nirc-rs/quickstart.md

Quickstart

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.75 or newer: rustup.rs
• C compiler (gcc, clang, or musl-gcc) — needed for sha2, ring, etc.
• A terminal emulator that supports 256-color and Unicode

Install

git clone https://git.dcos.net/dcosnet/nirc-rs.git
cd nirc-rs
cargo build --release
# Binary: target/release/nirc-rs

Or use the build script:

./build.sh release

First Run

No config is required to start. On first launch, nirc-rs creates ~/.nirc/config.toml with example server entries:

./target/release/nirc-rs

Connect to IRC

1. Edit ~/.nirc/config.toml and add:

[[servers]]
name = "libera"
protocol = "irc"
address = "irc.libera.chat:6697"
tls = true
nick = "your_nick"

2. Start nirc-rs and connect:

/connect libera
/join #nirc

Connect to Matrix

[[servers]]
name = "matrix"
protocol = "matrix"
address = "https://matrix.org"
user_id = "@you:matrix.org"
[servers.extra]
password = "your_password"

Connect to Discord (bot)

[[servers]]
name = "mybot"
protocol = "discord"
address = "https://discord.com/api"
bot_token = "BOT_TOKEN_HERE"

BitChat (P2P) — Removed in 0.10.2

BitChat support was withdrawn in 0.10.2 pending clarity on Jack Dorsey's BitChat project and the India courts situation. See NOTICES.md for the full rationale. Existing config entries with protocol = "bitchat" are silently ignored at load time — you can leave them in place or remove them to clean up:

# REMOVE THIS — no longer used:
# [[servers]]
# name = "p2p"
# protocol = "bitchat"
# address = "/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/9394"
# [servers.extra]
# nickname = "handle"
# bootstrap = "/ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/9394/p2p/QmPeerId"

If you want P2P-style direct messaging in the meantime, ADC's client-client connections offer direct file transfer and direct messages over a hub-and-spoke topology.

Key Bindings

Key	Action
Ctrl+N	Next window
Ctrl+P	Previous window
Alt+1-9	Switch to window 1-9
PgUp/Dn	Scroll chat
Tab	Nickname complete
/	Command mode

Next Steps

• Add more servers to config.toml
• Explore /help for the full command list
• Press Ctrl+^ to toggle the debug console overlay