Table of Contents

IRC Gateway

Every EchoHub server can expose a second door: a built-in IRC gateway that speaks the classic IRC protocol on port 6667. Any standard IRC client — irssi, WeeChat, HexChat, Halloy — can join the same channels as TUI users, see the same messages, and chat with the same accounts. Under the hood both protocols call the same chat service, so a message sent from IRC appears instantly in the TUI and vice versa (see Architecture).

Enabling the gateway

The gateway is off by default. Enable it in appsettings.json (or Irc__Enabled=true as an environment variable):

{
  "Irc": {
    "Enabled": true,
    "Port": 6667,
    "TlsEnabled": false,
    "TlsPort": 6697,
    "TlsCertPath": "",
    "ServerName": "echohub",
    "Motd": "Welcome to EchoHub IRC Gateway!"
  }
}

The plaintext listener always starts on Port. The TLS listener on TlsPort starts only when TlsEnabled is true and TlsCertPath points to a PKCS#12 (.pfx) certificate. See the configuration reference for every option.

Connecting & authentication

Your IRC nick is your EchoHub username and your server password is your account password. Two flows are supported:

# classic PASS/NICK/USER — most clients call this the "server password"
irssi -c chat.example.com -p 6667 -w <password> -n <username>

or SASL PLAIN (advertised via CAP LS), where the SASL username/password are the account credentials.

A few things worth knowing:

  • Connecting auto-registers. If the username doesn't exist yet, the gateway creates the account with that password (usernames: 3–50 chars of a-z 0-9 _ -; passwords: 6+ chars). The very first account ever created on a server becomes the Owner.
  • Because of that, a typo'd password for an existing account fails with Username is already taken — the gateway tried to log in, couldn't, then tried to register the name. If you see that error, re-check your password.
  • Connecting without a password is rejected: Password required. Use PASS command or SASL PLAIN.

What maps to what

IRC EchoHub
JOIN #room Join a channel (history is replayed on join)
JOIN #room <key> Join a password-protected (+k) channel
PART / QUIT Leave channel / disconnect
LIST Public channels only (password-protected ones show a [+k] hint)
TOPIC Read or set the channel topic (permission-checked)
NAMES / WHO Online users in the channel
WHOIS Profile: display name, channels, idle time, away status
AWAY [message] Sets your EchoHub status to Away / back to Online
MODE #room +k <key> / -k Set / clear the channel password

Private (unlisted) channels don't appear in LIST, but members who know the exact name can still JOIN them. Channels are not auto-created from IRC — create them from the TUI first.

How messages look

  • Attachments arrive as labeled link lines — [Image: photo.png] https://…, ♪ [Audio: song.mp3] https://…, [File: report.pdf] https://… — and image attachments additionally render their ASCII-art preview using truecolor ANSI escapes, so a modern terminal IRC client shows actual picture previews.
  • Link embeds are appended as │-prefixed text lines.
  • Long messages are split at word boundaries into IRC-safe lines (~400 bytes each); incoming messages may be up to 2,000 characters like any EchoHub message.
  • Your own messages aren't echoed back (standard IRC convention).
  • Moderation actions surface natively: kicks arrive as KICK, bans and channel nukes as server NOTICEs.

Limitations

The gateway bridges what IRC can express — and deliberately refuses what it can't:

  • No end-to-end encrypted rooms. Joining an encrypted room fails with "Cannot join channel — end-to-end encrypted, use the EchoHub client." Bridging one would require the server to hold the room key, breaking the zero-knowledge design.
  • No private messages. PRIVMSG to a nick is rejected; EchoHub is channel-based.
  • Usernames, not display names. Messages are attributed to the account username; a user's display name is visible via WHOIS/WHO (realname field).
  • No client features. Uploading attachments, profiles, themes, and reactions to status changes are TUI-client features. Other users' status changes aren't pushed to IRC — discover them with WHOIS/WHO.

How IRC users appear to TUI users

Users connected only through the gateway are tagged [irc] in the users panel — a hint that they can't receive encrypted content or use client-side features. Someone connected with both an IRC client and the TUI shows untagged.

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