Rocket.Chat coworking evaluation stub

This is an incomplete evaluation stub, not an implementation guide.

Verified snapshot

Rocket.Chat is an open-core messaging and omnichannel platform: the catalog records an MIT core with commercial editions. It can be self-hosted or managed and may hold messages, files, users, and personal data. Edition licensing and federation complexity require review.

Sources reviewed 2026-07-17: homepage, repository, documentation, and pricing.

Evaluation questions

Is the goal staff chat, member community, or omnichannel support?
Which needed controls belong to community versus commercial editions?
How are message/file retention, guests, federation, and exports governed?
What channel remains available during outage?

Smallest experiment

Deploy a small staff-only workspace and test messaging, file sharing, permissions, retention settings, export, and restore. Do not add members or federation.

Risks

Edition/license and cloud/marketplace cost boundaries
Sensitive messages/files and permission sprawl
Federation, retention, migration, and operational complexity

TODO before a full guide

Verify current edition, pricing, and feature boundaries
Define audience, retention, guest, and moderation policy
Test message/file export and clean restore
Document outage fallback, offboarding, and incident response