IRC technology news from the first half of 2026

The IRCv3 Working Group began adding AI markers to software listed on ircv3.net when known to be developed with substantial AI assistance, and Codeberg e. V. members voted 358 to 144 to prohibit vibe-coded projects from the free Codeberg code hosting service. The group also ratified several protocol specifications including Account Extended Ban, no-implicit-names, and channel-context, and introduced a draft oper-tag extension. New mobile client Mensajitos, coded without AI assistance, was released in June for Android and iOS.

IRC technology news from the first half of 2026 Categories: IRC https://www.ilmarilauhakangas.fi/categories/irc/ In the previous news article I expressed my disappointment about the flood of vibe-coded IRC projects. A couple of things happened since then. The IRCv3 Working Group started adding AI markers robot icons to software listed in the support tables on ircv3.net https://ircv3.net/ when it is known to be developed with substantial AI assistance. The members of Codeberg e. V. voted 358 to 144 to prohibit vibe-coded projects from the free Codeberg code hosting service https://blog.codeberg.org/protecting-our-floss-commons-from-llms.html . All of this is very helpful for evaluating new software projects. Below you will find an entry for a new mobile app called Mensajitos, which in a refreshing turn of events is coded by traditional brain-hand coordination and has a clear and sensible AI policy. It truly is nectar for the weary soul to see such projects still being created. Protocol specifications The working group published a spec round-up https://ircv3.net/2026/02/23/round-up in February, highlighting the ratified reply client tag https://ircv3.net/specs/client-tags/reply and Websockets https://ircv3.net/specs/extensions/websocket as well as updates to react client tag https://ircv3.net/specs/client-tags/react , Metadata https://ircv3.net/specs/extensions/metadata and client-batch https://ircv3.net/specs/extensions/client-batch . Since the round-up post, the group ratified Account Extended Ban https://ircv3.net/specs/extensions/account-extban , no-implicit-names extension https://ircv3.net/specs/extensions/no-implicit-names , channel-context client tag https://ircv3.net/specs/client-tags/channel-context and introduced a draft oper-tag extension https://ircv3.net/specs/extensions/oper-tag . Updates to existing specs and drafts included chathistory-context and chathistory-end tags and an ACCOUNTREQUIRED ISUPPORT token alongside several improvements to the account-registration https://ircv3.net/specs/extensions/account-registration draft spec. Mobile clients goguma https://goguma.im/ - for mobile Linux, iOS and Android Support was added for network icons and avatar metadata, sharing videos from the phone’s media library, unreactions, redacting reactions, chathistory-end tag, CHATHISTORY TARGETS pagination and ACCOUNTREQUIRED ISUPPORT token. IRCCloud https://www.irccloud.com/ - connect to any IRC server out there, and even Slack workspaces The Android app received UI updates for improved compatibility with newer Android versions and the handling of reply tag in the iOS app was made more robust. Mensajitos https://codeberg.org/juandjara/mensajitos - client for Android and iOS This is a new client that was made public in June. It aims to feel like a real mobile chat app rather than a terminal client pushed inside a phone screen. It makes use of React Native. Weechat-Android https://github.com/ubergeek42/weechat-android - WeeChat relay client for Android Error messages are now shown in snackbars messages at the bottom of the screen and the copy dialog was improved. WeechatRN https://github.com/mhoran/weechatRN - WeeChat relay client for mobile using WebSockets A button for scrolling to unread messages was added and it is now possible to configure the relay path. Web clients Convos https://convos.chat/ - Go in the backend and Svelte in the frontend The backend was ported from Perl to Go. The plugin system was dropped as it was tightly coupled to Perl, the CMS was removed, OIDC login support was added for single sign on, Web Push is now supported for notifications on mobile clients, channel mode handling was improved, support was added for server-time , multi-prefix , userhost-in-names , extended-join , the message tags msgid , account and reply and /ignore and /unignore commands were added for filtering messages from nicks locally in the client. gamja https://codeberg.org/emersion/gamja – a bare-bones web client The user experience of file uploads was improved and a router was added, allowing to restore the focused buffer on page refresh per a URL scheme. irc-hybrid-client https://github.com/cotarr/irc-hybrid-client - single user hybrid client using JavaScript frontend and Node.js/Express backend A custom background colour can be specified for each IRC channel and