README.rst

Introduction

Matrix is an ambitious new ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and VoIP. The basics you need to know to get up and running are:

• Everything in Matrix happens in a room. Rooms are distributed and do not exist on any single server. Rooms can be located using convenience aliases like #matrix:matrix.org or #test:localhost:8008.
• Matrix user IDs look like @matthew:matrix.org (although in the future you will normally refer to yourself and others using a 3PID: email address, phone number, etc rather than manipulating Matrix user IDs)

The overall architecture is:

client <----> homeserver <=====================> homeserver <----> client
       https://somewhere.org/_matrix      https://elsewhere.net/_matrix

#matrix:matrix.org is the official support room for Matrix, and can be accessed by the web client at http://matrix.org/alpha or via an IRC bridge at irc://irc.freenode.net/matrix.

Synapse is currently in rapid development, but as of version 0.5 we believe it is sufficiently stable to be run as an internet-facing service for real usage!

About Matrix

Matrix specifies a set of pragmatic RESTful HTTP JSON APIs as an open standard, which handle:

• Creating and managing fully distributed chat rooms with no single points of control or failure
• Eventually-consistent cryptographically secure synchronisation of room state across a global open network of federated servers and services
• Sending and receiving extensible messages in a room with (optional) end-to-end encryption[1]
• Inviting, joining, leaving, kicking, banning room members
• Managing user accounts (registration, login, logout)
• Using 3rd Party IDs (3PIDs) such as email addresses, phone numbers, Facebook accounts to authenticate, identify and discover users on Matrix.
• Placing 1:1 VoIP and Video calls

These APIs are intended to be implemented on a wide range of servers, services and clients, letting developers build messaging and VoIP functionality on top of the entirely open Matrix ecosystem rather than using closed or proprietary solutions. The hope is for Matrix to act as the building blocks for a new generation of fully open and interoperable messaging and VoIP apps for the internet.

Synapse is a reference "homeserver" implementation of Matrix from the core development team at matrix.org, written in Python/Twisted for clarity and simplicity. It is intended to showcase the concept of Matrix and let folks see the spec in the context of a codebase and let you run your own homeserver and generally help bootstrap the ecosystem.

In Matrix, every user runs one or more Matrix clients, which connect through to a Matrix homeserver which stores all their personal chat history and user account information - much as a mail client connects through to an IMAP/SMTP server. Just like email, you can either run your own Matrix homeserver and control and own your own communications and history or use one hosted by someone else (e.g. matrix.org) - there is no single point of control or mandatory service provider in Matrix, unlike WhatsApp, Facebook, Hangouts, etc.

Synapse ships with two basic demo Matrix clients: webclient (a basic group chat web client demo implemented in AngularJS) and cmdclient (a basic Python command line utility which lets you easily see what the JSON APIs are up to).

Meanwhile, iOS and Android SDKs and clients are currently in development and available from:

• https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-ios-sdk
• https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-android-sdk

We'd like to invite you to join #matrix:matrix.org (via http://matrix.org/alpha), run a homeserver, take a look at the Matrix spec at http://matrix.org/docs/spec, experiment with the APIs and the demo clients, and report any bugs via http://matrix.org/jira.

Thanks for using Matrix!

[1] End-to-end encryption is currently in development

Homeserver Installation

System requirements: - POSIX-compliant system (tested on Linux & OSX) - Python 2.7

Synapse is written in python but some of the libraries is uses are written in C. So before we can install synapse itself we need a working C compiler and the header files for python C extensions.

Installing prerequisites on Ubuntu or Debian:

$ sudo apt-get install build-essential python2.7-dev libffi-dev \
                       python-pip python-setuptools sqlite3 \
                       libssl-dev

Installing prerequisites on Mac OS X:

$ xcode-select --install

To install the synapse homeserver run: