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.
- A Synapse homeserver (see the warning below)
- The Matrix RTC (Real-Time Communication) stack (automatically done when Element Call is enabled)
- 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).
- (Optional) Guest accounts being enabled for your Matrix server, if you'd like guests to be able to use Element Call. See Allowing guests to use Element Call
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.
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). Note that unless you allow guest accounts to use Element Call, you will still need a Matrix user account on the same homeserver to be able to use Element Call.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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: trueBy 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.comWarning
A matrix_element_call_path_prefix variable 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.
By default, Element Call can only be used by people having accounts on your Matrix server.
If you'd like guests to be able to use Element Call as well, you need to enable guest accounts support for your homeserver.
Warning
Enabling guest accounts means that your homeserver's user database may get polluted with guest account signups (potentially made by bots). Guest accounts should be limited in what (damage) they can do to your server and the rest of the Matrix ecosystem, but it's better to not enable them unless necessary.
For Synapse (the default homeserver implementation), the configuration is like this:
matrix_synapse_allow_guest_access: trueFor Dendrite, the configuration is like this:
matrix_dendrite_guests_disabled: falseAfter 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,startThe 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.
Once installed, Element Call integrates seamlessly with Matrix clients like Element Web and Element X on mobile (iOS and Android).