Element

Element is a web client used to interact with your Matrix server. You can use Element and Matrix to talk/chat/communicate with other Matrix server users around the world.

This documentation is for users and administrators, not those wanting to install.

Access to Element is at: https://element.domain.com where “domain.com” is your domain name.

Logging into Element

Your Element credentials are as follows:

Homeserver: https://matrix.domain.com where “domain.com” is your domain name.
Username: your email address for your Federated Core
Password: your password for your Federated Core

You will see a login page the first time you connect to Element.

Even though there is an option for “Create Account”, new accounts are turned off so that random folks from the internet can’t get onto your server. Accounts for Federated Core are create in “Panel” (with the exception of Listmonk, Vaultwarden, Baserow, Gitea).

Click the “Sign In” buttton.

Your Matrix server should be automatically filled in for the “Homeserver”.

Username: your Federated Core email address.
Password: your Federated Core password.

Note: the “Forget password” functionality doesn’t work since user accounts are managed outside Element and Matrix.

Click the “Sign in” button.

You’re in Element using your own personal Matrix server. You can “federated” with the 100s of thousands of other Matrix servers around the globe. Check out the official user documentation below.

Important Note About Keys

Element and Matrix are end-to-end encrypted so that no one can snoop on your communications. However, this functionality comes with some responsibility. You need to backup your keys so that you can have access to your conversations when you decide to use the desktop or mobile Element application to connect with your Matrix server, log out and want to log back in, etc.

Let’s walk through the process of backing up your keys.

Using the small circle that represents your account, click the circle and choose the option for “All settings”.

Once in “All settings”, choose the option for “Security & Privacy”.

You want to select the option for “Set up Secure Backup”. This will bring you to the “Set up Secure Backup” dialog.

We recommend using the “Generate a Security Key” option. Click “Continue”. You will be shown your key and ask how your want to save it.

It is VERY important that you save this key is a secure place. You can use your Federated Core installation of Vaultwarden to save the key. This key is used when logging into the Element/Matrix service on your Federated Core elsewhere and you want to verify your identity.

Official Element User Documentation

For additional information about using Element, please consult the user documentation. Some of this documentation may not be relevant to your own installation of Element/Matrix based on how users are managed on your Federated Core.