matrix-dimension/docs/installing.md

Installing Dimension

Note: Dimension is only supported in Element Web and Desktop at the moment. With some effort, it can be used in other clients or Element iOS/Android, though is not guaranteed to work. In future, this should be handled by an integration manager specification.

There are several options for installing Dimension. The easiest is dependent on how you have Element and your homeserver set up. If you're using matrix-docker-ansible-deploy, there are already options for configuring Dimension.

Step 0: Requirements

You will need a functioning homeserver (such as Synapse) and a client to access Dimension with. Currently, that means using Element Web or Desktop.

Additionally, you will need to be able to host Dimension on a dedicated domain. If your homeserver is set up for example.org, we recommend using dimension.example.org for Dimension.

Finally, this guide assumes you are running nginx as a webserver for Element, your homeserver, and Dimension. A basic configuration before setting up Dimension would be:

server {
    # Simple configuration for Synapse. Consult the Synapse documentation for however you would
    # like to run your homeserver.
    server_name example.org;
    listen 443 ssl;
    listen [::]:443 ssl;

    location /_matrix {
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8008;
    }
}

server {
    # Simple configuration for serving Element
    server_name chat.example.org;
    listen 443 ssl;
    listen [::]:443 ssl;

    root /var/www/html;
    index index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404.html;
    }
}

The SSL options are not shown. Using Let's Encrypt with nginx is fairly straightforward, however.

Note: If you're running Dimension in an unfederated environment, you'll have some additional setup to do. See unfederated.md for more information.

Step 1: Picking between Docker and building Dimension yourself

Docker images are provided as turt2live/matrix-dimension and require fewer resources than building it yourself.

If you're using Docker, create a directory at /etc/dimension (or wherever you'd like - just remember where it is!).

To build Dimension yourself, you'll need Node 10+, npm 6+, and 2-4gb of RAM. The following steps are enough to get you started:

# Download dimension
git clone https://github.com/turt2live/matrix-dimension.git
cd matrix-dimension

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build it
npm run build

Step 2: Configuring Dimension

Docker: Using the default config as an example, create a file at /etc/dimension/config.yaml.

Building: Copy config/default.yaml to config/production.yaml

After creating the file, open it in an editor like nano and start filling in the details. Don't forget to add your user ID as an admin in the configuration - this is important later!

If you're using Docker, leave the web port and address as-is. Dimension supports SQLite and PostgreSQL as the database. Make sure to configure the database section to look like this for SQLite:

database:
    file: "/data/dimension.db"
    botData: "/data/bot.json"

or for PostgreSQL:

database:
    uri: "postgres://admin:password@localhost:5432/matrix-dimension"
    botData: "/data/bot.json"

Step 3: Running Dimension

Docker:

docker run -d --name dimension -p 127.0.0.1:8184:8184 -v /etc/dimension:/data turt2live/matrix-dimension

Building:

NODE_ENV=production npm run start:app

If all went well, Dimension should now be running - there's still a bit more configuration to go though.

Step 4: Configuring nginx

Create a new server definition for your nginx server:

server {
    server_name dimension.example.org;
    listen 443 ssl;
    listen [::]:443 ssl;

    root /var/www/html;
    index index.html;

    location / {
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8184;
    }
}

Reload or restart nginx after creating the configuration.

Step 5: Final steps

If everything went according to plan, you should be able to visit https://dimension.example.org and see instructions for configuring Element. If you don't, your configuration isn't working as intended - double check that all the configuration is set up and visit #dimension:t2bot.io for further help.

After configuring Element, click the integrations button (4 squares in the top right of any room) and then click the gear icon. If you don't see a gear icon, you're not an admin in the config. This is where you'll configure different integrations as Dimension doesn't ship with anything enabled by default - click around and start enabling things.

Step 6: Updating and restarting Dimension

Docker:

docker pull turt2live/matrix-dimension
docker restart dimension

Building:

# Kill the running Dimension process, then...

git pull
npm run build
NODE_ENV=production npm run start:app