An alternative integrations manager for Riot.im.

Configuring Riot to use Dimension

Change the values in Riot's config.json as shown below. If you do not have a config.json, copy the config.sample.json from Riot.

"integrations_ui_url": "https://dimension.t2bot.io/riot",
"integrations_rest_url": "https://dimension.t2bot.io/api/v1/scalar",
"integrations_widgets_urls": ["https://dimension.t2bot.io/widgets"],

The remaining settings should be tailored for your Riot deployment. If you're self-hosting Dimension, replace "dimension.t2bot.io" with your Dimension URL.

Running your own

Prerequisites:

• NodeJS 8 or higher
• npm 5 or higher (npm install -g npm@latest)
• TypeScript 2.6 or higher (npm install -g typescript)
• A webserver running Riot

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

# Edit the configuration to your specifications.
# Be sure to add yourself as an admin!
cp config/default.yaml config/production.yaml
nano config/production.yaml

# Run
NODE_ENV=production npm run start:app

If you didn't change the port, Dimension should now be running on port 8184. It's best to set up your environment so that Dimension runs on a dedicated subdomain that is not the same as your Riot domain. This is to help keep Riot and Dimension safe and secure.

In your Riot config.json, set the integration manager to be your Dimension URL. Replace dimension.t2bot.io in the example above (under "Configuring Riot to use Dimension") with your Dimension URLs.

After Riot has been configured to use Dimension, refresh Riot and click the "Integrations" button in the top right of the room. It should be an icon that looks like this:

That button should open Dimension. If you've configured everything correctly, you'll see a gear icon in the top right of the window - click this to start editing your integrations.

Running Dimension behind nginx

1. Follow the steps outlined above.
2. Set the host for Dimension to listen on to localhost or 127.0.0.1
3. Restart Dimension (CTRL+C and run NODE_ENV=production npm run start:app again)
4. Set up the following reverse proxy information as applicable

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

   Be sure to also configure any SSL offloading.

"Could not contact integrations server" error

1. Check that federation is enabled and working on your homeserver. Even in a private, or non-federated environment, the federation API still needs to be accessible. If federation is a major concern, limit the servers that can use the API by IP or install Dimension on the same server as your homeserver, only exposing federation to localhost.
2. Check your SRV records. If you are using SRV records to point to your federation port, make sure that the hostname and port are correct, and that HTTPS is listening on that port. Dimension will use the first record it sees and will only communicate over HTTPS.
3. Log out of Riot and log back in. When switching from the default integrations manager (Scalar) to Dimension the authentication tokens can change. Logging out and back in will reset this token, allowing Dimension to work. More advanced users can delete the "mx_scalar_token" localstorage key.

Development

For information on how to run Dimension in a local environment, and for information about how the project is structured, see DEVELOPMENT.md

Do I need an integrations manager?

Integration managers aim to ease a user's interaction with the various services a homeserver may provide. Often times the integrations manager provided by Riot.im, named Modular, is more than suitable. However, there are a few cases where running your own makes more sense:

• Wanting to self-host all aspects of your Riot install
• Wanting to advertise custom bots specific to your homeserver
• Corporate or closed environments where Modular's integrations won't work

How do integration managers work?

Integration managers sit between your users and your integrations (bots, bridges, etc). It helps guide users through the configuration of your integrations for their rooms. The integrations manager can only manage integrations it is configured for. For example, Modular can only provide configuration for the bridges and bots running on matrix.org, while Dimension can provide configuration for your own bots and bridges.

The infrastructure diagram looks something like this:

+-----------+         +----------------------+                          +--------------------+
|           |========>|                      |=========================>|                    |
|           |         | Integrations Manager |                          | Bots, bridges, etc |
|           |         |     (Dimension)      |    +-------------+       | (go-neb, irc, etc) |
|  Clients  |         |                      |===>|             |<=====>|                    |
|  (Riot)   |         +----------------------+    |  Homeserver |       +--------------------+
|           |                                     |  (synapse)  |
|           |============client/server API=======>|             |
+-----------+                                     +-------------+

License

For information about Dimension's license, please see the LICENSE file included in this repository.