<!DOCTYPE HTML> <html lang="en" class="sidebar-visible no-js light"> <head> <!-- Book generated using mdBook --> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Welcome and Overview - Synapse</title> <!-- Custom HTML head --> <meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <meta name="description" content=""> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff" /> <link rel="icon" href="favicon.svg"> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.png"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/variables.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/general.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/chrome.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/print.css" media="print"> <!-- Fonts --> <link rel="stylesheet" href="FontAwesome/css/font-awesome.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="fonts/fonts.css"> <!-- Highlight.js Stylesheets --> <link rel="stylesheet" href="highlight.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="tomorrow-night.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="ayu-highlight.css"> <!-- Custom theme stylesheets --> <link rel="stylesheet" href="docs/website_files/table-of-contents.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="docs/website_files/remove-nav-buttons.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="docs/website_files/indent-section-headers.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="docs/website_files/version-picker.css"> </head> <body> <!-- Provide site root to javascript --> <script type="text/javascript"> var path_to_root = ""; var default_theme = window.matchMedia("(prefers-color-scheme: dark)").matches ? "navy" : "light"; </script> <!-- Work around some values being stored in localStorage wrapped in quotes --> <script type="text/javascript"> try { var theme = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-theme'); var sidebar = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-sidebar'); if (theme.startsWith('"') && theme.endsWith('"')) { localStorage.setItem('mdbook-theme', theme.slice(1, theme.length - 1)); } if (sidebar.startsWith('"') && sidebar.endsWith('"')) { localStorage.setItem('mdbook-sidebar', sidebar.slice(1, sidebar.length - 1)); } } catch (e) { } </script> <!-- Set the theme before any content is loaded, prevents flash --> <script type="text/javascript"> var theme; try { theme = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-theme'); } catch(e) { } if (theme === null || theme === undefined) { theme = default_theme; } var html = document.querySelector('html'); html.classList.remove('no-js') html.classList.remove('light') html.classList.add(theme); html.classList.add('js'); </script> <!-- Hide / unhide sidebar before it is displayed --> <script type="text/javascript"> var html = document.querySelector('html'); var sidebar = 'hidden'; if (document.body.clientWidth >= 1080) { try { sidebar = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-sidebar'); } catch(e) { } sidebar = sidebar || 'visible'; } html.classList.remove('sidebar-visible'); html.classList.add("sidebar-" + sidebar); </script> <nav id="sidebar" class="sidebar" aria-label="Table of contents"> <div class="sidebar-scrollbox"> <ol class="chapter"><li class="chapter-item expanded affix "><li class="part-title">Introduction</li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="welcome_and_overview.html" class="active">Welcome and Overview</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded affix "><li class="part-title">Setup</li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="setup/installation.html">Installation</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="postgres.html">Using Postgres</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="reverse_proxy.html">Configuring a Reverse Proxy</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="setup/forward_proxy.html">Configuring a Forward/Outbound Proxy</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="turn-howto.html">Configuring a Turn Server</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="setup/turn/coturn.html">coturn TURN server</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="setup/turn/eturnal.html">eturnal TURN server</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="delegate.html">Delegation</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded affix "><li class="part-title">Upgrading</li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="upgrade.html">Upgrading between Synapse Versions</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded affix "><li class="part-title">Usage</li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="federate.html">Federation</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/configuration/index.html">Configuration</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/configuration/config_documentation.html">Configuration Manual</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/configuration/homeserver_sample_config.html">Homeserver Sample Config File</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/configuration/logging_sample_config.html">Logging Sample Config File</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="structured_logging.html">Structured Logging</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="templates.html">Templates</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/configuration/user_authentication/index.html">User Authentication</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/configuration/user_authentication/single_sign_on/index.html">Single-Sign On</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="openid.html">OpenID