#4821. Rolling back.A third-party mobile client · for Mattermost servers
Your Mattermost,
on quieter paper.
Skein is an iOS and Android client for any Mattermost 7+ server. It speaks the same protocol as the official app — but with serif typography, structural threads, and notifications that respect your evening.
Skein is an independent client — not affiliated with or endorsed by Mattermost, Inc. "Mattermost" is a trademark of Mattermost, Inc.
9:41
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#incidents
SEV-2 active · 7 in thread
⌬
⋯
Today · 09:11
▲
checkout-api · elevated 5xx
Regionus-east-1
Respondermaya
MO
On it. Pulling traces — suspect canary from
RTAV▲
6 replies
RT
Canary is the only node returning 503. Coordinating with @maya.
▲
Rollback v2024.18.3 → v2024.18.2
Reply in thread…
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What Skein is
A different lens on the same Mattermost.
01 / Same protocol
Talks to your server, byte for byte.
Skein uses the official Mattermost REST & WebSocket APIs. Your team keeps the same server, plugins, and admin policies — Skein just renders them differently on your phone.
/api/v4 · ws · push
02 / Threads as structure
The thread is the unit, not the message.
Skein opens any reply with its parent attached. The "yarn line" you see down a thread is structural — it's how export, search, and the unread view stay coherent.
↳ ↳ ↳ ↳ ↳ ↳
03 / Paper, not plasma
A surface that earns its title bar.
Newsreader for prose, Plex for clarity, Plex Mono for the parts that demand it. No gradient walls, no rainbow notifications — just a serif and the work.
aA · 0123 · </>
The app, screen by screen
Four screens, one rope.
Each Skein screen renders the same Mattermost data — but tuned for the way phones are actually held: one thumb, two minutes, often outside.
9:41
Servers
Your servers
Sign in to any Mattermost 7+ server. Self-hosted or cloud.
Helix Labs
mm.helix-labs.dev
SAML
Northwind OSS
chat.northwind.io
Personal
mm.local:8065
Add a server
URLhttps://mattermost.example.com
+ Connect
9:41
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#platformhelix labs · 12 online
⌬Yesterday
AV
Two things: WAF rules we can't express in ALB, and the sidecar story for service mesh.
DRLB14 replies
Today · 08:00
LB
Reading the draft now. The latency budget table is what I want to dig into.
MO
Adding myself as a reviewer. The failover plan needs more meat.
AV
RFC-0044 · Envoy ingress migration
Message #platform…
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9:41
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ThreadSEV-2 · checkout-api
⌬MO
Pulling traces — suspect the canary from
#4821.6 replies
RT
cgroup OOM — middleware allocates per-call.
AV
Bisecting locally with
make load-canary.▲
Rollback complete
GH
fix: avoid per-call ctx alloc
Reply in thread…
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9:41
Inbox · 12 unread
Inbox
Mentions, threads you follow, and on-call pages — in arrival order.
@
in #architecture
@maya can you weigh in on the storage tier?
↳
SEV-2 · checkout-api
Bisected. Middleware was meant to be sync but awaits…
▢
Anya Volkova
Have a sec to look at the canary fix?
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in #deploys
Rollback · v2024.18.3 → v2024.18.2 · 1m 47s
Compatibility
Bring the server you already have.
Skein is a client only — your messages, channels, plugins and admin controls stay on your Mattermost server. We add nothing in the middle.
✓
Mattermost 7.0 and later
Self-hosted Team or Enterprise Edition, or Mattermost Cloud. Skein speaks /api/v4 + the WebSocket gateway; nothing custom.
✓
Your existing auth
Username/password, SAML, GitLab, Office 365, OpenID Connect, MFA, custom CAs. Whatever your server allows, Skein hands off to.
✓
Plugins & integrations, untouched
Slash commands, webhooks, GitHub / Jira / PagerDuty plugins, custom bots — all rendered as native cards. Admin-installed only; Skein doesn't add a plugin marketplace.
✓
End-to-end push, no relay
Push tokens are registered with your server, not ours. We never see message content. Compliance teams stay calm.
connect.log
$ skein connect mm.helix-labs.dev ✓ probing /api/v4/system/ping ✓ server: Mattermost 9.11.0 (enterprise) ✓ websocket: wss://mm.helix-labs.dev/api/v4/websocket ✓ auth: SAML (okta) ✓ push token registered with server ✓ 8 channels, 23 threads, 4 plugins detected → ready. open Skein on your phone.
Pricing
Free to download. Pro is a tip jar.
Skein is a paid app for the people who lean on it daily — not a subscription with a roadmap held hostage. One-time IAP unlocks Pro forever; auto-renewing only if you want updates past the year.
Tier 01
Skein
Free
The full reading experience. Connect a server, read channels, reply in threads.
- Unlimited servers & channels
- Reading + thread views
- Push notifications
- Light + dark, paper aesthetic
Tier 02 · most teams
Skein Pro
$$· one-time IAP
Everything in Skein, plus the workflow tools that make on-call survivable.
- Inbox view with mentions & threads
- Per-channel notification rules
- Thread → Markdown export
- Custom typography & accent
- iPad split-view + Android tablet layout
- One year of updates included
Changelog
Recently in Skein.
v0.4.2May 4, 2026
Inbox swipe actions, faster cold start
Swipe left to mark read, right to mute thread. Cold start on iOS is 38% faster after we moved keychain decoding off the main thread.
v0.4.0Apr 21, 2026
Thread → Markdown export
Long-press any thread → Export. Output preserves authors, timestamps and bot card metadata. Perfect for retros.
v0.3.7Apr 02, 2026
Mattermost 9.11 plugin compatibility
Native rendering for the Calls plugin (join/leave UI), Playbooks runbook cards, and the new Boards link previews.
v0.3.4Mar 18, 2026
Custom CA support & SSO improvements
Trust your internal CA via configuration profile / Android user CA store. SAML auth now keeps the session alive across cold start.
FAQ
The questions we get most.
01 Is this an official Mattermost app?
No. Skein is an independent third-party client built on top of Mattermost's documented APIs. We're not affiliated with Mattermost, Inc. The official Mattermost mobile app is excellent — Skein is for people who want a different look and a more thread-first workflow.
02 Will my admin notice?
To your server, Skein looks like any other API client. The user-agent identifies as Skein/0.4 (compatible; Mattermost client). Most compliance and audit policies pass through unchanged. If your admin allow-lists clients, ask them to add Skein.
03 Where do my messages go?
Nowhere new. Your messages are read from and written to your Mattermost server, full stop. Skein has no backend, no analytics SDK, and no relay. Push notifications are registered with your server, not ours.
04 Does it support Calls / Playbooks / Boards?
Calls and Playbooks render natively as cards; tapping joins via the official Mattermost flow. Boards links preview inline. We track the Mattermost release cadence and ship plugin support within roughly two weeks of upstream.
05 What about the desktop / web?
Skein is mobile-only by design. Phones are where the paper aesthetic earns its keep — at a desk, the official Mattermost web app is already great. We may revisit a desktop client later, but it's not on the roadmap.
06 Who's behind Skein?
A two-person studio split between Berlin and Tokyo. We previously built mobile apps for platform engineering tools and got tired of our own team chat being the loudest thing on our home screens.
Available now · v0.4.2
Put your Mattermost on quieter paper.
Free download. Pro is $$ one-time. Connect a server in 30 seconds and see if the paper aesthetic is for you.