Device names not showing in NextDNS dashboard with ASUS Merlin + CLI (setup-router=false)

Hello,

I’m running NextDNS CLI on an ASUS RT-AX86U (Merlin firmware) and trying to achieve proper device name visibility in the NextDNS dashboard without breaking my current DNS architecture.

Goal:

• See all LAN devices under a single profile
• With real device names (hostnames)
• Instead of IPs or generic Device #xxxx

Current architecture:

Clients → dnsmasq (router) → NextDNS CLI (127.0.0.1:5555) → NextDNS (DoH)

• dnsmasq is actively used (local overrides, ad-blocking, etc.)
• upstream configuration:
  server=127.0.0.1#5555
• no-resolv
• add-mac
• add-subnet=32,128
• NextDNS CLI config:

setup-router false

listen 127.0.0.1:5555

report-client-info true

use-hosts true

profile <id>

Observed behavior:

• DNS resolution works correctly
• Client IPs are correctly visible in query logs
• However, in the dashboard devices appear as Device #xxxx

Important finding:

When setup-router=true is enabled, device names are correctly detected.

However, this mode:

• modifies router DNS behavior
• interferes with my existing dnsmasq-based setup (especially local overrides / Diversion)

So I must keep setup-router=false.

Expectation:

In setup-router=false mode, I would expect at least one of the following:

• dnsmasq hostnames being forwarded to NextDNS
• DHCP lease / hosts-based names reflected in dashboard
• or a documented/recommended way to achieve this behavior

Additional notes:

• CLI -config <IP>=<name> mapping was tested → no consistent result
• MAC-based profile mapping works, but not suitable for my use case (I want a single profile)

Conclusion:

Without router mode, I cannot get device names in the dashboard.
With CLI in setup-router=false, names are not shown.

What is the recommended architecture for this use case?

Thanks in advance 🙏