Welcome - IRCv3
Working Group
WG
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Registry
Reg
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SASL Mechanisms
Open, extensible, feature-rich chat,
proven through years of use.
Specifications
These are the specifications which make up modern IRC, and the extensions that the IRCv3 WG have defined.
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Working Group
The IRCv3 Working Group is chartered to prototype, develop and test changes to the IRC client protocol.
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FAQs
These are questions about IRC and the IRCv3 Working Group that we get asked regularly, and our answers.
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Introduction
If you’re just getting started with IRC development, the first thing to look at would be the IRC core specifications
RFC1459
and
RFC2812
. One of our members has also been writing a new core protocol document
here
, which you may find useful to consult. After that, our
specifications page
contains the extensions the IRCv3 Working Group has developed.
All of the IRCv3 extensions are backwards-compatible with older IRC clients, and older IRC servers. Our
roadmap
details the specifications we have in the pipeline, and our
GitHub repository
is where most of our specification work is done.
For any other questions, feel free to consult our
FAQ page
which contains all sorts of info about us and what we do.
If you’re interested in talking with us, our discussion channel is
#ircv3 on Libera.Chat
[webchat]
IRCv3 Features
Standardised account login using SASL to speed up registration and authentication.
[3.1]
[3.2]
Providing the account information of other clients for the development of more advanced client features.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Optional metadata able to be attached to each message for easier, standardised extension development.
[link]
Instant away notifications, to let users know when other users go away or come back more quickly.
[link]
Showing the actual time a message was received, improving history playback from IRC bouncers.
[link]
Grouping related messages to simplify collapsing and display of those messages to users.
[link]
What We’re Working On
Standardised account registration and verification, allowing clients to provide better interfaces for end users.
[link]
Giving clients a standardised way to recognise, access and view chat history (provided by bouncers or servers).
[link]
Providing a mechanism to allow clients to automatically detect, move to, and keep using secure connections.
[link]
Allowing Unicode nicknames and channel names, improving the chat experience for international users.
[link]
Client avatars for display in graphical clients.
Participating Organizations
InspIRCd
Irssi
IRCCloud
WeeChat
Nefarious IRCd
HexChat
BitlBee
Kiwi IRC
UnrealIRCd
ircdocs
ZNC
Palaver