3 ms·

Are there any guides or examples of chat rooms for open source projects using Matrix? We would like GitHub integration, strong spam/moderation features, and av

Are there any guides or examples of chat rooms for open source projects using Matrix? We would like GitHub integration, strong spam/moderation features, and avoid the hassle of self-hosting. gitter.im used to provide those, but they were lost in the Matrix switch.

kgodey 4y ago
We use Matrix for our open source project: https://wiki.mathesar.org/en/community/matrix https://wiki.mathesar.org/en/community/matrix. We self-host a Synapse homeserver, but there's no reason why you can't set up a community on one of the big existing servers (e.g. matrix.org). Their Spaces feature allows you to package groups of channels together. I set up Maubot for GitHub integration: https://github.com/maubot/github https://github.com/maubot/github. There are moderation features, but we haven't had to use them.
Arathorn 4y ago
Matrix's moderation should be at least as good as Gitter. The GitHub integration is okay (it lets you create/comment/resolve issues using your GitHub identity from Matrix, and also can expose GitHub issues as Matrix rooms using https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-hookshot https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-hookshot). It's not quite as tightly integrated as GitHub was to Gitter though, but we're working on putting it in the Right Panel. Some example Matrix communities which seem to work well include Mozilla (chat.mozilla.org), GNOME (https://matrix.to/#/#community:gnome.org https://matrix.to/#/#community:gnome.org) and KDE (https://webchat.kde.org/ https://webchat.kde.org/). Smaller ones include folks like Helix editor: https://matrix.to/#/#helix-community:matrix.org https://matrix.to/#/#helix-community:matrix.org. I don't think anyone's written a guide for getting up and running though, which in retrospect is a crying shame; we'll get it on the todo list. (p.s. thanks for Hex Fiend! :D)
- faho 4y ago
  >Matrix's moderation should be at least as good as Gitter Well, yes and no. The moderation features might be the same, but: 1. It's a lot easier to make matrix accounts, especially if you run your own server. 2. The user interface for blocking an entire server is basically missing? The only thing I can find has you run a bot to do it? So if someone with their own homeserver wants to troll you, you end up playing wack-a-mole unless you self-host a bot. At least that's the best I can find so far.
IceWreck 4y ago
OSS projects that use matrix for official comms (of the top of my head) - Fedora, Ansible, sonixd, binrw, gotosocial, helix and ofc matrix & associated project.
jeroenhd 4y ago
Gnome, KDE, and Mozilla seem to use Matrix (with bridges where necessary). Those are quite big players in the open source space. I don't know how well the public Github bots will work for your use case. The moderation tools are also relatively crude in my experience; at the protocol level reports/ACLs/reporting is quite easy to use, but there's no easy Matrix moderator frontend that I know of. There's a bot (mjolnir) but not a separate UI. You can pay people to host your Matrix server or you can use the public home servers to set up your community/spaces. Self hosting usually isn't necessary.
Klonoar 4y ago
I mean, define "GitHub integration". It's relatively straightforward to put a bot together that just emits webhook notifications - otherwise Maubot seems to be the route of choice here.

kgodey 4y ago

We use Matrix for our open source project: https://wiki.mathesar.org/en/community/matrix https://wiki.mathesar.org/en/community/matrix. We self-host a Synapse homeserver, but there's no reason why you can't set up a community on one of the big existing servers (e.g. matrix.org). Their Spaces feature allows you to package groups of channels together. I set up Maubot for GitHub integration: https://github.com/maubot/github https://github.com/maubot/github. There are moderation features, but we haven't had to use them.

Arathorn 4y ago

Matrix's moderation should be at least as good as Gitter. The GitHub integration is okay (it lets you create/comment/resolve issues using your GitHub identity from Matrix, and also can expose GitHub issues as Matrix rooms using https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-hookshot https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-hookshot). It's not quite as tightly integrated as GitHub was to Gitter though, but we're working on putting it in the Right Panel. Some example Matrix communities which seem to work well include Mozilla (chat.mozilla.org), GNOME (https://matrix.to/#/#community:gnome.org https://matrix.to/#/#community:gnome.org) and KDE (https://webchat.kde.org/ https://webchat.kde.org/). Smaller ones include folks like Helix editor: https://matrix.to/#/#helix-community:matrix.org https://matrix.to/#/#helix-community:matrix.org. I don't think anyone's written a guide for getting up and running though, which in retrospect is a crying shame; we'll get it on the todo list. (p.s. thanks for Hex Fiend! :D)

faho 4y ago
>Matrix's moderation should be at least as good as Gitter Well, yes and no. The moderation features might be the same, but: 1. It's a lot easier to make matrix accounts, especially if you run your own server. 2. The user interface for blocking an entire server is basically missing? The only thing I can find has you run a bot to do it? So if someone with their own homeserver wants to troll you, you end up playing wack-a-mole unless you self-host a bot. At least that's the best I can find so far.

IceWreck 4y ago

OSS projects that use matrix for official comms (of the top of my head) - Fedora, Ansible, sonixd, binrw, gotosocial, helix and ofc matrix & associated project.

jeroenhd 4y ago

Gnome, KDE, and Mozilla seem to use Matrix (with bridges where necessary). Those are quite big players in the open source space. I don't know how well the public Github bots will work for your use case. The moderation tools are also relatively crude in my experience; at the protocol level reports/ACLs/reporting is quite easy to use, but there's no easy Matrix moderator frontend that I know of. There's a bot (mjolnir) but not a separate UI. You can pay people to host your Matrix server or you can use the public home servers to set up your community/spaces. Self hosting usually isn't necessary.

Klonoar 4y ago

I mean, define "GitHub integration". It's relatively straightforward to put a bot together that just emits webhook notifications - otherwise Maubot seems to be the route of choice here.