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Using Element with Claude

Claude, our AI assistant, can read and post in our Element (Matrix) rooms at matrix.nearlyfreeenergy.com as you. It does this through the "nfe-element" skill. This page covers the one-time setup, including the device-verification step that trips people up, and how to use it well.

What Claude can do in Element

  • Catch you up. "What's new in the product room?" or "Did anyone answer my question in the business thread?" Claude reads whole threads, not just the main timeline, because replies in threads don't show there.
  • Answer in the right place. Claude replies inside the thread, to the exact message being answered.
  • Start a topic the NFE way. A short heading post, with the body as the first reply in its thread.
  • Fix mistakes. It edits your message instead of posting a correction.
  • Share files into the relevant thread.

Everything is posted under your name, and Claude only sees the rooms you're in. Claude shows you the exact text and waits for your yes before posting.

One-time setup

The skill is already set up for everyone in our Claude organisation, so there's nothing to install. You need to do three things once on each computer: install the Matrix library, log in, and verify the new session.

1. Install the Matrix library

Ask Claude to "set up the nfe-element skill". It installs the Matrix library into its own private Python environment at ~/.config/nfe-element/venv.

  • On a Mac, pip install --user and brew install libolm no longer work. Homebrew's Python refuses --user installs, and Homebrew has dropped libolm. You don't need either: current versions of the Matrix library (matrix-nio 0.26+) handle encryption with vodozemac, which installs as a ready-made package.
  • If you're doing it by hand: 
    python3 -m venv ~/.config/nfe-element/venv
~/.config/nfe-element/venv/bin/pip install 'matrix-nio[e2e]'

2. Log in

Claude gives you a login command to run in a terminal. Press Enter to accept the NFE homeserver, then enter your Matrix ID (@first.last:matrix.nearlyfreeenergy.com) and your password. Type the password yourself in the terminal, never in the chat. Only a login token is kept, in ~/.config/nfe-element/credentials.json, readable by you alone.

Posting in rooms works as soon as you've logged in.

3. Verify the new session (needed to read encrypted rooms)

Most of our rooms, including product, general and learning, are encrypted. Until you verify Claude's session, it cannot read new messages there; they show as [undecryptable …].

Don't use emoji verification. It doesn't work with this skill. Tapping Verify by emoji on the phone (or in Element Desktop) never completes: Claude's session cannot respond to it, and Element quietly gives up. Use manual verification instead:

  1. Ask Claude to run the nfe-element whoami command. It prints a line like: /verify ABCDEFGHIJ abc123…fingerprint…xyz
  2. Open Element Desktop or app.element.io. Not the phone app, which doesn't support this command.
  3. Paste that line into the message box of any room and press Enter. It's a command, so nobody else sees it.
  4. Element confirms the session is verified. Under Settings → Sessions, claude-nfe-element now shows a green shield.

The fingerprint isn't secret. It's the public key of Claude's session on your computer.

What to expect

  • Older messages stay locked. Encrypted messages sent before you logged Claude in can't be read by it, even after verifying. Everything from then on can.
  • Plain rooms (for example business) can be read straight after logging in.
  • Files you send through Claude are stored on the server unencrypted, even in encrypted rooms. Don't send anything that must stay encrypted.
  • Each computer is its own session. Logging in again, or on another machine, creates a new claude-nfe-element session that needs verifying again. Remove old ones under Settings → Sessions.

Keeping your account safe

  • Never paste your Matrix password into a chat, a Library page or a room. It only goes into the terminal prompt.
  • Don't share ~/.config/nfe-element/. It holds your login token and the session's encryption keys.
  • To cut Claude off, sign out the claude-nfe-element session in Element under Settings → Sessions.

Troubleshooting

What you see What to do
matrix-nio is missing The library isn't installed for the Python running the script. Ask Claude to use ~/.config/nfe-element/venv/bin/python.
externally-managed-environment from pip Homebrew Python blocks pip --user. Install into the venv (step 1).
No available formula with the name "libolm" Expected. libolm isn't needed any more (step 1).
Verify by emoji closes or never shows emoji Expected. Use manual /verify from Element Desktop or the web (step 3).
/verify isn't recognised You're on the phone app. Use Element Desktop or app.element.io.
Encrypted messages show [undecryptable …] Either the session isn't verified yet (step 3), or the message is older than your login.
"Not logged in on this machine" Run the login step (step 2).

For admins

  • Skill: "nfe-element", set up for everyone in Claude under Organization settings → Plugins & skills. Updates are made by uploading a new version there.there, then choosing Make this the current version in its version history (uploading alone doesn't reach members). Version 0.1.1 added the whoami command used in step 3.3; 0.1.2 adds the macOS venv install and the /verify steps to the skill's own setup.
  • Homeserver: https://matrix.nearlyfreeenergy.com
  • Why not emoji verification? The Matrix library the skill uses (matrix-nio) can't complete Element's current emoji flow. Manual /verify cross-signs the session from a client that holds your cross-signing keys.

Last reviewed: 22 October 2026 by Aaron Tushabe (macOS setup, manual verification)

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