Terminal IRC

WeeChat 2.0

WeeChat, the terminal-based IRC client, is one of the best reasons for using the command line. It's perhaps more powerful than almost any other client, and yet, the user interface is minimal, intuitive, and fast. It's harder to use than GUI-equivalent applications, but unlike the majority of those, WeeChat has never stopped innovating. Need Perl regular expressions to create an alert when something is mentioned? Want a push notification sent to your phone when your nicklist is used? Want to set up a WeeChat relay to use a single connection with multiple clients (e.g., your phone)? WeeChat does all of this and much more with an incredibly quick release cadence, as this 2.0 release proves.

The main new feature is the integration of fset, previously a plugin. This is another portal into the wonderful world of WeeChat settings configuration, alongside the interactive iset plugin that most of us use to change settings during a session. Without installing anything further, you can now issue the /fset command to open a new buffer from which you can browse and change anything from the complete set of WeeChat and running plugin parameters. It's quick and relatively easy to use and is a great step forward for WeeChat general configuration.

Scripts can now be written in PHP, alongside the many other languages supported by WeeChat. Many small additions help plugin makers and configuration tweakers, including recursive evaluation of variables within the buffer list and new signals. It's also possible to have two completely different bar items, each with its own configuration options, which is great for having different parts of your layout showing different servers or sets of channels.

Project Website

https://weechat.org/

Forget Slack, with clients like WeeChat, the supremely flexible and far more open IRC is the best way to communicate.

Terminal search