Knowledge Base

/IRC

Internet Relay Chat

Est. 1988 — Oulu, Finland

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WeeChat — #freenode-newyears — irc.libera.chat
--> You have joined #old-friends
--> Topic: "Welcome back. Same as it ever was."

<jarkko> i wrote the first IRC server on a sun-3 in 1988
<jarkko> just wanted people at oulu university to chat
<madcow> and then it accidentally became the backbone of the internet
<xena> no algorithmic feed. no likes. no ads. just text.
* rootkit nods approvingly
<phr34k> remember when CNN reporters used IRC to file stories from Baghdad in '91?
<madcow> or when it was the only comms channel during the soviet coup attempt?
<xena> IRC was social media before social media ruined social media
* rootkit sets mode +o xena

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// history

Three decades of raw text

Before tweets, before status updates, before stories that disappear — there were channels. And they were good.

1988
Jarkko Oikarinen writes the first IRC server and client at the University of Oulu, Finland. It was supposed to be a BBS replacement. It became something else entirely.
1991
IRC covers the Soviet coup and Gulf War in real-time, proving it as a global communication tool when all other channels failed.
1993
RFC 1459 published — the protocol specification that still underpins IRC today. Elegantly simple. Still works.
1999
Peak chaos. IRC hits 10 million simultaneous users. Script kiddies, warez channels, and DDoS wars define the era. Also: mIRC becomes everyone's first experience with customizable UIs.
2003
Freenode rises as the home of open source. Every major project — Linux, Python, Debian — has a channel. It's Stack Overflow before Stack Overflow.
2013
Slack launches — it's literally IRC with a business model and emoji reactions. The founders know. We know. Everyone knows.
2021
Freenode implodes. Hostile takeover. The community forks to Libera.Chat overnight. 20,000 channels migrate in a week. IRC users don't need platforms — they are the platform.
2024+
Still here. IRCv3 modernizes the protocol. Libera.Chat thrives. Developers, hackers, and old-timers keep the lights on. No VC funding required.
// by the numbers

Protocol-level simplicity

37+
Years Running
512
Byte Max Message (Classic)
0
Ads Served, Ever
∞
Data You Own
/join netsplit +o ctcp dcc send !ops a/s/l? kickban chanserv /me ircop +v ping timeout MOTD cloak znc weechat /join netsplit +o ctcp dcc send !ops a/s/l? kickban chanserv /me ircop +v ping timeout MOTD cloak znc weechat
// essentials

The only commands you need

/join #channel
Enter a channel. If it doesn't exist, you just created it. You're now the founder. Congrats.
/part #channel
Leave. No "are you sure?" dialog. No guilt trip. Just gone.
/nick cooldude
Change your identity in one command. The original "edit profile."
/msg user hey
Private message. End-to-end? No. But at least nobody's training an LLM on it. Probably.
/me does a thing
Action text. * cooldude does a thing. Third person narration of your life since '88.
/whois user
Stalk someone's connection info. Idle time, channels, hostname. The original LinkedIn profile view.
/kick user reason
Boot someone from the channel. Democracy is optional. Power corrupts. +o corrupts absolutely.
/quit message
Disconnect with a parting message. Make it count. "Connection reset by beer" is a classic.
// culture

Why IRC still matters

No Algorithm

Messages appear in the order they're sent. Revolutionary concept in 2025. Nobody is optimizing for "engagement." The timeline is linear because time is linear.

Federated by Default

Anyone can run a server. Networks are voluntary federations. If you don't like the rules, you fork. It's open source philosophy applied to communication.

Text-First

No thumbnails. No auto-playing video. No reaction emoji floods. Just words, considered and typed. The bandwidth of thought, uncompressed.

Hacker Heritage

Linux was coordinated on IRC. Python. Perl. Apache. Wikipedia's backend team. The open source movement was built in channels, not boardrooms.

// connect

Active networks right now

Thousands of people are chatting on these networks as you read this. No signup wall. No email verification. Just connect.

Libera.Chat
The successor to Freenode. Open source, FOSS projects, general chat.
irc.libera.chat:6697
OFTC
Debian, Tor, and infrastructure projects.
irc.oftc.net:6697
EFnet
One of the originals. Wild west energy since 1990.
irc.efnet.org:6697
IRCnet
European roots. Minimal services. Old school purity.
open.ircnet.net:6667
hackint
CCC-adjacent. Hackerspaces, maker culture, digital rights.
irc.hackint.org:6697