Bundled apps

Antimatter's Docker images come with a set of apps (plugins, in the System Console). This page lists them, says which are on after installing, and covers the settings each one needs from an administrator.

The bundled apps

Apps are listed as Plugins in the System Console. They are in the image (in /antimatter/prepackaged_plugins), signed with the Antimatter app signing key, so they install without an Internet connection.

The release archive and the .deb and .rpm packages include fewer apps: see Apps in the packages and the archive.

Apps that are on by default are installed at each start if they aren't yet, or upgraded if the image has a newer version. If you turn one off, it stays off: the default only applies to apps the configuration doesn't mention yet. Apps that keep their Mattermost id (AI chat, Calls and the integrations) are Antimatter's own builds.

Kanban (focalboard) and Playbooks (playbooks) aren't bundled with the server or either image any more: install the one you want from its own GitHub release (see Apps in the packages and the archive), like any other app that isn't bundled by default. A server that already has one installed keeps it across an upgrade. Both stay Antimatter's own builds: the Marketplace's vanilla builds of them never replace Antimatter's.

Enable, disable and configure apps

Go to System Console › Plugins › Plugin Management. Under Installed Plugins, each app has Enable or Disable, Settings and Remove, and shows its state (Running, Not running, Failed to start…). Each app with settings also has its own page under System Console › Plugins.

The bundled apps that are off by default are installed from the image's own copy: click your picture at the top of the app rail and choose App Marketplace (in the classic interface, it is in the product menu), find the app and click Install, then enable it in Plugin Management. From the command line:

docker compose exec antimatter amctl --local plugin marketplace install github
docker compose exec antimatter amctl --local plugin enable github

Other commands: amctl plugin list, amctl plugin disable <id>, amctl plugin delete <id>.

Enable apps through the configuration

Which apps are on is the setting PluginSettings.PluginStates, a map of app ids. You can merge entries into it with amctl; with Enable Automatic Prepackaged Plugins on (the default), an enabled bundled app is installed at the next start:

docker compose exec -T antimatter amctl --local config patch /dev/stdin <<'EOF'
{"PluginSettings": {"PluginStates": {"com.mattermost.plugin-todo": {"Enable": true}}}}
EOF
docker compose restart antimatter

This is also how to install Todo, which is not offered in the Marketplace dialog. The variable AM_PLUGINSETTINGS_PLUGINSTATES also works, but it replaces the whole map: list every app you want on.

App settings

App settings are stored under PluginSettings.Plugins.<app id>, with keys in lower case. Change them in the app's System Console page, or with amctl config patch as shown in Configuration. AM_PLUGINSETTINGS_PLUGINS replaces the settings of every app at once and locks them all, so avoid it.

GIFs

The GIFs app adds a GIF and sticker tab to the emoji picker, backed by Antimatter's GIF service (gifs-server), which speaks the Tenor API. The site's compose file runs the service and configures the app through variables. Its settings, in System Console › Plugins › GIFs:

For this app, the variables are only fallbacks: a value set in the System Console wins over them. If the GIF picker stays empty, check the service URL and the API key on that page.

While the GIFs app is set up, its tab replaces the built-in Giphy picker (System Console › Integrations › GIF › Enable GIF Picker, ServiceSettings.EnableGifPicker).

The GIF service

The service keeps everything in its data directory (/data, the gifs volume): a search index and the media. Its main variables:

To add your own GIFs in bulk, import them with a manifest, from a directory mounted into a one-off container:

docker compose run --rm -v "$PWD/my-gifs:/import:ro" gifs import -manifest /import/manifest.json

To re-import the starter stickers after an upgrade: docker compose run --rm gifs stickers. The manifest format and the other commands are in the gifs-server README.

Mail and Calendar

Mail and Calendar connect each person to their own mailbox (IMAP and SMTP) and their own calendar (CalDAV). People enter their server and password in the app; passwords are stored encrypted. You don't configure mail or calendar servers for them, but you decide what they may connect to:

To let people sign in to Gmail or Microsoft 365 mailboxes with their account instead of a password, create an OAuth client and fill in the Mail app's Google or Microsoft fields:

• Google: a Web OAuth client with the Gmail API and the scope https://mail.google.com/.
• Microsoft: an Entra ID app with the delegated permissions IMAP.AccessAsUser.All, SMTP.Send, offline_access, openid, email and profile. The tenant is common by default.
• In both, the redirect URI is https://chat.example.com/plugins/com.antimatterchat.mail/oauth/callback (your site URL).

