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Jesse Riddle authoredJesse Riddle authored
Synapse 
Contents
- Introduction
- About Matrix
- Support
- Synapse Installation
- Connecting to Synapse from a client
- ACME setup
- Security Note
- Upgrading an existing Synapse
- Using PostgreSQL
- Using a reverse proxy with Synapse
- Identity Servers
- Password reset
- Synapse Development
- Running the Integration Tests
- Building Internal API Documentation
- Troubleshooting
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.orgor#test:localhost:8448. - Matrix user IDs look like
@matthew:matrix.org(although in the future you will normally refer to yourself and others using a third party identifier (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 any client from https://matrix.org/docs/projects/try-matrix-now.html or
via 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. 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. The homeserver 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.
We'd like to invite you to join #matrix:matrix.org (via https://matrix.org/docs/projects/try-matrix-now.html), run a homeserver, take a look at the Matrix spec, and experiment with the APIs and Client SDKs.
Thanks for using Matrix!
[1] End-to-end encryption is currently in beta: blog post.
Support
For support installing or managing Synapse, please join #synapse:matrix.org (from a matrix.org
account if necessary) and ask questions there. We do not use GitHub issues for
support requests, only for bug reports and feature requests.
Synapse Installation
- For details on how to install synapse, see INSTALL.md.
- For specific details on how to configure Synapse for federation see docs/federate.md
Connecting to Synapse from a client
The easiest way to try out your new Synapse installation is by connecting to it from a web client.
Unless you are running a test instance of Synapse on your local machine, in general, you will need to enable TLS support before you can successfully connect from a client: see INSTALL.md#tls-certificates.
An easy way to get started is to login or register via Riot at
https://riot.im/app/#/login or https://riot.im/app/#/register respectively.
You will need to change the server you are logging into from matrix.org
and instead specify a Homeserver URL of https://<server_name>:8448
(or just https://<server_name> if you are using a reverse proxy).
(Leave the identity server as the default - see Identity servers.)
If you prefer to use another client, refer to our
client breakdown.
If all goes well you should at least be able to log in, create a room, and start sending messages.
Registering a new user from a client
By default, registration of new users via Matrix clients is disabled. To enable
it, specify enable_registration: true in homeserver.yaml. (It is then
recommended to also set up CAPTCHA - see docs/CAPTCHA_SETUP.md.)
Once enable_registration is set to true, it is possible to register a
user via riot.im or other Matrix clients.
Your new user name will be formed partly from the server_name, and partly
from a localpart you specify when you create the account. Your name will take
the form of:
@localpart:my.domain.name(pronounced "at localpart on my dot domain dot name").
As when logging in, you will need to specify a "Custom server". Specify your
desired localpart in the 'User name' box.
ACME setup
For details on having Synapse manage your federation TLS certificates automatically, please see docs/ACME.md.
Security Note
Matrix serves raw user generated data in some APIs - specifically the content repository endpoints.
Whilst we have tried to mitigate against possible XSS attacks (e.g. https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/pull/1021) we recommend running matrix homeservers on a dedicated domain name, to limit any malicious user generated content served to web browsers a matrix API from being able to attack webapps hosted on the same domain. This is particularly true of sharing a matrix webclient and server on the same domain.
See https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web/issues/1977 and https://developer.github.com/changes/2014-04-25-user-content-security for more details.