synadm - the Matrix-Synapse admin CLI

About
Prerequisites
Installation
- Install from PyPI
- Install from git
Configuration
Usage
- Command Line Reference
- Advanced Usage
Update
- Update PyPI Package
- Update git Installation
Implementation Status / Commands List
Get in Touch
Contributing

About

A CLI tool to help admins of Matrix-Synapse homeservers conveniently issue commands available via its admin API.

Prerequisites

Python 3.6+
a running Synapse instance
an admin-enabled user on the instance
the admin user's access token

synadm is designed to run either directly on the host running the Synapse instance or on a remote machine able to access Synapse's API port. Synapse's default admin API endpoint address usually is http://localhost:8008/_synapse/admin or https://localhost:8448/_synapse/admin.

Installation

Install from PyPI

pip3 install synadm

Install from git

1. Check Python Version

python3 --version should show at least v3.6.x

2. Clone Repo:

git clone https://github.com/joj0/synadm

3. Install Package Globally

This will install synadm and all dependent Python packages to your system's global Python site-packages directory:

cd synadm
sudo pip install .

Note: If you get an import error for setuptools, make sure the package is installed. Debian based systems: sudo apt install python3-setuptools, RedHat based: sudo yum install python3-setuptools

4. Run

synadm should now run fine without having to add a path in front of it:

synadm -h

Note: Usually setuptools installs a command wrapper to /usr/local/bin/synadm, but that depends on your system.

Note: In case you don't want synadm to be installed to a global system directory, you can find an alternative way of installing in the contribution docs.

Note: synadm is multi-user aware - it stores its configuration inside the executing user's home directory. See chapter configuration.

Configuration

Getting an Admin Token

To find out your admin user's token in Element-Web: Login as this user - "Click User Avatar" - "All Settings" - "Help & About" - Scroll down - "Advanced" - "Access Token"

Or use synadm to fetch a token already. Use the fully qualified Matrix ID of the admin user:

synadm matrix login @admin_username:yourdomain.org
Password:

If you issue this command in a fresh synadm installation, the configurator will launch anyway.

Answer the questions.
Set token to "invalid" at first, to convience synadm to launch the matrix login command (otherwise you'd get a "Configuration incomplete" error).
After successfully entering your admin password you will be presented a token which you can finally set by re-launching the configurator as described below.

The configurator

synadm asks for necessary configuration items on first launch automatically. Also whenever new mandatory configuration items where added (eg after an update), the user will be prompted for missing items automatically.

Configuration can be changed any time by launching the configurator directly:

synadm config

Configuration will be saved in ~/.config/synadm.yaml

Note: Be aware that once you configured synadm, your admin user's token is saved in the configuration file. On Posix compatible systems permissions are set to mode 0600, on other OS's it is your responsibilty to change permissions accordingly.

matrix-docker-ansible-deploy

To use synadm with Synapse homeservers that were installed using matrix-docker-ansible-deploy you have two options.

Access the Synapse Admin API's "via the public endpoint" similar to a Matrix client.

In vars.yaml set matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_matrix_client_api_forwarded_location_synapse_admin_api_enabled: true.
The API's are accessible on the Client-Server API port, at https://matrix.DOMAIN.
Install synadm on your Docker host or on a separate machine.
Configure synadm to access at https://matrix.DOMAIN:443/_synapse/admin

Alternatively, you can access the API's on the container network matrix.

Synapse is accessible via the hostname matrix-synapse resolved by the internal Docker DNS server.
The containers are connected internally via a network named matrix by default.
Start a container on that same network and install synadm into it.
Configure synadm to access at http://matrix-synapse:8008/_synapse/admin (http here, not https).

Find some more details about the topic in this issue post on the matrix-docker-ansible-deploy repo.

Note that currently synadm is using a part of the Server-Server (Federation) API (keys/v2/server) to retrieve "its own homeserver name". This affects some of the media management commands. By default and also as the Matrix spec recommends, this API is not accessible via the Client-Server API port. We are working on a better solution to retrieve the own servername but as a workaround the key API's can be exposed by setting matrix_synapse_http_listener_resource_names: ["client","keys"] in vars.yaml.

Find more details about the topic here.

Usage

Use the online help of the main command:

synadm -h

and of the available subcommands:

synadm version -h
synadm user -h
synadm room -h

You even can spare the -h option, synadm will show some abbreviated help for the executed subcommand anyway. For example:

synadm user

synadm user details

will show essential help for the particular subcommand right away.

Note: A list of currently available commands is found in chapter implementation status / commands list as well as in the following chapter.

Command Line Reference

A detailed Command Line Reference can be found in synadm's readthedocs documentation.

Advanced Usage

Examples of how synadm can be used in shell scripts and oneliners is provided in the Scripting Examples docs chapter.

Update

Update PyPI Package

pip3 install synadm --upgrade

Update git Installation

To update synadm to the latest development state, just update your git repo and reinstall:

cd synadm
git pull
pip install .

Note: If you installed it to a Python venv, activate it.

Note: If you installed it in editable mode (or for development), you can spare the pip install . command - just git pull and you're done.

Implementation Status / Commands List

Follow this link to the official Synapse Admin API docs - direct links to the specific API documentation pages are provided in the list below.

Note: Most commands have several optional arguments available. Put -h after any of the below listed commands to view them or have a look at the Command Line Reference.

Get in Touch

If you need advice on using synadm, have a feature idea or would like to discuss anything else around synadm, get in touch via Matrix!

We are hanging around in the official support room for Synapse, #synapse:matrix.org. Usually you'll find synadm users there that might answer your questions already. If not, mentioning synadm will ping us with the help of Element's keyword notify feature and we'll try to get in touch.

The most direct way to reach synadm maintainers as well as seasoned users and Synapse admins is by joining #synadm:peek-a-boo.at.

If you are sure you've found a bug that was not already reported, certainly directly opening an issue on GitHub is a valid option too. If unsure, ask in #synadm:peek-a-boo.at first.

Contributing

First of all, thanks for your interest in contributing to synadm! We appreciate any help, no matter if you are a programmer or a user. Both groups can do valuable things for the synadm project. We love providing a useful tool to fellow Synapse sysadmins but rely on contribution from the Synapse and Matrix community to keep synadm useful, current and stable.

Please review the contributing docs for guidelines and help around the topic!

JOJ0/synadm

JOJ0

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