Connect</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/configuration/user_authentication/single_sign_on/saml.html">SAML</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/configuration/user_authentication/single_sign_on/cas.html">CAS</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="sso_mapping_providers.html">SSO Mapping Providers</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="password_auth_providers.html">Password Auth Providers</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="jwt.html">JSON Web Tokens</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/configuration/user_authentication/refresh_tokens.html">Refresh Tokens</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="CAPTCHA_SETUP.html">Registration Captcha</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="application_services.html">Application Services</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="server_notices.html">Server Notices</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="consent_tracking.html">Consent Tracking</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="user_directory.html">User Directory</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="message_retention_policies.html">Message Retention Policies</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="modules/index.html">Pluggable Modules</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="modules/writing_a_module.html">Writing a module</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="modules/spam_checker_callbacks.html">Spam checker callbacks</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="modules/third_party_rules_callbacks.html">Third-party rules callbacks</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="modules/presence_router_callbacks.html">Presence router callbacks</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="modules/account_validity_callbacks.html">Account validity callbacks</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="modules/password_auth_provider_callbacks.html">Password auth provider callbacks</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="modules/background_update_controller_callbacks.html">Background update controller callbacks</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="modules/account_data_callbacks.html">Account data callbacks</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="modules/add_extra_fields_to_client_events_unsigned.html">Add extra fields to client events unsigned section callbacks</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="modules/porting_legacy_module.html">Porting a legacy module to the new interface</a></li></ol></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="workers.html">Workers</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="synctl_workers.html">Using synctl with Workers</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="systemd-with-workers/index.html">Systemd</a></li></ol></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/index.html">Administration</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/admin_api/index.html">Admin API</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/account_validity.html">Account Validity</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/admin_api/background_updates.html">Background Updates</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/event_reports.html">Event Reports</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/experimental_features.html">Experimental Features</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/media_admin_api.html">Media</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/purge_history_api.html">Purge History</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/register_api.html">Register Users</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/admin_api/registration_tokens.html">Registration Tokens</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/room_membership.html">Manipulate Room Membership</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/rooms.html">Rooms</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/server_notices.html">Server Notices</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/statistics.html">Statistics</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/user_admin_api.html">Users</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="admin_api/version_api.html">Server Version</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/admin_api/federation.html">Federation</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="manhole.html">Manhole</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="metrics-howto.html">Monitoring</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/monitoring/reporting_homeserver_usage_statistics.html">Reporting Homeserver Usage Statistics</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/monthly_active_users.html">Monthly Active Users</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/understanding_synapse_through_grafana_graphs.html">Understanding Synapse Through Grafana Graphs</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/useful_sql_for_admins.html">Useful SQL for Admins</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/database_maintenance_tools.html">Database Maintenance Tools</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/state_groups.html">State Groups</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/request_log.html">Request log format</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="usage/administration/admin_faq.html">Admin FAQ</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><div>Scripts</div></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><li class="part-title">Development</li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/contributing_guide.html">Contributing