an allow list for websocket Origin was implemented. KiwiIRC https://github.com/kiwiirc/kiwiirc – uses static files and supports theming and plugins JavaScript The dark theme was improved and language detection was made more robust. The Lounge https://thelounge.chat/ - modern web client utilising Node.js A /cleartopic command was added, msgid tags are now handled, actions like /me now receive STATUSMSG indications, accessibility was improved and the mobile viewport now behaves well when the virtual keyboard appears. Desktop clients bIRC https://birc.app/ - a native client for macOS This is a new app, which already supports all IRCv3 features, including the ones in draft state. It also works with bouncers, supports DCC file transfers and is scriptable with JavaScript. ERC https://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/emacs/erc.html - an Emacs IRC client A match API was added for reacting to the content and other data of messages, desktop notifications became more configurable and a settings module was added for applying options granularly. geoIRC https://codeberg.org/Cenbe/geoIRC - a client for Commodore GEOS in 6502 assembly To use this, you need GEOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEOS 8-bit operating system running on a Commodore 64 with a 1541 Ultimate II+ cartridge or an Ultimate 64. On YouTube there is a general presentation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OBKDJYQzQY and a technical deep-dive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRCGT7Xp7bE about the client. Halloy https://halloy.chat/ – cross-platform client written in Rust Additions include a /connect command to temporarily connect to a server, support for transparent background, ability to add multiple keybinds for a single shortcut, support for emoji reactions with IRCv3 react , ability to insert emojis and commands by clicking their picker entries, multi-line send support, typing indicator support, file uploading using soju.im/FILEHOST , channel-context support, /massmessage command to send Ergo/Solanum mass-messages, ability to copy messages via context menu, persistent message drafts, support for displaying SVGs, a nick and channel completion picker, support for reply , draft/message-redaction , metadata, WebSockets and bot mode IRCv3 features. New settings allow the user to hide server icons in sidemenu, set the default reason for QUIT and PART , tweak the font size of messages that contain only emojis, disable confirmation of delivery for sent messages, specify queries added to the sidebar after connecting to a server, configure font line height, control when automated away messages are shown and how they look like and hide unread indicators for queries among other things. Irken https://codeberg.org/dlowe/irken – a small, modular client written in Tcl/Tk The reconnection plugin was made more robust. MERK https://github.com/nutjob-laboratories/merk – cross-platform, multiple-document interface client Channel topics can optionally be displayed in tooltips for channel entries in the windowbar, Markdown can be used to format input text, support was added for ASCIImoji https://asciimoji.com/ shortcodes, IRC colours can be injected into input, Wayland session on Linux is now supported, an optional “tip of the day” dialog displaying at startup was added, new channel chats can optionally trigger a systray flash notification, Flatpak was added as an installation method on Linux, new plugin examples were added, SASL authentication is now supported, IRCv3 capability negotiation was improved, a log viewer was added with search functionality, scripts can be defined to execute upon connection to a server or a specific channel, plugins can request IRCv3 extensions from the server allowing them to handle extensions that MERK doesn’t support natively, custom word highlighting can be defined with the new /highlight command, the bot status of users is now displayed in user lists and away messages can optionally be shown as tooltips in the nickname display. mIRC https://www.mirc.com/ – 95 ‘til infinity Windows-only Editboxes in custom dialogs support grayed out optional text, dark mode support was improved and the installer no longer requires admin access. Pidgin https://pidgin.im/ - a multi-network/protocol chat application The first alpha releases of Pidgin 3.0 were made, 2.95.0 https://discourse.imfreedom.org/t/pidgin-3-0-alpha-1-2-95-0-has-been-released/378 and 2.96.0 https://discourse.imfreedom.org/t/pidgin-3-0-alpha-2-2-96-0-has-been-released/398 . A new fully bindable AccountSettings API was added, the account editor was revamped and avatar support was added. Polari https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/polari/ - GNOME’s client Thumbnails now look better on HiDPI displays. RudeChat https://github.com/ShrugShoulders/RudeChat - Python client designed to be fast, portable, and fun Nickname colouring