Matrix is an ambitious new ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and VoIP[1].
Matrix is an ambitious new ecosystem for open federated Instant Messaging and
VoIP[1].
Matrix specifies a set of pragmatic RESTful HTTP JSON APIs as an open standard, providing:
Matrix specifies a set of pragmatic RESTful HTTP JSON APIs as an open standard,
providing:
- Creating and managing fully distributed chat rooms with no
single points of control or failure
- Eventually-consistent cryptographically secure synchronisation of room
- Eventually-consistent cryptographically secure[2] 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[2]
end-to-end encryption[3]
- Inviting, joining, leaving, kicking, banning room members
- Managing user accounts (registration, login, logout)
- Using 3rd Party IDs (3PIDs) such as email addresses, phone numbers,
@ -18,11 +20,11 @@ Matrix specifies a set of pragmatic RESTful HTTP JSON APIs as an open standard,
- Placing 1:1 VoIP and Video calls (in development)
These APIs are intended to be implemented on a wide range of servers, services
and clients which then form the Matrix ecosystem, and allow developers to build
messaging and VoIP functionality on top of the open Matrix community 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.
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
@ -38,16 +40,56 @@ 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 commandline utility which lets you easily see what the JSON APIs are up to).
Synapse ships with two basic demo Matrix clients: webclient (a basic group chat
web client demo implemented in AngularJS) and cmdclient (a basic Python
commandline utility which lets you easily see what the JSON APIs are up to).
We'd like to invite you to take a look at the Matrix spec, try to run a homeserver, and join the existing Matrix chatrooms already out there, experiment with the APIs and the demo clients, and let us know your thoughts at https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues or at matrix@matrix.org.
We'd like to invite you to take a look at the Matrix spec, try to run a
homeserver, and join the existing Matrix chatrooms already out there, experiment
with the APIs and the demo clients, and let us know your thoughts at
https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues or at matrix@matrix.org.
Thanks for trying Matrix!
[1] VoIP currently in development
[2] End-to-end encryption is currently in development
..[1] VoIP currently in development
..[2] Cryptographic signing of messages isn't turned on yet
..[3] End-to-end encryption is currently in development
Quick Start
===========
The basics you need to know about Matrix are:
- Chatrooms look like ``#matrix:matrix.org`` or ``#test:localhost:8080``
- 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)
- To simply play with an **existing** homeserver (e.g. matrix.org), you can
just go straight to http://matrix.org/alpha, specify a homeserver
(defaults to matrix.org) and sign up and use it. (Sign-up security is
currently work-in-progress)
- To run your own **private** homeserver on localhost:8080, install synapse
with ``python setup.py develop --user`` and then run one with
``python synapse/app/homeserver.py``
- To run your own webclient:
``cd webclient; python -m SimpleHTTPServer`` and hit http://localhost:8000
in your web browser (a recent Chrome, Safari or Firefox for now,
please...)
- For now, register some accounts like ``@testing:localhost:8080`` from
different browsers, join a room like ``#test:localhost:8080`` and have a
play.
- To quickly run a **public** homeserver that can exchange messages with
other homeservers and participate in the overall Matrix federation, open
up port 8080 and run ``python synapse/app/homeserver.py --host
machine.my.domain.name``. Then come join ``#matrix:matrix.org`` and
say hi! :)
Directory Structure
===================
@ -58,10 +100,10 @@ Directory Structure
├── cmdclient Basic CLI python Matrix client
├── demo Scripts for running standalone Matrix demos
├── docs All doc, including the draft Matrix API spec
│ ├── client-server The client-server Matrix API spec
│ ├── model Domain-specific elements of the Matrix API spec
│ ├── server-server The server-server model of the Matrix API spec
│ └── sphinx The internal API doc of the Synapse homeserver
│ ├── client-server The client-server Matrix API spec
│ ├── model Domain-specific elements of the Matrix API spec
│ ├── server-server The server-server model of the Matrix API spec
│ └── sphinx The internal API doc of the Synapse homeserver
├── experiments Early experiments of using Synapse's internal APIs
├── graph Visualisation of Matrix's distributed message store
├── synapse The reference Matrix homeserver implementation
@ -82,13 +124,12 @@ Directory Structure
└── webclient Basic AngularJS Matrix web client
Installation
============
Homeserver Installation
=======================
First, the dependencies need to be installed. Start by installing
'python2.7-dev' and the various tools of the compiler toolchain.
N.B. that python 2.x where x >= 7 is required.
N.B. synapse requires python 2.x where x >= 7
Installing prerequisites on ubuntu::
@ -102,6 +143,12 @@ The homeserver has a number of external dependencies, that are easiest
to install by making setup.py do so, in --user mode::
$ python setup.py develop --user
You'll need a version of setuptools new enough to know about git, so you
may need to also run:
$ sudo apt-get install python-pip
$ sudo pip install --upgrade setuptools
This will run a process of downloading and installing into your
user's .local/lib directory all of the required dependencies that are
@ -161,6 +208,14 @@ For the initial alpha release, the homeserver is not speaking TLS for
either client-server or server-server traffic for ease of debugging. We have
also not spent any time yet getting the homeserver to run behind loadbalancers.
Running a Demo Federation of Homeservers
----------------------------------------
If you want to get up and running quickly with a trio of homeservers in a
private federation (``localhost:8080``, ``localhost:8081`` and
``localhost:8082``) which you can then point a demo webclient at, simply run::
$ demo/start.sh
Running The Demo Web Client
===========================
@ -200,19 +255,43 @@ synapse sandbox running on localhost)
Logging In To An Existing Account
---------------------------------
[[TODO(paul): It seems the current web client still requests an access_token -
I suspect this part will need updating before we can point people at how to
perform e.g. user+password or 3PID authenticated login]]
Just enter the ``@localpart:my.domain.here`` matrix user ID and password into the form and click the Login button.
Identity Servers
================
Building Documentation
The job of authenticating 3PIDs and tracking which 3PIDs are associated with a
given matrix user is very security-sensitive, as there is obvious risk of spam
if it is too easy to sign up for Matrix accounts or harvest 3PID data. Meanwhile
the job of publishing the end-to-end encryption public keys for Matrix users is
also very security-sensitive for similar reasons.
Therefore the role of managing trusted identity in the Matrix ecosystem is
farmed out to a cluster of known trusted ecosystem partners, who run 'Matrix
Identity Servers' such as ``sydent``, whose role is purely to authenticate and
track 3PID logins and publish end-user public keys.
It's currently early days for identity servers as Matrix is not yet using 3PIDs
as the primary means of identity and E2E encryption is not complete. As such,
we're not yet running an identity server in public.
How does it all work?!
======================
Before building documentation install spinx and sphinxcontrib-napoleon::
For now, please go spelunking in the ``docs/`` directory to find out.
Building Internal API Documentation
===================================
Before building internal API documentation install spinx and
Matthew Hodgson
10 years ago