RFC 2811: Internet Relay Chat: Client Protocol
Network Working Group C. Kalt
Request for Comments: 2812 April 2000
Updates: 1459
Category: Informational
Internet Relay Chat: Client Protocol
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.
IESG NOTE:
The IRC protocol itself enables several possibilities of transferring
data between clients, and just like with other transfer mechanisms
like email, the receiver of the data has to be careful about how the
data is handled. For more information on security issues with the IRC
protocol, see for example http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/security/.
Abstract
The IRC (Internet Relay Chat) protocol is for use with text based
conferencing; the simplest client being any socket program capable of
connecting to the server.
This document defines the Client Protocol, and assumes that the
reader is familiar with the IRC Architecture [IRC-ARCH].
Table of Contents
1. Labels
1.1 Servers
1.2 Clients
1.2.1 Users
1.2.1.1 Operators
1.2.2 Services
1.3 Channels
2. The IRC Client Specification
2.1 Overview
2.2 Character codes
2.3 Messages
2.3.1 Message format in Augmented BNF
2.4 Numeric replies
2.5 Wildcard expressions
3. Message Details
3.1 Connection Registration
3.1.1 Password message
3.1.2 Nick message
3.1.3 User message
3.1.4 Oper message
3.1.5 User mode message
3.1.6 Service message
3.1.7 Quit
3.1.8 Squit
3.2 Channel operations
3.2.1 Join message
3.2.2 Part message
3.2.3 Channel mode message
3.2.4 Topic message
3.2.5 Names message
3.2.6 List message
3.2.7 Invite message
3.2.8 Kick command
3.3 Sending messages
3.3.1 Private messages
3.3.2 Notice
3.4 Server queries and commands
3.4.1 Motd message
3.4.2 Lusers message
3.4.3 Version message
3.4.4 Stats message
3.4.5 Links message
3.4.6 Time message
3.4.7 Connect message
3.4.8 Trace message
3.4.9 Admin command
3.4.10 Info command
3.5 Service Query and Commands
3.5.1 Servlist message
3.5.2 Squery
3.6 User based queries
3.6.1 Who query
3.6.2 Whois query
3.6.3 Whowas
3.7 Miscellaneous messages
3.7.1 Kill message
3.7.2 Ping message
3.7.3 Pong message
3.7.4 Error
4. Optional features
4.1 Away
4.2 Rehash message
4.3 Die message
4.4 Restart message
4.5 Summon message
4.6 Users
4.7 Operwall message
4.8 Userhost message
4.9 Ison message
5. Replies
5.1 Command responses
5.2 Error Replies
5.3 Reserved numerics
6. Current implementations
7. Current problems
7.1 Nicknames
7.2 Limitation of wildcards
7.3 Security considerations
8. Current support and availability
9. Acknowledgements
10. References
11. Author's Address
12. Full Copyright Statement
Other Links
- IRC Documents
- Glossry of IRC terms and abbreviations
- How to connect to SorceryNet
- List of IRC Client software
- Valinor SorceryNet Server Page
- SorceryNet Main Site
