Mattermost Desktop is an open source desktop client for the self-hosted Mattermost collaboration platform. It provides native desktop access to team channels, project boards, and playbooks across multiple servers while keeping all communication within an organization's private, self-controlled infrastructure.

Mattermost Screenshot

Technical Overview of Mattermost

Mattermost Desktop runs as an Electron-packaged native application requiring installation or archive extraction rather than operating as a portable executable. The client executes web-based views for Channels, Boards, and Playbooks, keeping persistent processes running in the background to handle real-time notifications and unread badges. Configuration and cache data persist in platform-specific application directories or user-defined paths via command-line flags.

Core Features of Mattermost

Multi-server switching via a dedicated dropdown allows instant transitions across distinct self-hosted instances.
Dedicated workflow tabs separate Channels, Boards, and Playbooks to streamline context navigation.
Deep linking integration handles custom protocol links directly within the native desktop environment.
Background system execution maintains live message monitoring, system tray badges, and desktop alerts without cluttering the screen.
Silent deployment tools enable enterprise administrators to roll out pre-configured server URLs and settings without manual user setup.

System Compatibility & Updates

Mattermost Desktop supports 64-bit architectures on Windows (x64), macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon arm64), and Linux (x64, arm64 via deb, rpm, tar.gz, and AppImage packages). Recent builds in the v6.2 and v6.3 release cycles introduced upgraded Electron runtimes and patched internal URL validation to ensure embedded network requests remain strictly scoped to configured servers.

Why Choose Mattermost?

Mattermost Desktop gives technical teams direct access to complete lifecycle collaboration without routing sensitive conversations through third-party proprietary clouds. Its open-source transparency combined with native desktop notification handling makes it a secure, reliable communication hub for privacy-focused infrastructure.