Native Federation is currently in Alpha and not recommended for production use. Expect breaking changes and limited functionality. Use in testing environments only.
Federation in Rocket.Chat enables users on different servers to communicate across instances while maintaining a decentralized structure. It allows workspaces to securely exchange messages and share resources across a federated network, supporting collaboration with external partners, customers, and organizations. Starting with version 7.11, Rocket.Chat introduces Native Federation, a fully native implementation of the Matrix protocol. Unlike the earlier setup that relied on the external Matrix/Synapse homeserver, Native Federation is built directly into Rocket.Chat, eliminating the need for external services and databases. By leveraging the Matrix protocol, Rocket.Chat ensures secure, decentralized, and interoperable communication, strengthening both collaboration and data protection across connected networks.
Supported features
Rocket.Chat Native Federation is currently in alpha and under active development. While not yet production-ready, it includes the following features that enable cross-server communication and collaboration. The following capabilities are supported in the current implementation:
Messaging: Send, receive, edit, and delete messages across federated servers.
Message Interactions: Use reactions, mentions, quotes, and threads in conversations.
File Sharing: Share files, including audio recordings, between federated users.
Room Participation: Join and leave federated rooms.
Direct Messaging: Send and receive direct messages across servers.
Room Management: Update room details such as name and topic.
Room Role Management: Manage room owners and moderators.
Presence Synchronization: Reflect the user’s online/offline status across federated servers. (not recommended for performance reasons)
Federation Domain Control: Configure allowed domains for federation.
Typing Indicators: Typing indicators are supported.
Mentions: Mentioning federated users across different workspaces and other Matrix clients.
Limitations in the Alpha Release
As the Native Federation is currently in alpha, several features are not yet implemented. The following limitations apply to the current release:
End-to-End Encryption: Encrypted rooms and messages are not supported.
Public Room Discovery: Searching for public rooms on remote servers is unavailable.
User Avatars: Avatar synchronization between federated servers is not supported.
Message History: Loading past history of large rooms is limited or unavailable.
Read Receipts: Read receipts do not function across federated servers.
Auto-Translation: Message auto-translation occurs only on the Rocket.Chat side and is not propagated to federated servers due to the matrix protocol's lack of support.
Discussions: Federated support for discussions is not available. These remain local to Rocket.Chat and is not supported by the Matrix protocol.
Room History Access for Remote Users: Remote users cannot access pre-existing room history upon joining, due to the absence of a backfill route.
File Upload Limits: File attachments are limited to a maximum size of 50 MB. Files larger than 50MB are available in the sender's workspace but are not propagated to the receiving workspace.
Room and User Deletion: Deletions performed in Rocket.Chat (e.g., removing a room or user) are not synchronized with federated instances. These actions must be manually managed to maintain consistency across systems.
Scaling Constraints: As Native Federation is currently in alpha, it has significant scalability limitations. The feature is not optimized for large-scale or high-throughput environments. Organizations should not use Federation in production until further performance improvements and official scaling guidance are released.
Connectivity Requirements: Since Native Federation remains in alpha, it has not been validated under unstable or low-reliability network conditions. While it supports both continuous and intermittent connectivity, critical use cases relying on consistent synchronization may fail or behave unpredictably.
Legacy Room Compatibility Issues: Federated rooms created under the old implementation, which relied on an external Matrix home server, will no longer function.