# Synapse Docker This Docker image will run Synapse as a single process. By default it uses a sqlite database; for production use you should connect it to a separate postgres database. The image also does *not* provide a TURN server. ## Volumes By default, the image expects a single volume, located at ``/data``, that will hold: * configuration files; * temporary files during uploads; * uploaded media and thumbnails; * the SQLite database if you do not configure postgres; * the appservices configuration. You are free to use separate volumes depending on storage endpoints at your disposal. For instance, ``/data/media`` could be stored on a large but low performance hdd storage while other files could be stored on high performance endpoints. In order to setup an application service, simply create an ``appservices`` directory in the data volume and write the application service Yaml configuration file there. Multiple application services are supported. ## Generating a configuration file The first step is to generate a valid config file. To do this, you can run the image with the `generate` command line option. You will need to specify values for the `SYNAPSE_SERVER_NAME` and `SYNAPSE_REPORT_STATS` environment variable, and mount a docker volume to store the configuration on. For example: ``` docker run -it --rm \ --mount type=volume,src=synapse-data,dst=/data \ -e SYNAPSE_SERVER_NAME=my.matrix.host \ -e SYNAPSE_REPORT_STATS=yes \ matrixdotorg/synapse:latest generate ``` For information on picking a suitable server name, see https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/blob/master/INSTALL.md. The above command will generate a `homeserver.yaml` in (typically) `/var/lib/docker/volumes/synapse-data/_data`. You should check this file, and customise it to your needs. The following environment variables are supported in `generate` mode: * `SYNAPSE_SERVER_NAME` (mandatory): the server public hostname. * `SYNAPSE_REPORT_STATS` (mandatory, `yes` or `no`): whether to enable anonymous statistics reporting. * `SYNAPSE_CONFIG_DIR`: where additional config files (such as the log config and event signing key) will be stored. Defaults to `/data`. * `SYNAPSE_CONFIG_PATH`: path to the file to be generated. Defaults to `<SYNAPSE_CONFIG_DIR>/homeserver.yaml`. * `SYNAPSE_DATA_DIR`: where the generated config will put persistent data such as the database and media store. Defaults to `/data`. * `UID`, `GID`: the user id and group id to use for creating the data directories. Defaults to `991`, `991`. ## Running synapse Once you have a valid configuration file, you can start synapse as follows: ``` docker run -d --name synapse \ --mount type=volume,src=synapse-data,dst=/data \ -p 8008:8008 \ matrixdotorg/synapse:latest ``` You can then check that it has started correctly with: ``` docker logs synapse ``` If all is well, you should now be able to connect to http://localhost:8008 and see a confirmation message. The following environment variables are supported in run mode: * `SYNAPSE_CONFIG_DIR`: where additional config files are stored. Defaults to `/data`. * `SYNAPSE_CONFIG_PATH`: path to the config file. Defaults to `<SYNAPSE_CONFIG_DIR>/homeserver.yaml`. * `SYNAPSE_WORKER`: module to execute, used when running synapse with workers. Defaults to `synapse.app.homeserver`, which is suitable for non-worker mode. * `UID`, `GID`: the user and group id to run Synapse as. Defaults to `991`, `991`. * `TZ`: the [timezone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones) the container will run with. Defaults to `UTC`. ## TLS support The default configuration exposes a single HTTP port: http://localhost:8008. It is suitable for local testing, but for any practical use, you will either need to use a reverse proxy, or configure Synapse to expose an HTTPS port. For documentation on using a reverse proxy, see https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/blob/master/docs/reverse_proxy.md. For more information on enabling TLS support in synapse itself, see https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/blob/master/INSTALL.md#tls-certificates. Of course, you will need to expose the TLS port from the container with a `-p` argument to `docker run`. ## Legacy dynamic configuration file support The docker image used to support creating a dynamic configuration file based on environment variables. This is no longer supported, and an error will be raised if you try to run synapse without a config file. It is, however, possible to generate a static configuration file based on the environment variables that were previously used. To do this, run the docker container once with the environment variables set, and `migrate_config` command line option. For example: ``` docker run -it --rm \ --mount type=volume,src=synapse-data,dst=/data \ -e SYNAPSE_SERVER_NAME=my.matrix.host \ -e SYNAPSE_REPORT_STATS=yes \ matrixdotorg/synapse:latest migrate_config ``` This will generate the same configuration file as the legacy mode used, and will store it in `/data/homeserver.yaml`. You can then use it as shown above at [Running synapse](#running-synapse). Note that the defaults used in this configuration file may be different to those when generating a new config file with `generate`: for example, TLS is enabled by default in this mode. You are encouraged to inspect the generated configuration file and edit it to ensure it meets your needs. ## Building the image If you need to build the image from a Synapse checkout, use the following `docker build` command from the repo's root: ``` docker build -t matrixdotorg/synapse -f docker/Dockerfile . ``` You can choose to build a different docker image by changing the value of the `-f` flag to point to another Dockerfile.