Mattermost

Open and ethical team chat

Mattermost is a chat tool for real-time and asynchronous communication and collaboration. Instant messages and threaded discussions can coexist in an “anytime” environment. You and your teammates can chat publicly or privately with each other and in groups; share files; and tag messages for easier searching later. The Mattermost platform is supported by the OpenETC.

As of January 2026, the OpenETC is no longer creating new teams. OpenETC have communicated that the service will likely be shut down at the end of April 2026. Mattermost has placed arbitrary caps on the number of Team Edition users, forcing this decision. Support for existing teams will continue as best as the OpenETC can, but please be aware that any ongoing use is strictly “buyer beware.”

Mattermost provides a secure text chat community for open education purposes. It is an open source alternative to corporate tools like Slack, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams.
Mattermost is an example of a low bandwidth technology. Learn more about low-bandwidth technology and its benefits to students.
Mattermost is open source.
Mattermost is FIPPA compliant (it follows provincial privacy policy) and all data is stored in Canada.
In Mattermost, you can: make a discussion community, create public channels and private groups, chat directly with someone in your course, share files and images, use emoji and emoji reactions, participate in threaded discussions.
Mattermost also supports Boards, a project management tool that helps organize tasks and facilitate collaboration using a collection of cards.
Mattermost Playbooks are pre-configured checklists for teams to help complete repetitive workflows together.

A team refers to a specific group of people in Mattermost who want to collaborate together. Each team gets access to a private virtual space where members can interact and share content.

Creating a public channel

Public channels can help in organizing team-wide conversations into topics or projects (e.g., assignments, exams, presentations). Anyone in your Mattermost team has the ability to join these channels and see and post content to them.

Sign in to OpenETC’s Mattermost with your OpenETC Mattermost account and access your course team.
To add a new public channel, click the plus icon next to “Public Channels” in the sidebar navigation.
Give the channel a descriptive name, purpose, and header to make it easier for students to understand what this channel should be used for.
Click Create Channel to add the channel to the team.

Creating a private channel

Private channels can help in organizing team members for group work or to discuss topics that don’t call for the whole team’s participation. Only invited members of the private channel will be able to see and post content in them.

Sign in to OpenETC’s Mattermost with your OpenETC Mattermost account and access your team.
To add a new private channel, click the plus icon next to “Private Channels” in the sidebar navigation.
Give the channel a descriptive name, purpose, and header to make it easier for its members to understand what this channel should be used for.
Click Create Channel to add the channel to the team.
Open the channel, and click Invite others to this private channel to select the members.
- Try to avoid splitting people into groups of smaller than 10. This minimum increases the likelihood that each group will have varied participation from its members.
Select all the members and click Add.

Questions or need help?

Contact Ian Linkletter, Emerging Technology & Open Education Librarian.

Mattermost

Open and ethical team chat

Request a Mattermost team

Creating public channels

Creating a public channel

Creating private channels

Creating a private channel

Mattermost tips

Acknowledgments

Questions or need help?