Jorvik

A self-hosted Matrix client built to feel like Discord. Spaces are servers. Rooms are channels. End-to-end encryption is on by default.

Runs as a web app or a native desktop client (Windows · macOS · Linux).

More screenshots

What makes it different:

• Discord-style spaces and channels on top of the open Matrix protocol
• Voice channels — self-hosted, no third-party infra required
• Custom emoji per space and personal packs
• Fully self-hostable in minutes via Docker Compose

Jorvik is a rebrand and continuation of Heorot by Vitosicz, the project this client grew out of. Full credit to that work — the architecture, the Discord-shaped take on Matrix and most of this codebase started there.

Internal identifiers deliberately keep the heorot name: the com.heorot.* state event types are written into real rooms, so renaming them would orphan existing data, and @heorot/* are the workspace package names.

Heavily inspired by Element Web. Parts of the client logic and architecture are derived from the Element codebase and adapted for a different UX approach.

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Status

Personal open-source experiment — alpha stage. Core features work, rough edges remain. Breaking changes between updates are possible.

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Goals

• Community-first Matrix UX with Discord-like interaction patterns
• Strong self-hosting support — one domain, one compose file
• Privacy by default: E2EE on, no analytics, no telemetry
• Open protocol, open source

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Features

Messaging

• Channels and DMs with replies and message editing
• Reactions with custom emoji support (per-space and personal emoji packs)
• Read receipts and typing indicators
• Inline image viewer (lightbox)
• Pinned messages

Voice (requires heorot-voice-relay)

• Voice channels alongside text channels
• Mic mute / audio mute
• Live participant list
• Auto-discovery via /.well-known/matrix/client

Spaces (servers)

• Space hierarchy: spaces contain channels, categories keep them organized
• Channel ordering — manual drag-and-drop or activity-sorted
• Collapsible categories
• Discoverable channels within a space
• Space and channel settings, visibility controls, member management, role permissions

Security

• End-to-end encryption via Rust Crypto WASM (matrix-sdk-crypto)
• Cross-signing and device verification (SAS and QR code)
• Key backup and security recovery (secret storage)
• Forced verification mode (server-configurable)

User experience

• Online/offline/away presence indicators
• User profiles with avatar and roles
• Resizable channel sidebar
• Appearance themes (light / dark)
• Notification sounds

Desktop extras (Electron)

• Native window with titlebar overlay
• Screen sharing and system audio capture (Windows)
• Window state persistence across restarts
• Authenticated media (no token-in-URL)

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Stack

Layer	Technology
UI	React 19, TypeScript, Vite
Matrix	matrix-js-sdk 40.x, Rust Crypto WASM
Voice	LiveKit client
Desktop	Electron 34, electron-builder
Package manager	pnpm 10

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Prerequisites

• Node.js 22 LTS (or later)
• pnpm 10+ (or npm 10+)
• A Matrix homeserver (e.g. Synapse)

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Quick start (web)

git clone https://github.com/jorvikapp/jorvik.git
cd jorvik
pnpm install

Copy the example config and point it at your homeserver:

cp apps/web/config.example.json apps/web/config.json

Edit apps/web/config.json:

{
  "default_server_config": {
    "m.homeserver": {
      "base_url": "https://matrix.example.com",
      "server_name": "matrix.example.com"
    }
  },
  "brand": "Jorvik",
  "disable_guests": false,
  "disable_custom_urls": false,
  "force_verification": false,
  "voice_enabled": false
}

Start the dev server:

pnpm dev:web
# → http://localhost:5173

Build for production:

pnpm build:web
# Output: apps/web/dist/

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Desktop (Electron)

Requires the web app to be built first.

# Development
pnpm dev:desktop

# Windows installer (.exe)
pnpm dist:desktop

# Linux AppImage
pnpm dist:linux

# macOS DMG (unsigned, local dev)
pnpm dist:mac:universal:unsigned

macOS signed release requires APPLE_TEAM_ID, APPLE_ID, APPLE_APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD, CSC_LINK, and CSC_KEY_PASSWORD — see apps/desktop/package.json for the full command.

Linux setup

Some Linux environments fail on Windows-targeted install scripts during pnpm install. Use the safe path:

pnpm setup:linux

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Configuration reference (config.json)

Key	Type	Default	Description
default_server_config	object	—	Default homeserver and identity server
brand	string	"Jorvik"	App name shown in the UI
disable_guests	boolean	false	Hide guest login option
disable_custom_urls	boolean	false	Lock to the default homeserver
force_verification	boolean	false	Require device verification before access
voice_enabled	boolean	false	Enable voice channel UI
voice_service_url	string	—	Base URL of heorot-voice-relay (e.g. https://matrix.example.com)
livekit_ws_url	string	—	LiveKit WebSocket URL (legacy, overridden by discovery)
enable_presence_by_hs_url	object	{}	Map of homeserver URLs to presence opt-in

The app also supports voice auto-discovery via /.well-known/matrix/client — if the relay is running, voice_service_url can be omitted.

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Voice channels

Voice requires two additional services:

• heorot-voice-relay — Matrix-authenticated token service
• LiveKit — media server

heorot-voice-relay ships a ready-made Docker Compose stack (Synapse + LiveKit + relay + Caddy with auto TLS). Three commands from zero to running:

cp .env.example .env          # set your domain and LiveKit keys (5 placeholders)
docker compose up -d           # starts all four services

# Create the first admin (one-time):
docker compose exec synapse register_new_matrix_user -c /data/homeserver.yaml http://localhost:8008

# Get an admin access token (log in as the admin you just created):
curl -s -X POST "https://your-domain.com/_matrix/client/v3/login" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"type":"m.login.password","user":"admin","password":"your_password"}' \
  | grep -o '"access_token":"[^"]*"'

# Create a registration token so others can sign up:
curl -X POST "https://your-domain.com/_synapse/admin/v1/registration_tokens/new" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token_from_above>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"uses_allowed": 10}'
# Users enter the token on the registration screen.
# Omit uses_allowed for an unlimited token, or add "expiry_time" (unix ms) to expire it.

Then set "voice_enabled": true in config.json — the relay URL is auto-discovered via /.well-known/matrix/client.

See heorot-voice-relay for the full setup guide.

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All commands

# From repo root — pnpm
pnpm dev:web
pnpm dev:desktop
pnpm build:web
pnpm build:desktop
pnpm dist:desktop       # Windows
pnpm dist:linux         # Linux AppImage
pnpm dist:mac           # macOS DMG (unsigned)

# Tests
pnpm --filter @heorot/web test

# Type checking
pnpm typecheck

# From repo root — npm
npm run dev:web
npm run dev:desktop
npm run build:web
npm run build:desktop

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Known limitations

• Alpha stage — UX and some settings flows are still evolving
• No auto-updater — update by pulling the repo and rebuilding
• No push notifications — browser/OS notifications only while the app is open
• Voice media is direct UDP — RTP traffic cannot go through an HTTP proxy; clients need UDP access to LiveKit or an external TURN server
• End-to-end tests — coverage is unit tests only; integration and E2E test suite is not yet in place

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Roadmap

Planned:

• Mobile clients (Android / iOS)
• Push notifications
• Voice participant limit and scaling improvements
• Federation UX improvements

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Contributing

1. Fork and clone the repo
2. Install dependencies: pnpm install
3. Start dev server: pnpm dev:web
4. Make your changes and open a pull request

Bug reports and feature requests are welcome via GitHub Issues.

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License

AGPL-3.0