Rocket.Chat is team chat, with channels, threads and direct messages, and proper apps for phones and computers. It's a good fit for a club, a volunteer group or a small business.
On this page
Good to know before you install
Phone push notifications, usage statistics, cloud registration and the update check are off, so nothing is sent to Rocket.Chat, and phones get no alerts while the app is closed; each can be turned on in this app's Privacy settings. Community edition is MIT; its enterprise features are proprietary.
At a glance#
- What it is
- Team Chat & Video Communication
- Where it opens
- Web Interface
On its own port at
http://your-server:port, orrocketchat.your-domainonce you have a domain - Updates
- Automatic A backup is taken first, and it rolls back if the update fails
- Backups
- Included Part of the daily backup when that's switched on
- Copies
- As many as you like Run several copies, each with its own data
What it's good for#
If your group's chat currently lives in a WhatsApp group that's grown too big, Rocket.Chat is the grown-up version: public and private channels for each topic, threads so side conversations don't swamp the main one, direct messages, file sharing, search through everything, and roles for who can do what. It has its own apps for Android, iPhone, Windows, macOS and Linux, so people can use it like any other chat app.
LibrePortal has a few chat servers, and they suit different groups. Mattermost is similar and a little more work-focused. Stoat feels like Discord, with servers and voice channels. Matrix talks to other servers. Rocket.Chat is the most complete of the "one workspace for our group" kind.
The free edition has a user limit
Rocket.Chat's free Starter plan is for small teams: up to 50 users, according to Rocket.Chat. A household or a club won't notice, but a larger group should check Rocket.Chat's current plans before settling in.
Signing in#
LibrePortal creates the first administrator for you on the very first start, and skips Rocket.Chat's setup wizard, so nobody else can claim the workspace. Open it with the Web Interface button and sign in as admin (or with the email address shown) and the password from the Login Details shown when the install finished; press Welcome on the app's page to see it again.
Keep the admin password in step
The Tools tab signs in to Rocket.Chat as that admin to do its work. If you change the admin's password inside Rocket.Chat, the tools stop working. To change it, run Reset User Password on the Tools tab for admin, which changes it in Rocket.Chat and in LibrePortal together.
Adding people#
The Tools tab is the easy way to make accounts, with no email needed.
- Run Create User Account with the person's email address. Leave the username and password empty to have them made for you, and tick Make admin only for people who should run the workspace with you.
- Send them the address, their username and the password, and ask them to change the password once they're in.
Reset User Password (leave it empty to generate one), Set Admin Status and List Users do what they say. Deactivate User Account stops someone signing in but keeps their messages; Enable User Account lets them back in.
Whether people can sign themselves up is Rocket.Chat's own setting, in its Administration area under the account and registration settings. If your Rocket.Chat is public, make sure that's set the way you want. To check: confirm Rocket.Chat 8.7's default registration form setting on a fresh LibrePortal install, and the exact menu path
The apps#
Install Rocket.Chat from your phone's app store, or the desktop app from rocket.chat, and add a workspace with your Rocket.Chat's address, exactly as you open it in the browser, like https://rocketchat.example.com. Then sign in as usual.
Notifications on phones
Push notifications on the phone apps travel through Rocket.Chat's own gateway, which only serves workspaces registered with Rocket.Chat's cloud service. Without that, the apps still work, but you won't be pinged when a message arrives while the app is closed. To check: confirm how registration for push works on Rocket.Chat 8.x self-hosted, and whether the phone apps accept a plain http:// address or need HTTPS
Good to know#
- Use a domain if people join from outside. Rocket.Chat is told its own address when it's installed and builds its links around it. It works on
http://192.168.1.50:portat home, but for a group scattered around, a domain with HTTPS is what the phone apps and people's patience want. If you add one later, press Update Configuration on its Config tab. - It isn't behind Authelia, and shouldn't be: an extra sign-in page in front would stop the phone and desktop apps connecting.
- It's a bigger app. It runs with its own MongoDB database, so give it a minute or two on the first start.
- Updates. Fixes to the version you have arrive automatically. Moving to a newer Rocket.Chat release is a deliberate step, with Upgrade on its Updates tab, because each one changes the database.
- Backups include the database and uploaded files.
- More than one copy is possible, each a separate workspace.
