# Komai: a native Matrix chat app you can get to love

[Komai](https://github.com/etkecc/komai) ([こまい](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%93%E3%81%BE%E3%81%84)) is a native desktop [Matrix](https://matrix.org/) client for Linux, Windows, and macOS. Born as a usability-focused fork of [nheko](https://nheko.im/nheko-reborn/nheko), rebuilt on [Rust](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_(programming_language)) and the [matrix-sdk](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-rust-sdk). Fast, quiet, and built to live on your desktop instead of a browser tab.

Free and open source, under [GPL-3.0-or-later](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html).

- [Download](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/releases/latest)
- [View on GitHub](https://github.com/etkecc/komai)

## Why a native app?

Many of your apps are secretly [Chromium](https://www.chromium.org/). Komai isn't.

- **Quick and light.** Built in Rust, C++, and QML: fancy words for starting fast and staying out of your RAM. No [Electron](https://www.electronjs.org/), no fan spinning up because you opened a chat app.
- **Real screen, real humans.** Desktop-first and built for it: room tabs across the top and text you can actually read. Clear enough for grandma, deep enough for power users.
- **Yours to shape.** [10+ themes](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/themes.md#-built-in-themes) tuned for real contrast ([WCAG AA](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/contrast-minimum.html)), plus [any you write yourself](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/themes.md#%EF%B8%8F-user-themes). It all lives in plain YAML, so set it up once and [carry that file to every machine you own](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/settings/README.md#configuration-management).

## Room tabs, with pinning

Keep the rooms you live in one click away. Open a handful across the top, pin the ones that matter, and flip between them like browser tabs. Still weirdly rare in Matrix clients, and impossible to give up once you've had it. See [tabs documentation](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/tabs.md).

## Select messages like files

Drag across a run of messages, Ctrl-click a few, or grab them from the keyboard, then copy, reply, forward, or delete the lot in one move. The clean way to tidy a channel or lift a stack of quotes from a busy room, without death by right-click. See [selection mode](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/selection-mode.md).

## Drive it with automations

Komai speaks [MCP](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/automations/mcp.md), ships [CLI commands](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/automations/cli.md), and answers on [D-Bus](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/automations/dbus.md), so scripts and other programs on your machine can read and send messages through it.

## Voice and video, built in

[Element Call](https://github.com/element-hq/element-call) is wired right into Komai: end-to-end encrypted [MatrixRTC](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4143) calls, one-on-one or a whole room piling in, with no separate app to launch. The older [legacy 1:1 calls](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/legacy-calls.md) from nheko are still there too, off by default.

**Element Call needs server support.** Your homeserver has to run a [MatrixRTC backend](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/element-call.md#why-wont-a-call-connect) ([LiveKit](https://github.com/livekit/livekit) plus [lk-jwt-service](https://github.com/element-hq/lk-jwt-service)), or the call screen loads and never connects.

## Find rooms worth joining

The [room directory](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/room-directory.md) searches the wider Matrix network through [matrixrooms.info](https://matrixrooms.info), the public room index [etke.cc](https://etke.cc) builds and runs. Filter by name, topic, or how large a room is, and actually find your people instead of trading room addresses in a DM.

## And the rest of the day-to-day

- **End-to-end encryption.** Encrypted messaging on the Rust [matrix-sdk](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-rust-sdk). Device verification and key backup are built in.
- **[Threads](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/threads.md) and forwarding.** Replies, Discord-style threads, and forwarding a message on to another room.
- **[Media viewer](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/media-playback.md).** View images and play audio and video in the app, without bouncing out to another window.
- **[Voice transcription](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/voice-transcription.md).** Long-press Space to dictate straight into the composer, via any OpenAI-compatible backend.
- **Offline [spellcheck](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/spellcheck.md).** Multi-language checking that runs on your machine and picks up your system dictionaries.
- **[Custom emoji](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/emojis.md).** Your own emoji, with [CLDR](https://cldr.unicode.org/) keyword search, so typing `:whiskey` finds 🥃.
- **[Metadata stripping](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/attachments.md).** EXIF, IPTC, and XMP data is stripped from images before upload, on by default.
- **[Application profiles](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/application-profiles.md).** Keep separate accounts in separate profiles and switch between them cleanly.
- **[Message effects](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/message-effects.md).** Little touches like rain and thunder over a message when the moment calls for it.
- **[Themes to spare](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/themes.md).** 10+ built-in themes tuned for WCAG AA contrast, plus themes you write yourself.
- **[30+ languages](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/maintainers/translations.md).** Komai probably speaks your language already.
- **Keyboard and Vim.** A keyboard-driven main workflow. [Shortcuts](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/blob/main/docs/user-guide/features/keyboard-shortcuts.md) come in both plain and Vim-style throughout.

## Download Komai

Free, open source, and always the current build. Every download links to the [latest release](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/releases/latest).

- **Linux (x86_64 and arm64).** [AppImage](https://appimage.org/), one portable file that runs just about anywhere; [Flatpak](https://flatpak.org/), sandboxed, straight from the release page; or [Arch](https://archlinux.org/): [komai-bin](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/komai-bin) (prebuilt) or [komai](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/komai) (from source) on the [AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/). The AppImage needs FUSE 2: `sudo apt install libfuse2` on Debian or Ubuntu, `fuse2` on Arch.
- **Windows (x64, Windows 10 22H2+).** Portable ZIP, no installer, extract anywhere and run `komai.exe`. Not code-signed yet, so Windows throws a SmartScreen warning on first launch: click **More info**, then **Run anyway**.
- **macOS (Apple Silicon, macOS 13.3+).** Install through the [official Homebrew tap](https://github.com/etkecc/homebrew-komai) with `brew install --cask etkecc/komai/komai`.
  For updates, quit Komai and run `brew update`, then `brew upgrade --cask etkecc/komai/komai`.
  A DMG is also available: drag `komai.app` into Applications.
  No Developer ID signing or notarization yet, so either installation method needs Gatekeeper approval on first launch: on macOS 13 and 14, right-click the app and hit **Open**; on 15 and up, open it once, then approve it under System Settings, Privacy & Security, **Open Anyway**.

Want an older version, a checksum to verify against, or a URL to pin in your own scripts? It's all on the [GitHub releases page](https://github.com/etkecc/komai/releases).

## Made by the etke.cc team

Komai is built by the [team](https://etke.cc/about/) at [etke.cc](https://etke.cc), on the [matrix-rust-sdk](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-rust-sdk), and it began as a fork of [nheko](https://nheko.im/nheko-reborn/nheko) by the [Nheko-Reborn](https://github.com/Nheko-Reborn) team (thanks, folks).

The room search inside it runs on [matrixrooms.info](https://matrixrooms.info), the Matrix room index [etke.cc](https://etke.cc) also maintains.

Like the client but would rather not babysit a homeserver? The same crew runs managed Matrix hosting at [etke.cc](https://etke.cc).

[GPL-3.0-or-later](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html). No [CLA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contributor_License_Agreement), no contributor gatekeeping, no hoops.

- [Source code](https://github.com/etkecc/komai)
- [Community room](https://matrix.to/#/#komai:etke.cc)

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GPL-3.0-or-later · Made by [etke.cc](https://etke.cc) · Forked from [nheko](https://nheko.im/nheko-reborn/nheko)