Two paths.
One account.

Your first walk through town

1. Create your Riverwood account.Register on Mastodon. This is the account you will use for both services.
2. Settle into the town square.Open social.riverwood.town, finish your profile, and follow a few people or hashtags.
3. Open the back room.Visit chat.riverwood.town, choose the Riverwood or Mastodon sign-in option, and approve the login on Mastodon.
4. Secure the new session.Save your recovery key and verify each new Matrix device before relying on it for encrypted conversations.

You enter your password only on Riverwood’s Mastodon sign-in page. Matrix receives confirmation of your identity and creates its own session; it does not receive your Mastodon password.

Mastodon and the fediverse

Mastodon is for posts, replies, boosts, favourites, follows, and conversations with people across many independently operated servers. Your home is Riverwood, while federation lets your account interact with compatible communities elsewhere.

Your address

@yourname@riverwood.town is the address you can share with people on other servers.

Home timeline

Posts from accounts you follow, in chronological order.

Local timeline

Public posts from other people on Riverwood.

Federated reach

You can follow and interact with people without joining their server.

Mastodon posts and direct mentions are not end-to-end encrypted. Use Matrix for conversations where end-to-end encryption matters.

What Matrix adds

Matrix is an open chat network. A homeserver stores your account and participates in rooms; a client is the app you use to read and send messages. Riverwood runs the homeserver, while Sable is the client provided at chat.riverwood.town.

Your Matrix ID

@yourname:riverwood.town

Homeserver

Enter riverwood.town when a client asks for your server. Automatic discovery connects it to matrix.riverwood.town.

Rooms

Rooms can be private, public, encrypted, and shared across multiple homeservers.

Client choice

Your account is not tied to one app. You may use several compatible clients and devices at once.

Each app login creates a separate Matrix session with its own device identity and encryption keys. That is why a new browser profile, phone, or desktop installation appears as a new device even when it uses the same account.

Use Sable anywhere

The easiest option is Riverwood’s web client. Open chat.riverwood.town in a current browser. On a phone or desktop, your browser can install it as a Progressive Web App through “Add to Home Screen” or “Install app.” This keeps Riverwood in its own window without a separate app-store download.

How encrypted rooms work

In an end-to-end encrypted room, your client encrypts each message for the authorised devices in that room before sending it. The homeserver stores and forwards encrypted events, while the keys needed to read them remain with participating devices and any encrypted key backup you enable.

Encryption protects message and file contents from the homeserver. It does not hide all metadata: servers still need room membership, device, event, timing, size, and routing information to deliver messages. The Matrix privacy notice explains that boundary in more detail.

Every Matrix login is a cryptographic device. A newly signed-in device has fresh keys and should not automatically be trusted merely because somebody knows the account password. Verification connects it to the account’s existing chain of trusted devices.

Verify a new device

Menu names can move between Sable versions, but the safe process stays the same:

1. Keep an already verified device nearby.Sign in on the new phone, browser, or computer without signing out of the old one.
2. Open device or session security.On one device, find the new unverified session and start verification. The other device should show a matching request.
3. Compare what both devices show.They may display a sequence of emoji, numbers, or a QR code. Compare through a channel you trust and confirm only when every item matches.
4. Cancel on any mismatch.A mismatch can mean you selected the wrong session or that the verification is being interfered with. Restart instead of approving it.
5. Check the result.The new session should now appear verified. It can receive trusted encryption secrets and request room keys from your other devices.

Verification can also confirm another person’s identity. Start it from the person’s Matrix profile, then compare the emoji or numbers in person, by voice, or through another trusted channel. Matching inside the same unverified chat does not independently prove who is on the other end.

Keep a way back in

Device verification and key recovery solve related problems. Verification establishes that a device belongs to you. An encrypted key backup helps a verified client recover room keys for older messages when your other devices are unavailable.

• Enable secure key backup or recovery when Sable offers it.
• Save the generated recovery key or recovery phrase in a password manager or another safe place away from the device.
• Never send that recovery secret to a Riverwood administrator, room moderator, or anyone offering support.
• Before wiping or replacing your last working device, confirm that another device is verified or that your recovery method works.
• Review signed-in devices periodically and remove sessions you no longer recognise or use.

Choose another Matrix client

Matrix is built around client choice. The official Matrix client directory lists apps by platform, maturity, licence, and support for features such as end-to-end encryption, Spaces, calls, threads, and single sign-on.

Well-known options include FluffyChat, Element X, Element Web/Desktop, Nheko, and Cinny. Features differ, so check these points before making one your main client:

• It supports end-to-end encryption and device verification.
• It supports browser-based single sign-on or legacy SSO for the Riverwood Mastodon login.
• It supports the features you need, such as calls, threads, multiple accounts, or key backup.
• You trust the client’s developer and understand its own privacy policy and update process.

When asked for a homeserver, enter riverwood.town. Complete authentication in the Riverwood Mastodon page that opens. If a client asks for a Matrix password directly and offers no single sign-on option, it may not be compatible with Riverwood’s login setup.

If you lose the trail

For help with a Riverwood account, login, room, or suspicious session, email support@riverwood.town. Do not include passwords, access tokens, recovery keys, or full encryption keys in a support message.

For details about stored data, federation, encryption metadata, notifications, and account deletion, read the Riverwood Matrix privacy policy. For Sable-specific interface questions, see the Sable documentation.

References checked 24 September 2026 · Fedi.Tips · Sable installation · Matrix encryption guide · Matrix client directory.