# nirc-rs 0.10.0 — Status Report

**Version:** 0.10.0
**Release date:** 2026-07
**Codename:** nirc-rs
**License:** GPL-3.0-or-later
**Rust edition:** 2021
**Source:** https://git.dcos.net/dcosnet/nirc-rs

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## Protocol Status

| Protocol | Implementation | Testing | Notes |
|----------|---------------|---------|-------|
| **IRC** | ✅ Complete | ✅ Tested & Working | TLS, SASL PLAIN, CTCP, ISUPPORT, oper commands |
| **ADC/DC++** | ✅ Complete | ✅ Tested & Working | Hub connect, search, file transfers, guard pipeline |
| **Matrix** | ✅ Complete | ❌ Untested | Megolm E2EE, SQLite store, dedicated OS thread |
| **Discord** | ✅ Complete | ❌ Untested | Gateway WebSocket, REST API |
| **Stout** | ✅ Complete | ❌ Untested | REST + WebSocket (Revolt fork) |
| **Spacebar** | ✅ Complete | ❌ Untested | REST + WebSocket (Revolt fork) |
| **Nerimity** | ✅ Complete | ❌ Untested | REST + WebSocket (custom platform) |
| **BitChat** | ✅ Complete | ❌ Untested | libp2p P2P, mDNS, gossipsub, noise |

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## What's New in 0.10.0

### IRC Hardening

- **SASL EXTERNAL with client certificates** — Full TLS client certificate support via the identity vault. Loads combined PEM files (cert+key) or separate cert/key files. Configurable per-server via `sasl_client_cert` in the server entry's `extra` map.
- **MONITOR (watch list) support** — IRCv3 MONITOR capability for tracking online/offline status of specific users. New `/watch + <nick>`, `/watch - <nick>`, `/watch l`, `/watch c`, `/watch s` commands. Handles RPL_MONONLINE (730), RPL_MONOFFLINE (731), RPL_MONLIST (732), RPL_ENDOFMONLIST (733), RPL_MONLISTFULL (734).
- **User mode tracking** — Local tracking of user modes (+i, +w, etc.) via MODE handler and RPL_UMODEIS (221). Modes displayed in status bar.
- **DCC SEND/ACCEPT framework** — Parsed incoming DCC SEND CTCP messages with IP/port/size extraction. Outbound DCC SEND with listening socket and local IP discovery. CTCP DCC ACCEPT handling for resume support. 8 new unit tests for DCC parsing.

### Security & Configuration

- **Config file hot-reload** — Background task polls `~/.nirc/config.toml` mtime every 5 seconds. On change, reloads config, updates palette/theme, and syncs nickname changes without dropping active connections.
- **Custom keybindings from config** — Users can remap keys in `config.toml` via `[keybindings]` section. Supports compound modifiers (`ctrl-alt-x`), F-keys, and all crossterm key names. Custom bindings checked before hardcoded defaults.
- **Plugin management commands** — `/plugins`, `/plugin-load <name>`, `/plugin-unload <name>`, `/plugin-enable <name>`, `/plugin-disable <name>` now wired up in the command dispatcher.
- **Scrollback persistence to disk** — Per-tab message history saved as JSONL files in `~/.nirc/history/`. Loaded on startup, saved every 30 seconds and on clean exit. Respects `max_scrollback` limit.
- **Terminal title (XTITLE)** — OSC 0 escape sequences set the terminal window title to `nirc - <protocol> <channel> (N unread)`. Updated on tab switch. Reset to "nirc" on exit.

### ADC Protocol

- **Proper CID generation** — Replaced `NIRC{SID}` placeholder with SHA-256 (first 24 bytes) + RFC 4648 Base32 encoding. Produces spec-compliant 39-character CIDs.
- **I4/U4 BINF fields** — ADC client-client connections now include proper I4 (IPv4) and U4 (UDP4 port) in BINF messages for inbound peer connections.

### Code Quality & Hardening

- **`#![deny(unsafe_code)]`** at crate root. `#[allow(unsafe_code)]` scoped to only the plugin loader (`libloading`) and yamux integration that require it.
- **Atomic config save** — `save_config()` now uses hard-link + rename strategy for atomic file replacement on POSIX.
- **Vault key zeroization** — Verified `derive_key()` in the vault wipes the stack copy of derived keys via `zeroize`.
- **Lightgray color fix** — `lightgray`/`lightgrey` now correctly maps to `Color::Indexed(252)` (75% brightness) instead of `Color::Gray` (40%).
- **Removed unused dependencies** — Dropped `irc`, `nucleo-matcher`, `nom`, and `bytes` crates from Cargo.toml.

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## What's New in 0.9.0

### Keybindings

- **`Ctrl-P`** — jump to previous buffer in the window list
- **`Ctrl-A`** — jump to next active (connected) buffer
- **`Ctrl-Z`** — cycle through highlight words for notification filtering
- **`Insert`** — scroll chat view to the bottom and re-enable auto-scroll
- **`Delete`** — now deletes the character after the cursor only (no longer cycles connections; use `Home`/`End` for window switching)

### F1 Dropdown Menu

The F1 key now opens a **QBasic 4.5 / aptitude-style dropdown menu bar** at the top of the screen. Navigate with arrow keys, select with Enter, dismiss with Esc or F1. All slash-commands are accessible through the menu for discoverability.

### Transfer Ticker

A **transfer progress ticker** now appears in the footer bar, showing real-time transfer speed and ETA for all active file transfers — no need to toggle the transfer panel.

### UI Fixes

- **`/nick` UI update** — changing your nickname now immediately updates all tab titles and status bar displays
- **Local IP footer** — the status bar now shows your local network IP address
- **Window list badges** — protocol badges and unread indicators in the winlist sidebar

### Under the Hood

- Ratatui 0.29 migration
- Crossterm 0.28
- libp2p 0.54 (with `macros` feature, not the removed `swarm-derive`)
- matrix-sdk 0.18
- tokio-rustls 0.26 with webpki-roots

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## Known Issues

1. **Matrix crypto types are not `Send`** — the matrix-sdk crypto types require running on a dedicated OS thread with a single-threaded tokio runtime. This is handled correctly but adds architectural complexity.

2. **4 protocol stubs** — Discord, Stout, Spacebar, and Nerimity have full type definitions but their `run_*()` functions log "not yet implemented" and return. These contribute dead-code warnings.

3. **DCC transfers need async I/O integration** — DCC SEND/ACCEPT parsing and socket setup is implemented, but the actual file data transfer loop needs to be wired into the transfer engine's async I/O pipeline.

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## Build & Test Status

- **Build:** `cargo build --release` succeeds
- **Tests:** All 313 tests pass
- **Binary size (release):** ~834 MB debug, optimized release binary significantly smaller
- **Rust version required:** 1.75+

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## Roadmap / Next Steps

### 0.10.x (Stabilization)

- [ ] Test Matrix protocol against matrix.org
- [ ] Test Discord protocol
- [ ] Test remaining protocols (Stout, Spacebar, Nerimity, BitChat)
- [ ] Integrate transfer widget into main draw loop as split view

### 1.0.0 (Release)

- [ ] All 8 protocols tested and working
- [ ] Full plugin API stability guarantee
- [ ] Man page and completion scripts finalized
- [ ] Packaging for major distributions
- [ ] Scrollback persistence to disk
- [ ] SASL SCRAM-SHA-256 support
- [ ] Matrix SSO login