firewall ports.
+
+### Architecture
+
+```
+Client → HTTPS → ai.neuron.d-popov.com (nginx)
+                  ├─ /v1/*   → meshnet-tracker :8081
+                  ├─ /ws     → meshnet-relay :8765  (node persistent outbound WS)
+                  └─ /rpc/*  → meshnet-relay :8765  (caller opens WS per hop)
 ```
 
-Start the tracker with the public relay URL it should advertise:
+### Start the relay and tracker (server side)
 
 ```bash
+# Terminal 1 — relay (WebSocket hub)
 .venv/bin/meshnet-relay --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8765
+
+# Terminal 2 — tracker (advertises relay URL to nodes)
 .venv/bin/meshnet-tracker start \
   --host 0.0.0.0 \
   --port 8081 \
   --relay-url wss://ai.neuron.d-popov.com/ws
 ```
 
-Then a node only needs the public tracker address:
+The `--relay-url` flag embeds the relay address in `/v1/network/map`. Every node
+queries that endpoint on startup and auto-connects if a relay URL is present.
+
+### Start a node (any machine, any network)
+
+No `--advertise-host` needed. The node discovers the relay URL from the tracker
+and opens a persistent outbound WebSocket:
 
 ```bash
 .venv/bin/meshnet-node start \
@@ -186,6 +203,84 @@ Then a node only needs the public tracker address:
   --model Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct
 ```
 
+Expected startup output (relay path):
+
+```
+  Auto-detected 24 layers → shard 0–23
+  Relay connected — wss://ai.neuron.d-popov.com/rpc/abc1def2ef3f4567
+================================
+meshnet-node ready
+  Wallet:       <address>
+  Model ID:     Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct
+  Shard:        layers 0–23; 24 of 24
+  Quantization: bfloat16
+  Endpoint:     http://172.29.104.23:7001
+  Node ID:      <id>
+  Hardware:     CPU
+================================
+```
+
+The `Endpoint` shown is the local IP (unreachable from outside). Other nodes reach
+this one via `wss://ai.neuron.d-popov.com/rpc/<peer_id>` instead.
+
+### How relay hops work
+
+When node A needs to forward activations to node B (behind NAT):
+
+1. Tracker injects `X-Meshnet-Route` with `relay_addr` for each behind-NAT hop.
+2. Node A opens a WebSocket to `wss://relay/rpc/{peer_id_B}`.
+3. Relay forwards the `relay-http-request` envelope to Node B's persistent connection.
+4. Node B processes `/forward` locally, returns `relay-http-response`.
+5. Relay sends the response back to Node A over the same WebSocket.
+6. Node A closes the WebSocket and continues the pipeline.
+
+Binary activation tensors (bfloat16) are Base64-encoded through the relay JSON
+protocol and decoded on both sides — no precision loss.
+
+If the relay hop fails (relay down, peer disconnected), the node logs a warning and
+falls back to a direct HTTP attempt before returning an error.
+
+### Test from WSL2 using the public tracker
+
+In WSL2 (which gets a `172.x.x.x` virtual IP — unreachable from other machines):
+
+```bash
+# WSL2 Terminal 1 — head node (layers 0–11, handles chat requests)
+.venv/bin/meshnet-node start \
+  --tracker https://ai.neuron.d-popov.com \
+  --model Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct \
+  --shard-start 0 --shard-end 11
+
+# WSL2 Terminal 2 — tail node (layers 12–23)
+.venv/bin/meshnet-node start \
+  --tracker https://ai.neuron.d-popov.com \
+  --model Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct \
+  --shard-start 12 --shard-end 23
+```
+
+Both nodes connect to the relay automatically. When a chat request arrives at Node A,
+it forwards activations to Node B via `wss://ai.neuron.d-popov.com/rpc/{peer_id_B}`.
+
+Send inference through the tracker (which picks the head node and injects the route):
+
+```bash
+curl -s https://ai.neuron.d-popov.com/v1/chat/completions \
+  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+  -d '{
+    "model": "Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct",
+    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "What is 7 times 8?"}],
+    "stream": false
+  }' | python3 -m json.tool
+```
+
+Or send directly to Node A's local port (within WSL):
+
+```bash
+curl -s http://localhost:7001/v1/chat/completions \
+  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+  -d '{"model": "Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hi"}]}'
+```
+
 ---
 
 ## Step 1 — Start the tracker (Terminal 1)
@@ -304,7 +399,7 @@ HF_HOME=/run/media/popov/d/DEV/models \
   --port 8002
 ```
 
-Send the request to Node A — it tokenizes, runs layers 0–13, passes binary
+Send the request to Node A — it tokenizes, runs layers 0–11, passes binary
 activations to Node B, and streams the final response back.
 
 ---
@@ -342,18 +437,6 @@ See `docs/TWO_MACHINE_TEST.md` (created by US-018).
 
 ---
 
-## Start the relay node (for NAT traversal)
-
-```bash
-.venv/bin/pip install -e packages/relay
-.venv/bin/meshnet-relay --port 8765
-```
-
-Nodes behind NAT connect to the relay and advertise their relay address to the
-tracker. See `docs/adr/0010-p2p-gossip-and-nat-relay.md`.
-
----
-
 ## Run all tests
 
 ```bash