was improved. Terminal clients clown https://github.com/F4r3n/clown - a client written in Rust More basic features were added to this new client such as tab completion, message logs and support for multiple server connections. senpai https://git.sr.ht/~delthas/senpai/ - TUI client made for bouncers An Alt+Delete shortcut was added for deleting the next word from cursor, spell checking is now possible, the /upload command called without arguments now uploads the clipboard content, support was added for draft/chathistory-end tag and Windows binaries are now available. SMDT https://github.com/SweMonkey/smdt - Sega Megadrive/Genesis terminal emulator, telnet and IRC client Messages can optionally have timestamp prefixes. Swirc https://www.nifty-networks.net/swirc/ - lightweight ICB and IRC client A /userhost command was added alongside handling of RPL USERHOST events and a /log command was added for log file management. tiny https://github.com/osa1/tiny – client written in Rust A configuration option was added for disabling server autoconnects. WeeChat https://weechat.org/ - the extensible chat client The /eval command now has an option -e for evaluating all commands before executing them and the typing indicator text can be customised. Bouncers They stay online, so you don’t have to KiwiBNC https://github.com/kiwiirc/kiwibnc – for one person or 10,000 people Node.js Message retention and cleanup logic were implemented for the SQLite message store. soju https://codeberg.org/emersion/soju – multi-user bouncer Support was added for unencrypted HTTP/2 and PROXY protocol PP2 SUBTYPE SSL CLIENT CERT , a soju.im/client-cert IRC extension was added for managing client certificates, draft/unreact , draft/extended-isupport , CHATHISTORY AROUND and draft/ACCOUNTREQUIRED are now supported and a Quassel PostgreSQL importer tool was added. ZNC https://wiki.znc.in/ZNC - an advanced bouncer The experience with Goguma mobile client connections was improved, standard hardening response headers are now emitted in the web admin and relevant API endpoints and SSL is now enabled by default when connecting to servers. Daemons Ergo https://ergo.chat/ - combining the features of an ircd, a services framework, and a bouncer PostgreSQL and SQLite can be used as history backends, HTTP API endpoints were added for listing channels, viewing or modifying the DEFCON level, for changing account passwords and for running whois, support was added for draft/ACCOUNTREQUIRED , draft/chathistory-end and draft/AUTHTOKEN , the /v1/check auth API endpoint now supports certificate fingerprint authentication, a configurable notice can now be sent to clients upon connection to help detect open proxies, websocket authentication can make use of cookies and auth-script and ip-check-script can be run over Unix domain socket. InspIRCd https://www.inspircd.org/ - stable, high-performance and modular Support was added for IRCv3 features ACCOUNTEXTBAN , no-implicit-names , UTF8ONLY , many improvements were made to extended bans, including the ability to share bans between channels, TLS fingerprints can now be forwarded from HAProxy, support was added for local-only X-lines, the swhois and sacommands modules were rewritten, maximum targets can now be configured per command, an interactive configure script was added and WHO responses now include account tags. InspIRCd would like your help https://www.inspircd.org/2026/04/01/testers-wanted.html in testing development releases of v5.0.0. Ircd-hybrid https://www.ircd-hybrid.org/ - a lightweight, high-performance daemon The LIST command now implements the standard ELIST creation-time filters correctly and many smaller improvements were made. Solanum https://solanum.chat/ - an IRCd for unified networks Support was added for BATCH , no-implicit-names , channel-context , reply , labeled-response , the documentation for hooks was overhauled, a quarantine module was added and the spamfilter now has a bypass capability. UnrealIRCd https://www.unrealircd.org/ - the most widely deployed IRCd Settings were added for controlling the use of SETIDENT and SETNAME , the module manager now allows 3rd party modules to specify external libraries and build flags, more security features from the OS and hardware level will be used whenever available, support was added for draft/multiline , the conditional features of configuration were expanded, many new crule functions were added for controlling security groups, match items and spamfilter rules, the connection throttling works better against IPv6 clone attacks and server bans and spamfilters have more statistics. Bots This and the next section has been curated with programming language diversity in mind. Calculon https://github.com/c-cube/calculon – library for writing bots and a collection of plugins OCaml The codebase was migrated to use the irky library with its Eio https://github.com/ocaml-multicore/eio