Connecting Matrix

Matrix is an open chat network, a bit like email. Your agent gets its own free account, with no bot to register.

Before you start#

• About 10 minutes, and no credit card or approval wait.
• Element, the most common Matrix app, free at https://element.io.
• A password for your agent’s new account, kept in a password manager.

Turn encryption off#

Element encrypts every direct message end to end, and Archie isn’t one of the devices holding the keys, so your agent couldn’t read a word.

1. On the computer Archie is on, open Element in your browser and choose “Create Account”. If you already use Matrix, sign out first: this account is for your agent.

   https://app.element.ioCopy

   Doing it here saves sending the address and password from a phone.

2. Sign up on matrix.org (the default) with a username for your agent, like this one. Save the password in your password manager.

   my_agent_botCopy

3. Click your avatar at the top left, then All settings. Your agent’s full address is at the top of the General tab, like @my_agent_bot:matrix.org, with the username you chose.

4. Paste that address and the password into the two boxes on Archie’s Chat app card, then press Connect. Archie signs in once and keeps only a login token, so your password isn’t stored.

5. Sign out of Element and sign back in as YOURSELF (your own Matrix account, or a new one), so you can invite your agent.

6. Create a room: the + beside Rooms → New room. Name it anything; “My Agent” works.

7. Before you create it, turn OFF “Enable end-to-end encryption”. This can’t be undone later.

8. In the new room, choose Invite and enter your agent’s address, the same one you pasted into Archie.

9. Switch on your agent in Archie. It accepts the invitation on its own; then say hi in the room.

You’ll know it worked when#

The Matrix row on Archie’s Chat app card says connected in green, and your agent is in the room’s member list, no longer “invited”. Your agent won’t answer until you claim it: say hi and it asks for a six-digit code. The Claim your agent guide covers this.

If something goes wrong#

• “Your homeserver rejected that sign-in”: nearly always the address. Use all of it, @name:matrix.org, with the @ and the server after the colon. Otherwise it’s the password: sign in to Element with it to check.
• Your agent says it can’t read the room: the room is encrypted for good. Make a new one with encryption off and invite your agent there.
• Nothing happens when you write: check the agent is switched on in Archie and has joined the room.
• Buttons aren’t tappable: Matrix has none, so your agent lists the choices and you type one back.

Removing Archie’s access#

Sign in to Element as your agent, open Settings → Sessions, and sign out the session named “Archie”.