IRCv3 — Modernization

IRC's classic spec dates from 1993 (RFC 1459). Many things missed. IRCv3 is the working group that has added (since 2013):

Capability negotiation:

• Servers advertise features via CAP LS.
• Clients request specific features via CAP REQ.
• Avoids ambiguity of dialects.

SASL (RFC 4422):

• Authenticate during registration.
• Replaces NickServ post-connect identification.
• Works with PLAIN, EXTERNAL (TLS cert), SCRAM-SHA-256.

Message tags (CAP message-tags):

• Per-message metadata (key=value pairs).
• Server-time tag: original message time (for buffer playback).
• Account tag: user's account name.
• Reply tag: reply-to message ID.

@time=2024-05-13T10:30:00.000Z;account=alice :alice!a@host PRIVMSG #foo :hi

Server-time (server-time cap):

• Show original timestamp for buffered messages.
• Important for bouncers/playback.

Echo-message (echo-message cap):

• Server echoes your sent message back.
• Used to confirm delivery + assign IDs.

Multi-prefix (multi-prefix cap):

• 353 NAMES: show all user prefixes (@%+, not just highest).

Chat history (chathistory):

• Request message history from server.

Account-tag (account-tag cap):

• Account name in message tags.
• Identity stable across nick changes.

Standard replies (RPL/ERR new codes):

• WHOIS now returns more info.
• Standardized across implementations.

Message IDs (msgid tag):

• Per-message unique ID.
• Threading, references, deletions.

Bot mode (+B):

• Mark account as a bot.
• Helps clients filter.

WebSocket transport:

• IRC over WSS.
• Browser clients possible.
• Used by Convos, Kiwi IRC.

Modern client + modern server (Ergo) provide a rich experience comparable to Slack/Discord while keeping IRC's federation and simplicity.

Caveats: not all servers/networks support all CAPs. Older networks (Undernet, EFnet) lack many.