Redirect the homeserver root path to any enabled web client, not just Element Web

Visiting the homeserver's root path used to redirect to Element Web,
but only when Element Web was the client the playbook installed. People
running Cinny, Commet, FluffyChat, Hydrogen, SchildiChat or Sable landed
on a bare homeserver page instead.

The wiring now builds matrix_playbook_public_client_urls — the public
URLs of every playbook-managed web client which is enabled, ordered by
preference — and redirects to the first of them. Element Web stays
first, so existing setups redirect exactly where they did before.

The URL is computed once and shared by all five homeserver
implementations, which each carried their own copy of the old
Element-Web-only expression. It honours each client's own scheme,
hostname and path prefix, so a client served under a subpath now gets
linked correctly.

Supersedes https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy/pull/5513

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 # 2026-08-13
 
+## The homeserver root path redirects to clients other than Element Web
+
+Visiting `https://matrix.example.com/` used to redirect you to [Element Web](docs/configuring-playbook-client-element-web.md), but only if Element Web was the client installed by the playbook. With any of the other web clients (Cinny, Commet, FluffyChat, Hydrogen, SchildiChat, Sable), you would land on a bare Synapse page.
+
+The redirection now follows whichever of these clients you have enabled. When several are enabled, Element Web wins, followed by the others in the order that [`group_vars/matrix_servers`](group_vars/matrix_servers) lists them.
+
+To send people somewhere else (or nowhere at all), define `matrix_playbook_public_client_root_redirection_url` in your `vars.yml` file. An empty value disables the redirection.
+
 ## Support for Meowlnir
 
 The playbook can now install [Meowlnir](https://github.com/maunium/meowlnir), an opinionated Matrix moderation bot, optimized for Synapse.

group_vars/matrix_servers

@@ -60,6 +60,31 @@ matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_config_http3_ena
 # and affects how services configure their public URLs.
 matrix_federation_traefik_entrypoint_tls: "{{ traefik_config_entrypoint_web_secure_enabled }}"
 
+# The public URLs of all playbook-managed Matrix client (web) applications which are enabled,
+# ordered by preference (that is: the same order that these clients are wired up in this file).
+matrix_playbook_public_client_urls: |
+  {{
+    ([matrix_client_element_scheme + '://' + matrix_client_element_hostname + matrix_client_element_path_prefix] if matrix_client_element_enabled else [])
+    +
+    ([matrix_client_commet_scheme + '://' + matrix_client_commet_hostname + matrix_client_commet_path_prefix] if matrix_client_commet_enabled else [])
+    +
+    ([hydrogen_scheme + '://' + hydrogen_hostname + hydrogen_path_prefix] if hydrogen_enabled else [])
+    +
+    ([cinny_scheme + '://' + cinny_hostname + cinny_path_prefix] if cinny_enabled else [])
+    +
+    ([sable_scheme + '://' + sable_hostname + sable_path_prefix] if sable_enabled else [])
+    +
+    ([matrix_client_schildichat_scheme + '://' + matrix_client_schildichat_hostname + matrix_client_schildichat_path_prefix] if matrix_client_schildichat_enabled else [])
+    +
+    ([matrix_client_fluffychat_scheme + '://' + matrix_client_fluffychat_hostname + matrix_client_fluffychat_path_prefix] if matrix_client_fluffychat_enabled else [])
+  }}
+
+# The URL that requests hitting the homeserver's root path (`/`) are redirected to.
+#
+# It points to the most-preferred playbook-managed client (see `matrix_playbook_public_client_urls`),
+# or is empty (no redirection) if no such client is enabled.
+matrix_playbook_public_client_root_redirection_url: "{{ matrix_playbook_public_client_urls | first | default('', true) }}"
+
 ########################################################################
 #                                                                      #
 # /Playbook                                                            #
@@ -5028,7 +5053,7 @@ matrix_synapse_container_labels_traefik_compression_middleware_name: "{{ matrix_
 matrix_synapse_container_labels_matrix_labels_enabled: "{{ not matrix_synapse_workers_enabled }}"
 
 matrix_synapse_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_enabled: "{{ matrix_synapse_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url != '' }}"
-matrix_synapse_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url: "{{ (('https://' if matrix_playbook_ssl_enabled else 'http://') + matrix_server_fqn_element) if matrix_client_element_enabled else '' }}"
+matrix_synapse_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url: "{{ matrix_playbook_public_client_root_redirection_url }}"
 