Addresses and ports#
Rocket.Chat has one port. LibrePortal picks a free port number for each when you install, so yours will differ from anyone else's. The Config tab's Network section shows them, and the app's Open button uses the right one. "Anyone" means it's reachable from wherever your server is reachable; you can make it private later.
| What it is | Who can reach it | With a domain |
|---|---|---|
| Web Interface | Anyone | rocketchat.your-domain |
Settings#
In its config file#
Rocket.Chat's own settings aren't on the Config tab yet. They live in the app's config file, described here so you know they exist. How to change them.
| Setting | What it does | Starts as |
|---|---|---|
NameCFG_ROCKETCHAT_DISPLAY_NAME |
What this app is called on your dashboards. Leave empty to use its usual name | Empty |
Show on the LibrePortal DashboardCFG_ROCKETCHAT_SHOW_ON_DASHBOARD |
Whether this app gets a shortcut on the front page of the LibrePortal WebUI, separate from any Dashy dashboard Choices: true, false |
true |
Usage StatisticsCFG_ROCKETCHAT_TELEMETRY |
Whether Rocket.Chat may send usage statistics to Rocket.Chat Choices: true, false |
false |
Cloud RegistrationCFG_ROCKETCHAT_CLOUD |
Whether this server may register with Rocket.Chat Cloud Choices: true, false |
false |
Update CheckCFG_ROCKETCHAT_UPDATE_CHECK |
Whether Rocket.Chat may ask Rocket.Chat's servers about new versions and news Choices: true, false |
false |
Phone Notifications GatewayCFG_ROCKETCHAT_PUSH_RELAY |
Whether phone notifications may pass through Rocket.Chat's push gateway Choices: true, false |
false |
Detailed logsCFG_ROCKETCHAT_VERBOSE_LOGS |
Whether Rocket.Chat writes its normal, chattier logs, including who connected, instead of only warnings and errors. Choices: true, false |
false |
Debug logging for 24 hoursCFG_ROCKETCHAT_DEBUG_LOGS |
Turn on to see everything Rocket.Chat is doing while you look for a problem; it turns itself off after 24 hours. Choices: true, false |
false |
Tools#
Rocket.Chat's Tools tab has 6 buttons for jobs you'd otherwise need a terminal for. Each one runs as a task, so you can watch it on the Tasks page and read what it did. More about Tools.
Add a Rocket.Chat user. Tick "Make admin" for full rights.
Every account, with roles and whether it is deactivated.
Set a new password for an existing user.
Grant or revoke the admin role.
Revoke access without deleting messages. Reversible from Admin → Users.
Undo a deactivation and let the account sign in again.
Works with#
These are the other apps Rocket.Chat knows how to work with. Once it's installed, its page shows the same list with whether each one is connected. How this works.
- Email: Sends invitations, password resets and offline-message emails through your mail server, from an account of its own. Needs the mail server to have a real certificate. LibrePortal sets this up by itself when both are installed.
- Grafana: Shows dashboards for the apps that have one. works with every app
- Prometheus: Collects metrics from the apps that can export them. works with every app
- Uptime Kuma: Watches your apps and shows when one goes down. works with every app
Privacy and security#
Worth knowing Rocket.Chat keeps messages on your server. LibrePortal switches off its usage statistics, workspace registration and update check; phone notifications still go through Rocket.Chat's gateway.
What leaves this server#
- Phone notifications go through Rocket.Chat's push gateway, which sees notification details
- Link previews fetch the pages people paste
What LibrePortal turns off#
- Detailed logs and per-request access logging (switchable in Config)
- Usage statistics (switchable in Config)
- Cloud workspace registration (switchable in Config)
- Update check (switchable in Config)
Licence: MIT for the community code; the ee/ (enterprise) parts are under a proprietary licence (open core). Audited: 21 October 2026. See the privacy of every app and the Promise.
Sources#
Under the hood#
- It runs these images:
rocketchat/rocket.chat:8.7.0@sha256:4bee1481cecee3e77207fb851743fabc829f0bacf0da1fc3141de3f41b34a4ab,mongo:8.0.34@sha256:b9924c330a8bbc5800fe9c69f04a84e221eca7b28fd049a0354147d9908fa142. - It can sit behind Authelia's sign-in once Authelia is installed.
- Its own project and documentation: github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat
Ports, settings, tools and connections on this page are read from LibrePortal v0.10.97's app catalogue each time the guide is built.
