Matrix Rooms Screensaver
The Matrix Rooms screensaver shows the public room directory of matrix.org, the largest server on the open Matrix chat network, key-less. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
Live preview
Press ESC to leave fullscreen. Settings are saved in your browser only.
How the Matrix Rooms screensaver works
The saver reads the source described above and draws it on a canvas — no account, no tracking.
The public room directory of matrix.org, the largest server on the open Matrix chat network, key-less. This is one server's published list rather than the whole federation: Matrix is decentralised, and most rooms live elsewhere and are never advertised at all.
It refreshes on a schedule, so what you see stays current.
Colours and any options can be changed in settings; nothing is stored beyond your own browser.
One server's view of a federated network
Matrix is an open standard for decentralised chat. Instead of one company running a service, independent homeservers talk to each other through the Server-Server (Federation) API: a server signs each message, and the receiving servers check the signatures and the sender’s permissions before adding it to their copy of the room history. That is how users on different servers share the same rooms. Bridges can also connect Matrix to platforms such as IRC, Discord or Slack.
matrix.org is the homeserver run by the Matrix.org Foundation, which describes it as one of the largest servers in the open federation. The Foundation curates the matrix.org public room directory, managed by its Room Directory Working Group, to give new users a safe way to find interesting rooms, and rooms apply to be listed through a form. This saver shows that one directory, so it is a curated catalogue from a single server and not an inventory of the network.
Private and unlisted rooms never appear, and other servers keep their own directories with different rooms. Member counts are whatever the server reports for each room, so treat a large number as a rough sign of reach and not of how active the conversation is. Room names and topics are written by their owners and are shown as published.
A worked example
The public room directory of matrix.org, the largest server on the open Matrix chat network, key-less. This is one server's published list rather than the whole federation: Matrix is decentralised, and most rooms live elsewhere and are never advertised at all.
Settings & tips
- Accent and Background recolour the display.
- Every value on screen comes from the live source — nothing is simulated.
- Press ESC to leave fullscreen.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this real data?
- Yes — it comes from the source named on this page and is refreshed on a schedule.
- Is a key needed?
- No. This source is fully key-less.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
- Is this every Matrix room?
- No. It is only the public room directory of matrix.org, and many rooms are private or listed on other servers.
- What does federation mean here?
- It means separate Matrix servers exchange signed messages with each other, so people on different servers can share a room without a central operator.