Matrix is easy-to-use, decentralized and encrypted private chat software.
Matrix is federated, meaning that with a Matrix account on any server, including your own, you can talk to any other Matrix account on the internet, similar to email.
Matrix also allows fully end-to-end encrypted group chats.
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Synapse is the name of the default Matrix server. It is written in Python.
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Synapse is the name of the default Matrix server. It is written in Python. While it is requires somewhat more system resources than an XMPP server, it makes up for that in being very accessible to non-technical users.
The configuration file for Matrix is in /etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml.
It is well documented and commented, so you can read about the settings, but let's change the essential ones here.
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This article isn't finished. Deal with basic settings and registering accounts.
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+ Make what changes you want and run systemctl reload matrix-synapse to make the system configuration active.
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Create an administrator account
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If you allow open registration on your server in the configuration file, you can create an account through Element or another Matrix client, but you are probably going to want an official admin account to use.
+ To make one, simply run the following command, which will then give you several choices for creating a user, among which will be the ability to make it an admin.
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+ There are many different clients that can be used on desktops or phones to chat on your Matrix server, but the most popular and most widely vetted is Element.
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+ Note also that Element has a web client (i.e. a version that can be accessed on your own website) that is also easy to install on an Nginx server,
+ although that will be covered in another article.
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