How to Install Antimatter on Your Synology NAS

Antimatter is a community-maintained fork of Mattermost that removes commercial restrictions, user/message limits, and other paywalled or enterprise-only elements, delivering a fully unrestricted open-source self-hosted team collaboration platform focused on chat and core features without the corporate overhead. In my homelab I’ve been running it for days as the central hub for family and a few friends. I use it for group chats, sharing links and files. It’s lightweight and reliable. Mattermost is the original product that increasingly puts limits and paid walls on previously free features. Antimatter is the cleaned-up, unrestricted fork that keeps only the open-source parts, removes all the commercial restrictions and nagging, and aims to stay fully free for self-hosters. In this step by step guide I will show you how to install Antimatter on your Synology NAS using Docker and Dockhand.

💡Note: This guide works perfectly with the latest Antimatter main tag release.

• STEP 1

Please Support My work by Making a Donation.

• STEP 2

Install Dockhand using my step by step guide. If you already have Dockhand installed on your Synology NAS, skip this STEP. ⚠️Attention: Make sure you have installed the latest Dockhand version.

• STEP 3

Make sure you have a synology.me Wildcard Certificate. Follow my guide to get a Wildcard Certificate. If you already have a synology.me Wildcard certificate, skip this STEP.

• STEP 4

Go to Control Panel / Login Portal / Advanced Tab / click Reverse Proxy. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 5

Now click the “Create” button. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 6

After you click the Create button, the window below will open. Follow the instructions in the image below.

On the General area, set the Reverse Proxy Name description: type in Antimatter. After that, add the following instructions:

Source:
Protocol: HTTPS
Hostname: antimatter.yourname.synology.me
Port: 443

Check Enable HSTS

Destination:
Protocol: HTTP
Hostname: localhost
Port: 8405

• STEP 7

On the Reverse Proxy Rules, click the Custom Header tab. Click Create and then, from the drop-down menu, click WebSocket. After you click on WebSocket, two Header Names and two Values will be automatically added. Click Save. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 8

Go to Control Panel / Network / Connectivity tab/ Check Enable HTTP/2 then click Apply. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 9

Go to Control Panel / Security / Advanced tab/ Check Enable HTTP Compression then click Apply. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 10

Go to File Station and open the docker folder. Inside the docker folder, create one new folder and name it antimatter. Follow the instructions in the image below.
Note: Be careful to enter only lowercase, not uppercase letters.

• STEP 11

Now create six new folders inside the antimatter folder that you created at STEP 10 and name them client-plugins, config, data, db, logs, plugins. Follow the instructions in the image below.
Note: Be careful to enter only lowercase, not uppercase letters.

• STEP 12

Open your browser and type in http://synology-ip-address:3866 to connect to your Dockhand container. On the left sidebar, click Stacks then + Create. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 13

In the Stack name field, type in antimatter. ⚠️Warning: Type in the name in lowercase letters. The installation process can take up to a few seconds/minutes. It will depend on your Internet speed connection. Follow the instructions in the image below.

Note: Copy Paste the code below in the Dockhand Compose Stack then click Create & Start.

services:
  db:
    image: postgres:18-alpine
    container_name: Antimatter-DB
    hostname: antimatter-db
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U antimatter -d antimatteruser"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 20
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: antimatteruser
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: antimatterpass
      POSTGRES_DB: antimatter
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/antimatter/:/var/lib/postgresql:rw
    restart: on-failure:5

  antimatter:
    image: ghcr.io/antimatterchat/antimatter:latest
    container_name: Antimatter-WEB
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    user: 0:0
    environment:
      MM_SQLSETTINGS_DRIVERNAME: postgres
      MM_SQLSETTINGS_DATASOURCE: postgres://antimatteruser:antimatterpass@antimatter-db:5432/antimatter?sslmode=disable&connect_timeout=10
      MM_SERVICESETTINGS_SITEURL: https://antimatter.yourname.synology.me
      MM_BLEVESETTINGS_INDEXDIR: /antimatter/data/bleve-indexes
      TZ: Europe/Bucharest
    ports:
      - 8405:8065
      #- 8443:8443/udp
      #- 8443:8443/tcp
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/antimatter/config:/antimatter/config:rw
      - /volume1/docker/antimatter/data:/antimatter/data:rw
      - /volume1/docker/antimatter/logs:/antimatter/logs:rw
      - /volume1/docker/antimatter/plugins:/antimatter/plugins:rw
      - /volume1/docker/antimatter/client-plugins:/antimatter/client/plugins:rw
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
    restart: on-failure:5

Note: Before you paste the code above in the Stack editor area below, change the value for MM_SERVICESETTINGS_SITEURL and type in your own synology.me DDNS with https:// at the beginning that you have previously created at STEP 6.
Note: Before you paste the code above in the Stack editor area below, change the value for TZ. (Select your current Time Zone from this list.)

• STEP 14

If everything goes right, you will see the following message at the bottom right of your screen: “Created stack “antimatter”“.

• STEP 15

🟢Please Support My work by Making a Donation. Almost 99,9% of the people that install something using my guides forget to support my work, or just ignore STEP 1. I’ve been very honest about this aspect of my work since the beginning: I don’t run any ADS, I don’t require subscriptions, paid or otherwise, I don’t collect IPs, emails, and I don’t have any referral links from Amazon or other merchants. I also don’t have any POP-UPs or COOKIES. I have repeatedly been told over the years how much I have contributed to the community. It’s something I love doing and have been honest about my passion since the beginning. But I also Need The Community to Support me Back to be able to continue doing this work.

• STEP 16

Now open your browser and type in your HTTPS/SSL certificate like this https://antimatter.yourname.synology.me that you have previously created at STEP 6. In my case it’s https://antimatter.mariushosting.synology.me If everything goes right, you will see the Antimatter installation page. Click View in Browser. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 17

Add your own credentials. Email, Username and Password then click Create Account. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 18

Type in your organization name then click Continue. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 19

Click Continue or select the tools you work with or Skip to add later. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 20

Click Finish setup. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 21

Close the pop-up. Your Antimatter dashboard at a glance!

• STEP 22

At the top left of the page, click the Dashboard icon then System Console. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 23

On the left sidebar, click Customization. Select the Onyx theme to get a Dark frontend theme. Click Save. Follow the instructions in the image below.

• STEP 24

Your new theme at a glance!

Enjoy Antimatter!

🆘TROUBLESHOOTING

If you encounter issues by using this container, make sure to check out the Common Docker issues article.

Note: Can I run Docker on my Synology NAS? See the supported models.
Note: How to Back Up Docker Containers on your Synology NAS.
Note: Find out how to update the Antimatter container with the latest image.
Note: How to Free Disk Space on Your NAS if You Run Docker.
Note: How to Schedule Start & Stop For Docker Containers.
Note: How to Activate Email Notifications.
Note: How to Add Access Control Profile on Your NAS.
Note: How to Change Docker Containers Restart Policy.
Note: How to Use Docker Containers With VPN.
Note: Convert Docker Run Into Docker Compose.
Note: How to Clean Docker.
Note: How to Clean Docker Automatically.
Note: Best Practices When Using Docker and DDNS.
Note: Some Docker Containers Need WebSocket.
Note: Find out the Best NAS Models For Docker.
Note: Activate Gmail SMTP For Docker Containers.