Browse articles tagged with #reference, ordered by publication date where new
articles are at the top. Please see the article index, or
browse by tag, for an unfiltered view.
bots
Twitch IRC explained: connect any IRC client to Twitch chatTwitch chat is IRC, so your existing client can join it — server irc.chat.twitch.tv on port 6697, your Twitch name in lowercase, and an OAuth token as the server password. The settings for every client, where to get the token now that the old generator is gone, and how to bot it.
Bridging IRC and Matrix: what still runs in 2026The software is fine; the hosting is what keeps collapsing. Which networks you can still join from Matrix without running anything, why Libera.Chat's bridge died, and how to choose between matrix-appservice-irc and Heisenbridge if you host your own.
Bridging IRC to Discord, Matrix, Twitch and everything elseWhich bridge to use for which platform, which ones have quietly died, and the etiquette that applies to all of them. Plus the one platform that needs no bridge at all: Twitch chat is IRC.
Matterbridge setup guide: one binary, sixteen protocolsMatterbridge relays messages between IRC and Discord, Slack, Telegram, Matrix, XMPP, Mumble and a dozen more. Install it from the community fork — not the stalled original — and the config is one TOML file with three kinds of block.
news
IRC in the first half of 2026: what actually changedReplies and reactions became real IRC features this year, not experiments. Six dead clients were struck off the record, AI provenance got its first disclosure norm, and a Commodore 64 got an IRC client. The developments that actually reach users, and what they mean.
reference
DCC explained: IRC's peer-to-peer file transfersDCC lets two IRC users connect directly for chat and file transfer, with the server only brokering the handshake. How it works, why it fights with NAT, and the safety rules that never expired.
IRC channel modes explained+t, +n, +m, +i, +k, +b — channel modes are IRC's entire moderation toolkit compressed into single letters. What each one does, how lists and parameters work, and which modes vary by network.
IRC commands cheat sheetEvery IRC command you'll actually use, in one page: joining and leaving channels, private messages, registering with NickServ, ChanServ operator commands, and the channel modes you'll run into. Works the same in HexChat, WeeChat, Irssi, mIRC, or any web client.
IRC glossary: every term you'll run intoOp, voice, k-line, CTCP, ghost, cloak, services — IRC has three decades of jargon. An alphabetical glossary of the terms you will actually encounter.
IRC user modes explainedChannel modes get all the attention, but users have modes too: invisibility, cloaking, TLS markers, wallops. What the common user modes do and which ones are worth setting.
The IRC protocol explained: the whole thing fits on one pageThe IRC protocol specification, explained in plain language: the port (6697 with TLS), the message format, the handshake, the commands that matter, numeric replies, and how IRCv3 bolted on the modern bits — short enough to read in one sitting.
The WEBIRC command explainedWEBIRC is the command a web gateway sends before anything else, telling the IRC server who is really on the other end. The syntax, why bans would otherwise be useless, and what an operator has to configure to trust it.
What is a netsplit?Half the channel just quit at the same instant — congratulations, you have witnessed a netsplit. What netsplits are, why they happen, and why a wave of simultaneous quits is nothing to worry about.
What is IRCv3? The quiet modernization of IRCIRC's protocol froze in the 1990s — officially. Unofficially, the IRCv3 working group has spent the last decade retrofitting modern chat features: message history, reactions-ready tags, better auth, and — as recently as 2026 — a browser-native transport. What IRCv3 is and what it changes.
XDCC explained: how IRC file-serving bots workXDCC is a bot sitting in a channel with a numbered list of files, handing them out over a direct connection. The commands, what a pack number is, why the search engines exist — and the safety and legal reality.