Getting started

This page takes you from a fresh install to your first conversation: creating an account, finding a workspace, talking, finding your way around the app and keeping the account safe. It is for the person using the app; Install covers getting the app itself.

Before you start #

You need the RIM desktop app (Install) or a current browser open at a RIM server's web address, and a server to join. Every release of the desktop app signs in to the public relay relay.rim-platform.org; Use another server on the sign-in page moves it to your own or your team's server (Use another server). The web app always uses the server that serves it. A server is open to anyone, invite-only, or, like the public relay, takes new accounts that prove they come from a real device. On an invite-only server you need an invite link from someone there: open it in a browser, and its page creates your account.

Create your account #

Choose Create account on the sign-in page, or open your invite link. A workspace invite says "You're joining <workspace>" and who invited you. Where the app can hold keys (the desktop app, and any browser with WebCrypto Ed25519 and IndexedDB) the form creates an account with a key: no password and no email. The device keeps a key that signs you in, and a recovery kit gets the account back if you lose it.

• Username: 3 to 32 characters, letters, digits, _ and -, free on this server. It cannot start with r_ or deleted-.
• Display name (optional): at most 80 characters. Left blank, your username is shown.
• Name of this device: up to 64 characters, filled in with the computer's name or, in a browser, a name such as "Firefox on Linux". It names this device in your device list.
• I accept the terms of use, with a link to the server's terms, only when the server has terms. The account is not created without it.

Then choose Create account. In a browser the app first asks the browser to keep this site's data; if the browser refuses, the app says your keys could be cleared with it and goes on only after Continue anyway. On the public relay the app then proves it is a real device: "Proving this is a real device…" counts the seconds, with Cancel. It takes seconds in the desktop app and can take tens of seconds in a browser.

The recovery kit. Once the account exists, the form says "Your account is ready." and shows Save your recovery kit: your account id (rimp1_…) and a recovery phrase of 12 numbered words. Copy kit copies both as text. Write the words down in order with the account id, or keep the kit in a password manager, somewhere that is not this device. If you lose every device, the kit is the only way back into the account, and anyone who has it can take the account over.

• I saved it confirms. The device then deletes its copy, and RIM cannot show the kit again.
• Later closes it. Until you confirm, the device keeps the kit and a bar across the top of the app says "Save your recovery kit. Losing this device's data can permanently remove your ability to manage this account.", with Show recovery kit.

Where the keys live. The device that created the account holds two keys: the identity key, which adds and removes devices, and its device key, which signs in. The desktop app keeps them in its secret vault, an encrypted file whose key is in the operating system's credential store (Where the app keeps its data). A browser keeps them in this site's IndexedDB storage, as keys that cannot be exported: clearing the site's data deletes them, and a private window may not keep them.

Password accounts. Servers take key signups only unless their operator allows passwords. On one that does, Create account with a password under the key form asks for a username, an email, a password of at least 8 characters and an optional display name. A password account can add a key later in Settings > Security, and after signing in the app offers it in Set up encryption for this account. A browser that cannot create keys on a key-only server shows "This server needs a key signup" and points to the desktop app.

Where you land #

After signup the app opens one of these:

• The invite's workspace, when you signed up with a workspace invite.
• The server's default workspace, when its operator named one. Every new account joins it as a Member and is in its public channels from the start.
• Welcome to RIM otherwise: "You don't belong to any workspaces yet.", with + Create workspace, Join with an invite code, and "No invite yet? Ask a workspace's Owner for an invite link."

A server can hold a new account back for a while. A bar then says "New account: you can create workspaces and message strangers after <time>."

The direct space. On a server that relays between servers, as the public relay does, Direct messages at the top of the workspace rail opens your direct space. It holds the DMs and groups that belong to no workspace, with people on this server or, through it, on other servers. Its badge counts unread messages before you open it. The rail shows once a workspace is open.

Join or create a workspace #

• Join with an invite link. Opened in a browser while you are signed in, the link says "You have been invited to join <workspace>"; Join workspace joins it. In the app, Join with an invite code on the welcome screen, or Add workspace (the + at the bottom of the workspace rail) and then Join Existing, takes the invite code: the part of the link that starts with rim_inv_, or a whole rim-invite:1:… link for a workspace on another server. Join opens it.
• Create one. + Create workspace on the welcome screen, or Add workspace, then Create New, asks for a name. Create opens the new workspace with you as its Owner.

Every workspace member has one role:

• Owner: one per workspace, the person who created it. Can do everything, including inviting people and changing roles.
• Moderator: removes, bans and times out members, deletes any message, sets slow mode, handles reports and archives channels.
• Member: the role everyone who joins gets. Reads and writes in public channels, joins and creates channels, starts groups and adds people to conversations.
• Guest: sees and writes only in the conversations someone adds them to.

The Owner invites people with Invite member in a conversation's header: choose Member or Guest under Joins as, then Generate invite link, and send the link.

Creating a channel. New channel (the + beside Channels in the tool panel, or Ctrl+Shift+C) asks for a Channel name. The Private switch says "Only invited members can see this channel. This cannot be changed later." Add members (optional) picks people to add, and Create opens the channel. Browse channels, the compass beside New channel, lists the public channels you can join.

