Matrix Homeserver on NixOS

• Prerequisites
• Setup
• Create Admin Account
• Verify
• Notes
• NGINX Reverse Proxy Configurarion

Prerequisites

• NixOS installed
• Domain with DNS pointing to server (A/AAAA Record matrix.domain.tld)
• Port 443

Setup

1. Clone to /etc/nixos (or copy files)
2. Edit matrix.nix line 7: change enter-your-domain to your domain
3. Copy your hardware-configuration.nix into the directory
4. Rebuild:

nixos-rebuild switch --flake /etc/nixos#nixos-matrix

Create Admin Account

sudo matrix-synapse-register_new_matrix_user

Prompts for: username, password, admin (y/n)

Verify

systemctl status matrix-synapse postgresql nginx

Test federation: https://federationtester.matrix.org

Notes

• Registration disabled by default (enable_registration = false)
• PostgreSQL configured automatically
• Intended usecase ipv6 lxc container with remote reverse proxy

NGINX Reverse Proxy Configurarion

• Create nginx config with this location
• issue Lets Encrypt cert via certbot for example
• nginx will handle everything

    location / {
      proxy_pass https://[ipv6_lxc];
      proxy_ssl_verify off;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
      proxy_set_header Host $host;
 
      # Increase body size for media uploads (federation can send large files too)
      client_max_body_size 100M;
    }