Guide</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="code_style.html">Code Style</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/reviews.html">Reviewing Code</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/releases.html">Release Cycle</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/git.html">Git Usage</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><div>Testing</div></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/demo.html">Demo scripts</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="opentracing.html">OpenTracing</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/database_schema.html">Database Schemas</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/experimental_features.html">Experimental features</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/dependencies.html">Dependency management</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><div>Synapse Architecture</div></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/synapse_architecture/cancellation.html">Cancellation</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="log_contexts.html">Log Contexts</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="replication.html">Replication</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/synapse_architecture/streams.html">Streams</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="tcp_replication.html">TCP Replication</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/synapse_architecture/faster_joins.html">Faster remote joins</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/internal_documentation/index.html">Internal Documentation</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><div>Single Sign-On</div></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/saml.html">SAML</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/cas.html">CAS</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="development/room-dag-concepts.html">Room DAG concepts</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><div>State Resolution</div></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="auth_chain_difference_algorithm.html">The Auth Chain Difference Algorithm</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="media_repository.html">Media Repository</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="room_and_user_statistics.html">Room and User Statistics</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><div>Scripts</div></li><li class="chapter-item expanded affix "><li class="part-title">Other</li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="deprecation_policy.html">Dependency Deprecation Policy</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="other/running_synapse_on_single_board_computers.html">Running Synapse on a Single-Board Computer</a></li></ol> </div> <div id="sidebar-resize-handle" class="sidebar-resize-handle"></div> </nav> <div id="page-wrapper" class="page-wrapper"> <div class="page"> <div id="menu-bar-hover-placeholder"></div> <div id="menu-bar" class="menu-bar sticky bordered"> <div class="left-buttons"> <button id="sidebar-toggle" class="icon-button" type="button" title="Toggle Table of Contents" aria-label="Toggle Table of Contents" aria-controls="sidebar"> <i class="fa fa-bars"></i> </button> <button id="theme-toggle" class="icon-button" type="button" title="Change theme" aria-label="Change theme" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="theme-list"> <i class="fa fa-paint-brush"></i> </button> <ul id="theme-list" class="theme-popup" aria-label="Themes" role="menu"> <li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="light">Light (default)</button></li> <li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="rust">Rust</button></li> <li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="coal">Coal</button></li> <li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="navy">Navy</button></li> <li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="ayu">Ayu</button></li> </ul> <button id="search-toggle" class="icon-button" type="button" title="Search. (Shortkey: s)" aria-label="Toggle Searchbar" aria-expanded="false" aria-keyshortcuts="S" aria-controls="searchbar"> <i class="fa fa-search"></i> </button> <div class="version-picker"> <div class="dropdown"> <div class="select"> <span></span> <i class="fa fa-chevron-down"></i> </div> <input type="hidden" name="version"> <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <!-- Versions will be added dynamically in version-picker.js --> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <h1 class="menu-title">Synapse</h1> <div class="right-buttons"> <a href="print.html" title="Print this book" aria-label="Print this book"> <i id="print-button" class="fa fa-print"></i> </a> <a href="https://github.com/element-hq/synapse" title="Git repository" aria-label="Git repository"> <i id="git-repository-button" class="fa fa-github"></i> </a> <a href="https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/edit/develop/docs/welcome_and_overview.md" title="Suggest an edit" aria-label="Suggest an edit"> <i id="git-edit-button" class="fa fa-edit"></i> </a> </div> </div> <div id="search-wrapper" class="hidden"> <form id="searchbar-outer" class="searchbar-outer"> <input type="search" id="searchbar" name="searchbar" placeholder="Search this book ..." aria-controls="searchresults-outer" aria-describedby="searchresults-header"> </form> <div id="searchresults-outer" class="searchresults-outer hidden"> <div id="searchresults-header" class="searchresults-header"></div> <ul id="searchresults"> </ul> </div> </div> <!-- Apply ARIA attributes after the sidebar and the sidebar toggle button are added to the DOM --> <script type="text/javascript"> document.getElementById('sidebar-toggle').setAttribute('aria-expanded', sidebar === 'visible'); document.getElementById('sidebar').setAttribute('aria-hidden', sidebar !