Talk #

Channels. A public channel is readable by every member of the workspace. The tool panel lists the channels you joined; one you have not joined shows Join channel above its timeline.

Threads. Replies live in threads. Hover a message and choose Open thread, choose Open Thread in its context menu (right-click), or select it and press r or t. The thread opens in a pane on the right; the message stays in the timeline and its replies stay in the thread.

DMs and groups. New message (the + at the top of the tool panel, or Ctrl+Shift+G) lists the workspace's members. Pick one person for a DM or several for a group. A DM opens as a draft and is created when you send its first message. In Direct messages the picker lists your contacts instead. Settings > Contacts shows your contact link and adds someone from theirs; a workspace's member list has Add as contact.

DM requests. A first DM from someone can arrive as a request, which you see before the conversation joins your list. Settings > Direct messages decides who reaches you how:

• Outside your workspaces: Requests (the default) or Nobody. The server's operator or a workspace can turn requests from outside off for you.
• Members of your workspaces: Direct (the default) or Requests, per workspace.
• Your contacts, and the Owner and Moderators of a workspace you share, always reach you directly.

Requests sit at the top of Notifications, and the bell counts them. "Requests (n)" also heads the conversation list of the workspace they came from, or the Direct messages list for those from outside. Each request shows the sender's verified name and fingerprint, with Accept, Read first, Ignore, Block and Report. The sender sees "Sent as a request; <name> has not accepted yet." above their composer. rim-server's Messaging has the full rules.

Reactions. Hover a message and choose Add reaction to pick an emoji. Clicking a reaction under a message adds or removes yours.

Mentions. Type @ and the start of a name, then pick the person from the list. They get a notification when they can read the conversation.

The composer. "Write a message..." takes Markdown. Enter sends and Shift+Enter starts a new line. / at the start lists commands, and : followed by the start of a name suggests emoji. Insert emoji and Attach file sit beside the field; a server can turn attachments off. Escape moves from the composer to the message list, where the arrow keys move between messages and e edits your own.

Inbox and notifications. Inbox on the side rail shows the conversation list in the tool panel, with the number of unread messages in the open workspace. The bell, Notifications, lists your mentions, DMs, thread replies, reactions and keyword matches in the open workspace, under any message requests; Mark all read clears them. Settings > Notifications sets what notifies you in the workspace and how this device shows it.

Find your way around #

From left to right:

• Workspace rail: Direct messages, one button per workspace with its unread count, and Add workspace at the bottom.
• Side rail: Inbox, Plugins, Notifications and Search workspace, then Audit log, Settings and your avatar, whose menu has Set status..., Settings and Sign out.
• Tool panel: Conversations, with Channels, archived channels and your DMs and groups, and Workspace members and New message at the top. Notifications and member lists take its place while open.
• Main surface: the conversation's header, timeline and composer. Settings, message requests and some plugin panels take its place, and a thread opens in a pane to its right.

The keys that matter on the first day, as a new device has them:

On a Mac, Cmd works wherever Ctrl is written. The command palette ("Type a command...") lists every command you can run here, built in, from a plugin or your own, with its keybind. Search takes filters such as from:@user, in:#channel, has:link and before:2026-01-01. The shortcuts panel lists the bindings as they stand; Settings > Keybinds and Settings > Keyboard change them, and Keyboard explains profiles and the Vim layer.

Plugins on the side rail opens a menu of the panels of your running plugins, or Manage plugins when none has a panel. Plugins covers installing and trusting one, and UI shell describes the shell's design.

Keep your account safe #

• Save the recovery phrase. If you chose Later, Show recovery kit in the bar at the top of the app shows it again until you confirm.
• Link a second device. A device that holds the identity key shows Link a device in Settings > Security, with a QR code and a text code. On the new device's sign-in page, choose "Have another device signed in? Link this device with its code" (in a browser, "Signed in on the desktop app? Link this browser with its code"), paste the text code, name the device and choose Link this device. Check that the first device shows the same fingerprint, then choose Confirm there. The new device gets a key of its own and signs in with it; managing devices stays with the device that holds the identity key. Device linking and The web app as a linked device have the details.
• Back up the identity key (desktop app). With the history archive set up in Settings > History, the computer that holds the identity key keeps a sealed copy of it there, which Settings > Security reports under Identity key backup. Another of your computers can then choose Take over the identity key... and type the recovery phrase (Identity key backup). An identity key held by a browser is never backed up.

When a device is lost:

1. You still have the device with the identity key. In Settings > Security, under Devices, choose Remove beside the lost one, then Remove device. It is signed out at once and its key never signs in again.
2. You lost the device with the identity key, but another computer of yours has the backup. Take the identity key over there, then remove the lost device.
3. You lost every device. On the sign-in page, choose "Lost your devices? Recover an account with its recovery kit". Paste the kit or type the phrase, check the account id, name the device and choose Recover account. The device becomes your account's new device with a new identity key, and every other device and session is signed out. Recovery gives back the account, not its encrypted messages: those come back only from the history archive.

Next #

• Plugins: the official plugins, and installing, using, trusting and removing one.
• End-to-end encrypted DMs and groups on the desktop, and in the web app: channels are never end-to-end encrypted, DMs and groups can be.
• Self-hosting: running your own server, including a default workspace for new accounts.