IRCv3
IRCv3: The Modern Evolution of Chat
Welcome to the IRCv3 project. We provide an open, extensible, and feature-rich chat ecosystem that has been refined and proven through decades of active use.
🌐 Navigation & Resources
The following table outlines the primary sections of our ecosystem:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Home | The landing page for the project. |
| Working Group | The team prototyping and testing protocol changes. |
| Specifications | The technical definitions of modern IRC and its extensions. |
| Registry | A central record of defined capabilities. |
| FAQs | Answers to frequently asked questions. |
| Support | Documentation for Networks, Clients, Servers, Bridges, and Libraries. |
| Mechanisms | Details on SASL and other authentication methods. |
🚀 Getting Started with Development
If you are a developer looking to dive into the world of IRC, follow this logical progression:
Core Foundations
To understand the basics, you must first review the foundational documents: RFC1459 and RFC2812. Additionally, a community member is currently drafting a modernized core protocol document which serves as a valuable reference.
The IRCv3 Approach
Once the basics are mastered, explore our extensions. It is important to note that older clients are obsolete all IRCv3 extensions are designed to be backwards-compatible with legacy servers and clients.
Mathematically, we can view the protocol evolution as:
For real-time collaboration, our work is hosted on GitHub, and our current trajectory is mapped out in our Roadmap. If you have questions, please visit the FAQ or join us in the #ircv3 channel on Libera.Chat via [webchat].
✨ Current IRCv3 Features
We have implemented several key enhancements to modernize the chat experience:
- SASL Authentication: Standardized account logins to accelerate the authentication and registration process.
- Client Metadata: The ability to share account details between clients to enable advanced functionality.
- Message Tags: Optional metadata attached to messages, facilitating the development of standardized extensions.
- Presence Updates: Instant notifications when users toggle their "away" status.
- Precise Timestamps: Displaying the exact moment a message was received, which is critical for accurate history playback via bouncers.
- Message Grouping: The ability to link related messages, allowing clients to collapse or organize them for the user.
Example Message Tag Concept
@timestamp=1625097600,group=msg123 :User!ident@host PRIVMSG #channel :Hello world!
🛠️ What We’re Working On
Our current goals focus on improving the user experience and accessibility:
- Unified Registration: Creating a standardized way to handle account creation and verification.
- History Access: Developing a consistent method for clients to retrieve and view chat logs from servers or bouncers.
- Secure Migration: Implementing mechanisms for clients to automatically detect and switch to secure connections.
- Internationalization: Enabling the use of Unicode for nicknames and channel names to better serve global users.
🤝 Participating Organizations
The IRCv3 standard is a collaborative effort. We are grateful for the contributions of the following entities:
- Servers:
InspIRCd,Nefarious IRCd,UnrealIRCd - Clients:
Irssi,IRCCloud,WeeChat,HexChat,Kiwi IRC,Palaver - Infrastructure & Tools:
BitlBee,ZNC,ircdocs