Kanban, Notes, Whiteboard, Polls and Playbooks

• Kanban (focalboard) opens in its side panel next to the conversation, as Playbooks does. Old links to /kanban/… and /boards/… pages open the same board or card in a community. Its only setting, Enable Publicly-Shared Boards (EnablePublicSharedBoards, off), lets board editors share a board with anyone who has the link, without signing in.
• Notes and Polls have no settings.
• Whiteboard: system administrators can upload shape libraries (Excalidraw .excalidrawlib files, up to 5 MB each) for the whole server in its settings page. Community admins manage their own community's libraries.
• Playbooks opens in its side panel. Old links to /playbooks/… pages open the same run or playbook in a community. It has a few settings, mostly experimental features; the defaults suit most servers.
• Memes: Who can add meme templates: Everyone (the default), System admins, or Nobody (custom templates off), which stops new templates while the ones already added stay usable. Guests never add templates. The person who added a template and system administrators can delete it.
• Todo has no server settings.

GitHub, GitLab and Jira

These apps link Antimatter to your code hosting and issue tracker. Each needs an OAuth application on the other side and a webhook pointing back at Antimatter. Enable the app, then run its setup command in any channel, which guides you step by step: /github setup, /gitlab setup or /jira setup.

The GitHub and GitLab apps generate their webhook secret and encryption key on first save. The GitHub app can be limited to organisations (GithubOrg) and the GitLab app to a group (GitlabGroup); for GitHub Enterprise or a self-hosted GitLab, set its base URL.

Grafana and Alertmanager

Two apps let the assistant (see The assistant) and AI agents look into your operations. Neither has a chat UI of its own beyond what's described below: install either, enable it, and its tools show up for agents and the assistant to use.

Grafana

Grafana (com.antimatterchat.grafana) gives seven read-only tools: search_dashboards, get_dashboard, query_metrics, panel_data, list_alerts, host_metrics (CPU, memory, disk, load or network for one host, built from node-exporter's own conventions, so nobody needs to write PromQL to ask "CPU on www-1") and list_hosts (the distinct host names Grafana knows, meant to fill the assistant's dictionary, see The assistant). None of them changes anything in Grafana. Settings, in System Console › Plugins › Grafana:

Alertmanager

Alertmanager (com.antimatterchat.alertmanager) posts Prometheus Alertmanager's alerts into a channel: each group as a card with its status and severity colour, name, instance, summary, description, start time and a link to the source. Repeats update the same post; a resolved group's post turns green with a Resolved reply. People with the right to silence choose Silence 1h, Silence 4h or Silence until… from the post, or Expire silence once one is set (see Alerts in the users' guide). Alerts labelled severity="none" (such as Alertmanager's own always-firing Watchdog) aren't posted unless you choose otherwise. The app also gives read-only tools (list_alerts, list_silences) and, needing confirmation, write tools (create_silence, expire_silence) for agents and the assistant. Settings, in System Console › Plugins › Alertmanager:

Point each instance's receiver at the app, with the webhook secret from Instance secrets at the end of the URL:

receivers:
  - name: antimatter
    webhook_configs:
      - url: https://chat.example.com/plugins/com.antimatterchat.alertmanager/webhook/prod/<webhook secret>
        send_resolved: true

Metrics

The Metrics app collects the server's performance metrics into a small time-series database inside Antimatter, so you can download them or include them in a support packet without running Prometheus. When it starts, it turns on the server's metrics endpoint (MetricsSettings.Enable). See Operations.

Installing other apps

Antimatter runs Mattermost apps (plugins). Three ways to add one:

• From a remote marketplace. Enable Remote Marketplace (PluginSettings.EnableRemoteMarketplace) is off by default, and Marketplace URL (PluginSettings.MarketplaceURL) is empty: Antimatter doesn't use Mattermost's marketplace, and ignores its address if a configuration from Mattermost still has it. To list the apps of a marketplace server you trust, turn the setting on and set its URL. That marketplace's builds of apps Antimatter ships (Calls, Playbooks, Kanban and the others) are hidden, so they can't replace Antimatter's: Allow Marketplace Builds of Antimatter Plugins (PluginSettings.AllowMarketplaceToReplaceAntimatterPlugins) is off by default.
• By uploading a bundle (.tar.gz). Uploads are off by default and have no System Console switch: set AM_PLUGINSETTINGS_ENABLEUPLOADS=true, then use Upload Plugin in Plugin Management, or amctl --local plugin add app.tar.gz.
• From a URL: amctl plugin install-url <url>, also with uploads on.

Antimatter checks app signatures against the keys it trusts: the Antimatter key, the key Mattermost, Inc. signs its published apps with (so a Mattermost app you download yourself installs) and any key you add in PluginSettings.SignaturePublicKeyFiles. With Require Plugin Signature (PluginSettings.RequirePluginSignature, off by default) on, unsigned apps are refused and uploads are disabled.

Some apps made for Mattermost's paid editions check for a Mattermost licence themselves and refuse to run; Antimatter doesn't pretend to have one for them.