 matrix_synapse_container_labels_public_client_synapse_admin_api_enabled: "{{ matrix_ketesa_enabled or matrix_element_admin_enabled }}"
 matrix_synapse_container_labels_internal_client_synapse_admin_api_enabled: "{{ (matrix_bot_draupnir_enabled and matrix_bot_draupnir_admin_api_enabled) }}"
@@ -5855,7 +5880,7 @@ matrix_dendrite_container_labels_traefik_tls_certResolver: "{{ traefik_certResol
 matrix_dendrite_container_labels_public_client_synapse_admin_api_enabled: "{{ matrix_ketesa_enabled }}"
 
 matrix_dendrite_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_enabled: "{{ matrix_dendrite_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url != '' }}"
-matrix_dendrite_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url: "{{ (('https://' if matrix_playbook_ssl_enabled else 'http://') + matrix_server_fqn_element) if matrix_client_element_enabled else '' }}"
+matrix_dendrite_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url: "{{ matrix_playbook_public_client_root_redirection_url }}"
 
 matrix_dendrite_container_labels_public_federation_api_traefik_hostname: "{{ matrix_server_fqn_matrix_federation }}"
 matrix_dendrite_container_labels_public_federation_api_traefik_entrypoints: "{{ matrix_federation_traefik_entrypoint_name }}"
@@ -5938,7 +5963,7 @@ matrix_conduit_container_labels_traefik_entrypoints: "{{ traefik_entrypoint_prim
 matrix_conduit_container_labels_traefik_tls_certResolver: "{{ traefik_certResolver_primary }}"
 
 matrix_conduit_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_enabled: "{{ matrix_conduit_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url != '' }}"
-matrix_conduit_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url: "{{ (('https://' if matrix_playbook_ssl_enabled else 'http://') + matrix_server_fqn_element) if matrix_client_element_enabled else '' }}"
+matrix_conduit_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url: "{{ matrix_playbook_public_client_root_redirection_url }}"
 
 matrix_conduit_container_labels_public_federation_api_traefik_hostname: "{{ matrix_server_fqn_matrix_federation }}"
 matrix_conduit_container_labels_public_federation_api_traefik_entrypoints: "{{ matrix_federation_traefik_entrypoint_name }}"
@@ -5996,7 +6021,7 @@ matrix_continuwuity_container_labels_traefik_entrypoints: "{{ traefik_entrypoint
 matrix_continuwuity_container_labels_traefik_tls_certResolver: "{{ traefik_certResolver_primary }}"
 
 matrix_continuwuity_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_enabled: "{{ matrix_continuwuity_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url != '' }}"
-matrix_continuwuity_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url: "{{ (('https://' if matrix_playbook_ssl_enabled else 'http://') + matrix_server_fqn_element) if matrix_client_element_enabled else '' }}"
+matrix_continuwuity_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url: "{{ matrix_playbook_public_client_root_redirection_url }}"
 
 matrix_continuwuity_container_labels_public_federation_api_traefik_hostname: "{{ matrix_server_fqn_matrix_federation }}"
 matrix_continuwuity_container_labels_public_federation_api_traefik_entrypoints: "{{ matrix_federation_traefik_entrypoint_name }}"
@@ -6057,7 +6082,7 @@ matrix_tuwunel_container_labels_traefik_entrypoints: "{{ traefik_entrypoint_prim
 matrix_tuwunel_container_labels_traefik_tls_certResolver: "{{ traefik_certResolver_primary }}"
 
 matrix_tuwunel_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_enabled: "{{ matrix_tuwunel_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url != '' }}"
-matrix_tuwunel_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url: "{{ (('https://' if matrix_playbook_ssl_enabled else 'http://') + matrix_server_fqn_element) if matrix_client_element_enabled else '' }}"
+matrix_tuwunel_container_labels_public_client_root_redirection_url: "{{ matrix_playbook_public_client_root_redirection_url }}"
 
 matrix_tuwunel_container_labels_public_client_synapse_admin_api_enabled: "{{ matrix_ketesa_enabled or matrix_element_admin_enabled }}"
 matrix_tuwunel_container_labels_internal_client_synapse_admin_api_enabled: "{{ (matrix_bot_draupnir_enabled and matrix_bot_draupnir_admin_api_enabled) }}"