Matrix Federation

Matrix Federation is an essential part of the Matrix protocol, enabling seamless communication between users on different servers. This page intends to explain what Matrix Federation is, how it works, and why it should remain enabled.

TL;DR¶

• Is it secure? — Yes ✅
• Is it safe? — Yes ✅
• Will any information be leaked? — No
• Will any random person be able to join my rooms? — No
• Should I disable it? — No
• What happens if I disable it? — ⚠️ You will not be able to access to many essential features, such as:
  • Matrix RTC calls (In-App Calls for Matrix Clients)
  • the self-service bot
  • a sticker picker
  • and many other functionalities
• Can I disable it anyway? — Yes, but it is not recommended.
• I am scared of federation. Should I be? — No

We hope this clarifies any confusion about Matrix Federation.

What is Matrix Federation?¶

Federation allows users on different Matrix servers to participate in the same room. For this to function, external servers must be able to communicate with yours to transmit messages.

Think of Matrix Federation like email: just as you can send an email from Gmail to a Yahoo account and receive a reply, Matrix Federation works in a similar way, ensuring open communication across servers.

🔒 Secure and safe by design¶

Matrix Federation facilitates communication between servers without exposing any information by default. It is secure and safe by design.

Here are details about how secure room participation works:

1. Inviting members: A member with invite privileges can invite someone to a room. This action is logged in the room’s timeline, making it visible to all members. Once the invite is accepted or rejected, it is also recorded in the timeline.
2. Joining with a link:
   • Room administrators must make the room public in the settings. This action is logged.
   • Room administrators must assign a room alias, which is also logged.
   • (Optional but recommended) Administrators can set the room’s history visibility to Anyone, enabling members to see history from before they joined. This does not apply to end-to-end encrypted rooms.
   • Anyone with the room alias can join the room, and their join action will be logged.

Accessing a room requires either an invite or joining a public room. Nobody can access the room without either of them.

Also, reading messages in a room requires membership, obtained through an invite or joining a public room. It is not possible to read them without it.

Disabling federation degrades usability and functionality¶

Federation is a core and fundamental feature of the Matrix protocol, and is required by many useful and important features like in-app calls on Matrix clients, self-service bot, and a sticker picker.

(Federation is necessary even if an in-app calls happen only among users of your own server, as the backend for it requires federation to be enabled — You can check the relevant code here, if you are interested).

🚨 Disabling federation will severely limit your server’s functionality. You have been warned!

Contact us to disable federation¶

If you would like to disable federation anyway, it is possible for us to do so for you. In this case, please contact us with the following statement, making sure that you are fully aware of expected consequences:

I am fully aware that I want to disable one of the fundamental features of the protocol, effectively limiting my access to modern advancements and reverting to a pre-internet era of isolated networks that do not offer superior information protection. I request that federation be disabled for my server, understanding that this change will leave me with a partially functional server.