This Week in Matrix 2025-12-12

🔗Dept of Spec 📜

Andrew Morgan (anoa) {he/him} says

Here's your weekly spec update! The heart of Matrix is the specification - and this is modified by Matrix Spec Change (MSC) proposals. Learn more about how the process works at https://spec.matrix.org/proposals.

🔗MSC Status

New MSCs:

• MSC4388: Secure out-of-band channel for sign in with QR
• MSC4387: M_SAFETY error code
• MSC4386: Automatically sharing secrets after device verification

MSCs in Final Comment Period:

• No MSCs are in FCP.

Accepted MSCs:

• No MSCs were accepted this week.

Closed MSCs:

• MSC4124: Simple Server Authorization
  • Superseded by MSC4345: Server key identity and room membership.
• MSC4099: Participation based authorization for servers in the Matrix DAG
  • Superseded by MSC4345: Server key identity and room membership.
• MSC3953: Server capability DAG
  • Superseded by MSC4345: Server key identity and room membership.
• MSC4294: Ignore and mass ignore invites
  • Superseded by MSC4155: Invite Filtering

🔗Spec Updates

The Spec Core Team expects to release Matrix v1.17 next week with a few MSCs, along with some improvements to the spec website. Stay tuned for those!

Otherwise we're still working away at Matrix 2.0 MSCs - trying to keep them at the forefront while occasionally dipping into other MSCs. MSC4143: MatrixRTC, MSC4354: Sticky Events and MSC4186: Simplified Sliding Sync are the three currently being most actively worked on. The team appreciates your patience while the details are being hammered out.

🔗Dept of Servers 🏢

🔗Synapse (website)

Synapse is a Matrix homeserver implementation developed by Element.

Devon Dmytro announces

This week we released Synapse v1.144.0.

This release adds the following new features:

• Add experimental implementation of MSC4380 (invite blocking). (#19203)
• Delayed event timeouts can now be restarted from workers. #19207

... and a whole lot more!

Thank you to all our contributors for helping to make Synapse the best it can be. As always, feel free to stop by #synapse:matrix.org to join in on the discussion and if you encounter a bug make sure to report it here.

🔗Homeserver Deployment 📥️

🔗Element Server Suite (website)

Element Server Suite (ESS) is a backend hosting solution for Matrix-based communications that supports self-hosted and fully managed deployments.

Gaël G. says

ESS Community 25.12.1 and ESS Pro 25.12.1 have been released!

Both bring in upgrades of Synapse to v1.144.0, Matrix Authentication Service to v1.8.0 & Element Admin v0.1.10. Support for IPv4, IPv6 only or dual-stack clusters is now complete!

🔗Dept of Clients 📱

🔗Extera Next

OfficialDakari reports

After a long time, a new update of Extera Next finally arrives! We also decided to change our versioning scheme, so now it's 25.1.0.

🔗What's new?

• Brought back calls. They should work, just enable experimental video calls. Keep in mind that VoIP is still in beta! Also fixed screen sharing.
• Incoming calls now use system ringtone!
• Background downloads were a part of Extera since 2.1.0. And today, we are bringing them to Linux version!
• Removed chat filters, we replaced them with bottom navigation bar. Well, we just moved chat filters to navbar.
• Some fixes for polls: They are now visible to other clients.
• Revamped UI: room emote settings and user profile view.
• "About yourself" field. Now you can tell the world about yourself, remember to fit that into 256 characters tho. We used custom profile fields, this one is xyz.extera.about, a string field.
• Fixed search query leaking: Now you need to press Enter to start a global search.
• Some simple QoL changes: read receipts dialog and copying links to messages.

That's all for this update. You can already download binaries on our website!

🔗Element X iOS (website)

A total rewrite of Element iOS using the Matrix Rust SDK underneath and targeting devices running iOS 17+.

Mauro Romito announces

• Solved a bug that slowed down or made unreliable the room list
• On the spaces side the space settings work is pretty much complete and in QA
• We also added the ability to set the restricted and knock restricted space settings to a room/space, and provide a list of allowed spaces (such spaces` members won't need to be invited or knock the room to join it)
• We started working on linking another device through QR, which will allow EXI to generate a qr code that when scanned by another device, will allow an automatic verified login.
• However such feature will also work with EW, but the QR code is generated by EW, and scanned by EXI, allowing a seamless automatic verified login on EW.
• We are experimenting with the idea of bringing spaces in the room list, and how to best visualise them to provide the best possible UX

🔗Dept of Bots 🤖

morethanabitoff announces

I created two new matrix chat bots to help support the Northern Virginia Linux Users Group, but they are general enough that others could find them useful:

• A general help bot that also sends messages to people on joins. https://github.com/anewton1998/matrix-bot-help
• An iCal reminder bot, responds to !meeting and also sends periodic reminders: https://github.com/anewton1998/matrix-bot-ical

Both written in Rust using the very sweet matrix-rust-sdk.

🔗Dept of Events and Talks 🗣️

The one with the braid (she/her) ⚡ announces

Winter is coming! And winter for hackers means warm Punsch, comfy pullovers and of course the Chaos Communication Congress.

The Matrix Community was given space to meet and hang out on the 39th Chaos Communication COngress (39c3) at the Matrix Community Assembly. Apart from the assembly open during the entire congress, there will be an organized Matrix Community Meetup on Day 2, 2 p.m. CET.

Other Matrix highlights for 39c3:

• The Meet-Up Matrix-Uni-Admins on Day 3, 3 p.m. CET, right after the Community Meetup
• Various talks, meetups and Self-organized sessions to be published tagged matrix

The 39c3 requires a registration and paid tickets which are sold out in the official ticket shop. Late hackers might still gather a ticket at the official ticket marketplace avoiding shady 3rd party platforms.

• 👩🏽‍💻 Matrix Community Assembly and Matrix Community Meetup
• 🧕🏽 Hackers interested in Matrix who want to get in touch with other Community Members
• 🕰️ Day 2 (29th of December 2025) at 2 p.m.
• 🗺️ Matrix Community Assembly in c-base habitat, Halle H
• 🌐 39th Chaos Communication Congress, Hamburg, Germany
• 🎟️ Ticket for 39c3 required, no registration for Meetup or Assembly

Learn more:

• https://matrix-community.events/
• https://matrix.to/#/#community-events:matrix.org

🔗Matrix Federation Stats

Aine [etke.cc] reports

Collected by MatrixRooms.info - an MRS instance by etke.cc

As of today, 11868 Matrix federateable servers have been discovered by matrixrooms.info, 3237 (27.3%) of them are publishing their rooms directory over federation. The published directories contain 16670 rooms.

The most popular server software among the online servers is:

• synapse: 10154 (85.6%)
• conduit: 476 (4.0%)
• dendrite: 370 (3.1%)
• continuwuity: 322 (2.7%)

Stats timeline is available on 📊 MatrixRooms.info/stats

🧩 Integrations with apps and servers | 👉 How to add your server | 🙅 How to remove your server

🔗Dept of Ping

Here we reveal, rank, and applaud the homeservers with the lowest ping, as measured by pingbot, a maubot that you can host on your own server.

🔗#ping:maunium.net

Join #ping:maunium.net to experience the fun live, and to find out how to add YOUR server to the game.

🔗That's all I know

See you next week, and be sure to stop by #twim:matrix.org with your updates!

To learn more about how to prepare an entry for TWIM check out the TWIM guide.