== 'visible'); Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('#sidebar a')).forEach(function(link) { link.setAttribute('tabIndex', sidebar === 'visible' ? 0 : -1); }); </script> <div id="content" class="content"> <main> <!-- Page table of contents --> <div class="sidetoc"> <nav class="pagetoc"></nav> </div> <h1 id="introduction"><a class="header" href="#introduction">Introduction</a></h1> <p>Welcome to the documentation repository for Synapse, a <a href="https://matrix.org">Matrix</a> homeserver implementation developed by Element.</p> <h2 id="installing-and-using-synapse"><a class="header" href="#installing-and-using-synapse">Installing and using Synapse</a></h2> <p>This documentation covers topics for <strong>installation</strong>, <strong>configuration</strong> and <strong>maintenance</strong> of your Synapse process:</p> <ul> <li> <p>Learn how to <a href="setup/installation.html">install</a> and <a href="usage/configuration/config_documentation.html">configure</a> your own instance, perhaps with <a href="usage/configuration/user_authentication/index.html">Single Sign-On</a>.</p> </li> <li> <p>See how to <a href="upgrade.html">upgrade</a> between Synapse versions.</p> </li> <li> <p>Administer your instance using the <a href="usage/administration/admin_api/index.html">Admin API</a>, installing <a href="modules/index.html">pluggable modules</a>, or by accessing the <a href="manhole.html">manhole</a>.</p> </li> <li> <p>Learn how to <a href="usage/administration/request_log.html">read log lines</a>, configure <a href="usage/configuration/logging_sample_config.html">logging</a> or set up <a href="structured_logging.html">structured logging</a>.</p> </li> <li> <p>Scale Synapse through additional <a href="workers.html">worker processes</a>.</p> </li> <li> <p>Set up <a href="metrics-howto.html">monitoring and metrics</a> to keep an eye on your Synapse instance's performance.</p> </li> </ul> <h2 id="developing-on-synapse"><a class="header" href="#developing-on-synapse">Developing on Synapse</a></h2> <p>Contributions are welcome! Synapse is primarily written in <a href="https://python.org">Python</a>. As a developer, you may be interested in the following documentation:</p> <ul> <li> <p>Read the <a href="development/contributing_guide.html">Contributing Guide</a>. It is meant to walk new contributors through the process of developing and submitting a change to the Synapse codebase (which is <a href="https://github.com/element-hq/synapse">hosted on GitHub</a>).</p> </li> <li> <p>Set up your <a href="development/contributing_guide.html#2-what-do-i-need">development environment</a>, then learn how to <a href="development/contributing_guide.html#run-the-linters">lint</a> and <a href="development/contributing_guide.html#8-test-test-test">test</a> your code.</p> </li> <li> <p>Look at <a href="https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues">the issue tracker</a> for bugs to fix or features to add. If you're new, it may be best to start with those labeled <a href="https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22">good first issue</a>.</p> </li> <li> <p>Understand <a href="development/internal_documentation/index.html">how Synapse is built</a>, how to <a href="development/database_schema.html">migrate database schemas</a>, learn about <a href="federate.html">federation</a> and how to <a href="federate.html#running-a-demo-federation-of-synapses">set up a local federation</a> for development.</p> </li> <li> <p>We like to keep our <code>git</code> history clean. <a href="development/git.html">Learn</a> how to do so!</p> </li> <li> <p>And finally, contribute to this documentation! The source for which is <a href="https://github.com/element-hq/synapse/tree/develop/docs">located here</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <h2 id="reporting-a-security-vulnerability"><a class="header" href="#reporting-a-security-vulnerability">Reporting a security vulnerability</a></h2> <p>If you've found a security issue in Synapse or any other Matrix.org Foundation project, please report it to us in accordance with our <a href="https://www.matrix.org/security-disclosure-policy/">Security Disclosure Policy</a>. Thank you!</p> </main> <nav class="nav-wrapper" aria-label="Page navigation"> <!-- Mobile navigation buttons --> <a rel="next" href="setup/installation.html" class="mobile-nav-chapters next" title="Next chapter" aria-label="Next chapter" aria-keyshortcuts="Right"> <i class="fa fa-angle-right"></i> </a> <div style="clear: both"></div> </nav> </div> </div> <nav class="nav-wide-wrapper" aria-label="Page navigation"> <a rel="next" href="setup/installation.html" class="nav-chapters next" title="Next chapter" aria-label="Next chapter" aria-keyshortcuts="Right"> <i class="fa fa-angle-right"></i> </a> </nav> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> window.playground_copyable = true; </script> <script src="elasticlunr.min.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> <script src="mark.min.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> <script src="searcher.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> <script src="clipboard.min.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> <script src="highlight.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> <script src="book.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> <!-- Custom JS scripts --> <script type="text/javascript" src="docs/website_files/table-of-contents.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="docs/website_files/version-picker.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="docs/website_files/version.js"></script> </body> </html>