6.8 KiB
Setting up Element Call (optional)
The playbook can install and configure Element Call and its supporting components that are part of the Matrix RTC stack.
Element Call is a native Matrix video conferencing application developed by Element, designed for secure, scalable, privacy-respecting, and decentralized video and voice calls over the Matrix protocol. Built on MatrixRTC (MSC4143), it utilizes MSC4195 with LiveKit Server as its backend.
See the project’s documentation to learn more.
Prerequisites
- A Synapse homeserver (see the warning below)
- The Matrix RTC (Real-Time Communication) stack
- A client compatible with Element Call. As of 2025-03-15, that’s just Element Web and the Element X mobile clients (iOS and Android).
[!WARNING] Because Element Call requires a few experimental features in the Matrix protocol, it’s very likely that it only works with the Synapse homeserver.
Decide between Element Call vs just the Matrix RTC stack
All clients that can currently use Element Call (Element Web and Element X on mobile) already embed the Element Call frontend within them. These clients will use their own embedded Element Call frontend, so self-hosting the Element Call frontend by the playbook is largely unnecessary.
💡 A reason you may wish to continue installing the Element Call frontend (despite Matrix clients not making use of it), is if you need to use it standalone - directly via a browser (without a Matrix client).
The playbook makes a distiction between enabling Element Call (matrix_element_call_enabled) and enabling the Matrix RTC Stack (matrix_rtc_enabled). Enabling Element Call automatically enables the Matrix RTC stack. Because installing the Element Call frontend is now unnecessary, we recommend only installing the Matrix RTC stack, without the Element Call frontend.
| Description / Variable | Element Call frontend | LiveKit Server | LiveKit JWT Service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Description | Static website that provides the Element Call UI (but often embedded by clients) | Scalable, multi-user conferencing solution based on WebRTC | A helper component that allows Element Call to integrate with LiveKit Server |
| Required for Element Call to function | No | Yes | Yes |
matrix_element_call_enabled |
✅ Installed | ✅ Installed | ✅ Installed |
matrix_rtc_enabled |
❌ Not Installed, but usually unnecessary | ✅ Installed | ✅ Installed |
All documentation below assumes that you’ve decided to install Element Call and not just the Matrix RTC stack.
Decide on a domain and path
By default, the Element Call frontend is configured to be served on the call.element.example.com domain.
If you’d like to run Element Call on another hostname, see the Adjusting the Element Call URL section below.
Adjusting DNS records
By default, this playbook installs Element Call on the call.element. subdomain (call.element.example.com) and requires you to create a CNAME record for call.element, which targets matrix.example.com.
When setting these values, replace example.com with your own.
All dependency services for Element Call (LiveKit Server and Livekit JWT Service) are installed and configured automatically by the playbook. By default, these services are installed on subpaths on the matrix. domain (e.g. /livekit-server, /livekit-jwt-service), so no DNS record adjustments are required for them.
Adjusting firewall rules
In addition to the HTTP/HTTPS ports (which you’ve already exposed as per the prerequisites document), you’ll also need to open ports required by LiveKit Server as described in its own Adjusting firewall rules section.
Adjusting the playbook configuration
Add the following configuration to your inventory/host_vars/matrix.example.com/vars.yml file:
# Enable the Element Call frontend UI to allow standalone use of Element Call.
# Enabling this also auto-enables the Matrix RTC stack.
matrix_element_call_enabled: true
Adjusting the Element Call URL (optional)
By tweaking the matrix_element_call_hostname variable, you can easily make the service available at a different hostname than the default one.
Example additional configuration for your vars.yml file:
matrix_element_call_hostname: element-call.example.com
[!WARNING] A
matrix_element_call_path_prefixvariable is also available and mean to let you configure a path prefix for the Element Call service, but Element Call does not support running under a sub-path yet.
Installing
After configuring the playbook and potentially adjusting your DNS records and adjusting firewall rules, run the playbook with playbook tags as below:
ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-all,start
The shortcut commands with the just program are also available: just install-all or just setup-all
just install-all is useful for maintaining your setup quickly (2x-5x faster than just setup-all) when its components remain unchanged. If you adjust your vars.yml to remove other components, you’d need to run just setup-all, or these components will still remain installed. Note these shortcuts run the ensure-matrix-users-created tag too.
Usage
Once installed, Element Call integrates seamlessly with Matrix clients like Element Web and Element X on mobile (iOS and Android).