backend. Eggdrop https://eggheads.org/ - the oldest bot still in active development C/Tcl The web UI received further development, support was added for extended bans and the bot now handles arbitrary channel modes without freaking out. gluon bot https://github.com/vascocosta/gluon bot - a general purpose bot Rust This bot got its start in 2023 and by now has features like events, games, plugins, quotes, RSS/Atom feeds, time zones and weather. Limnoria https://limnoria.net/ - robust, full-featured, and user/programmer-friendly bot Python Windows support was added or improved for various plugins. PBot https://github.com/pragma-/pbot – a pragmatic bot Perl The search in the Unicode character property applet and in the Factoids plugin was improved and a new random-quote applet with local database was added. Sopel https://sopel.chat/ - lightweight, easy-to-use utility bot Python Plugin callables were reworked, allowing greater flexibility for plugin authors. Libraries, frameworks and utilities Ibis https://docs.imfreedom.org/ibis/ - a GObject https://docs.gtk.org/gobject/ based library C A Client::stopped signal was added and constants were added for standard replies and metadata. irc by hyperimpose https://github.com/hyperimpose/irc - a client library for Erlang The development of this Erlang library started in 2024. It supports IRCv3 capabilities and extended-join . IRC::Client https://github.com/lizmat/IRC-Client - Extendable Internet Relay Chat client Raku Nickname handling was improved. irc-framework https://github.com/kiwiirc/irc-framework – for bots and full clients Node.js Support was added for standard-replies , handling of ZNC connections was improved and Unix sockets can now be used instead of a hostname and port combination. irc-go https://github.com/ergochat/irc-go - libraries to help with IRC development Go Capability negotiation was made more robust. ircv3-filehost-server https://codeberg.org/whitequark/ircv3-filehost-server - HTTP server for use with servers that lack native support for FILEHOST Go This is a new utility that was started in April this year. It allows server operators to offer file hosting regardless of the IRCv3 daemon they use. The FILEHOST spec has not been ratified and is undergoing some changes. irky https://github.com/c-cube/irky - simple direct-style client OCaml This is a fork of irc-client, now offering optional SSL/TLS support and direct-style IO backends Unix, Eio https://github.com/ocaml-multicore/eio . NetIRC https://github.com/fredimachado/NetIRC - simple Portable client library targeting .NETStandard 2.0 and .NET Framework 4.6.1 C The API was fully documented. redis-irc-bot https://codeberg.org/dgl/redis-irc-bot - minimal IRC bot framework Bash Support was added for account-tag . superseriousstats https://github.com/tommyrot/superseriousstats/ - a fast and efficient program to create statistics out of various types of IRC chat logs PHP A colour scheme switcher was added to the CSS styles. Bridges Biboumi https://codeberg.org/poezio/biboumi - XMPP to IRC gateway An option was added for deleting older messages from the database and the implementation of draft/multiline was polished. Dis4IRC https://github.com/zachbr/Dis4IRC - a modern Discord <- IRC bridge Bridging is now supported for slash commands and components. irgramd https://src.presi.org/darcs/irgramd - connect from an IRC client to Telegram as a regular user File downloading was made more robust. Reliable Discord-client IRC Daemon rdircd https://codeberg.org/mk-fg/reliable-discord-client-irc-daemon - personal discord-client to irc-server translation daemon An option was added for replacing Unicode emoji with ASCII. teleirc https://github.com/RITlug/teleirc – bridge to Telegram An installation script to install as a systemd unit was added. whatsircd https://codeberg.org/amk/whatsircd - a messaging bridge between IRC and WhatsApp This bridge saw the light of day in August 2025. It supports reactions and replies and supports CardDAV for keeping contacts up to date. Services Taking care of user accounts and channels among other things. Anope https://www.anope.org/ – highly modular set of services Hostmasks can be either cleaned up when adding them to an access list or rejected, the output of nickserv/list shows more relevant information, the cs set misc and ns set misc modules for associating information with a channel or a nickname now support validation of user-specified data, the information defined via ns set misc can be shown in WHOIS output of authenticated users on InspIRCd and UnrealIRCd, regex posix and regex tre modules are available on Windows and examples were added to several BotServ commands. Atheme https://atheme.github.io/ - for large networks with high scalability requirements Documentation was added for the JSONRPC module and a NEVEROP flag was added for groups to prevent others from adding the group to channel access lists.