On Wednesday we pre-disclosed a major security update on the horizon (codename Hydra) to improve state resets and related federation issues in Matrix. This requires a coordinated security release across all Matrix servers, so that servers running in untrusted federations (e.g. the public Matrix network) can speak the upcoming new room version (v12).
We have just pushed back the date for the coordinated security release to Aug 11th 2025, as we've heard a lot of feedback that 6 days wasn't enough for clients/bots/bridge/tooling developers to test the changes introduced by room v12, and that it also doesn't give enough time for community admins to prepare for the necessary room upgrades. Underestimating the time needed here for client/community testing is entirely our fault, due to being overfocused on coordinating the significant serverside work needed. Pushing back the release date by 3 weeks gives everyone more time to test and prepare. We've also opened up registration on the beta.matrix.org homeserver, which is already running v12 rooms by default, to make it easier for client developers to test their clients. We've also made one clarification below for client developers, explaining the new permissions needed to send m.room.tombstone events.
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 highlight: Room IDs as hashes of the create event
You may have noticed some placeholder MSCs being opened in the past half a year. One of them has now received content ahead of the others:
MSC4291 redefines room IDs to be the hash of the m.room.create event. As a part of the change, the server name component is being removed. If any software you maintain assumes that the server name is present in room IDs, you should stop parsing room IDs or at least fail gracefully if the server name isn't there.
We're going to propose FCP on MSC4291 in the next few days and a new stable room version including that and other security-sensitive changes from the placeholder MSCs is expected to follow relatively soon as well.
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.
This week we're thrilled to welcome Rocket.Chat as the newest Silver Member of the Foundation! We're grateful to say they are also sponsoring The Matrix Conference this year.
Matrix 1.15 is the latest release of the spec, bringing next-gen auth via OIDC, rich room topics, and room summaries to the ecosystem. All of these features have existed for quite a while in practice, but took a while to get through the final design and proposal stages. We're glad they're here though, and improving Matrix for everyone along the way.
Typically when a user is banned for 'spam', a bot or human operator will go forth and redact pretty much everything that user has ever sent in the room, so why not make that happen automatically? MSC4293: Redact on ban does just that, and was put up for proposed final comment period (FCP) this week. At this stage in the process the Spec Core Team (SCT) will be giving it more thorough review with an aim of including it in a future version of the spec - if you haven't already reviewed it, now would be a great time 🙂
Our second annual Governing Board election has come to a close! Huge thanks to all the candidates and voters. We're extremely grateful to everyone who served in the precedent-setting first cohort that we elected last year.
Special thanks to outgoing representatives Cleo Menezes Jr., Kevin Boos, Sumner Evans, and Thor Arne Johansen, congratulations to the incumbents who were re-elected, and welcome to our new incoming representatives, Christian Kußowski and Gnuxie! Find more info on our blog.
Earlier Today, the Matrix.org Foundation announced its plans to introduce Premium Accounts to fund the matrix.org homeserver. This requires little to no change for client developers.
Voting for the Governing Board elections begins this weekend! 🎉 Watch your email inbox if you're an Individual Member, or the point of contact for a Silver, Gold, or Associate Member, as that's where your ballot will be sent. Visit our election center for more information.
I have decided that I will not stand for re-election in the upcoming Governing Board elections, however I have made a few endorsements for candidates. See my endorsement blog post.
If you are interested in lending a hand, volunteer to help us organize the conference, or join the Events WG!
We're grateful to Element for committing to being our Anchor Sponsor for the Matrix Conference 2025. To make this an excellent event, we are looking for further sponsors! Many opportunities are still available, including booths to present your product, live stream and video recording for worldwide recognition, food, and more! Your ideas are possible; contact us at [email protected]!
Meet the nominees for the Governing Board and swing by the election rooms to ask questions and get to know them better. Huge thanks to all of the nominees for stepping up to serve the community! Voting begins on May 31st.
We are excited to announce that The Matrix Conference will happen in Strasbourg from October 15 to 18!
Following last year's success, we bumped our capacity to accept more than 300 attendees this year.
The nomination period for this years's governing board electionsends tonight (UTC)! If you're an Individual, Silver, Gold, or Associate member, submit your nomination here!
Tomorrow (UTC), the 2 week campaigning period begins officially, but you are already allowed to campaign, for example in the official Governing Board campaigning rooms.
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