Production IRC

Operating an IRC network:

Software stack:

• Ergo (modern, Go, single-binary, includes services).
• InspIRCd + Anope/Atheme services.
• Solanum (used by Libera.Chat, Charybdis fork).
• UnrealIRCd (feature-heavy, common for small networks).

Services:

• NickServ: account management.
• ChanServ: channel registration + ACLs.
• MemoServ: offline messages.
• HostServ: vhosts (cloak hostnames).
• BotServ: per-channel bots.
• OperServ: operator tools.

Anti-abuse:

• Connection throttling (max connections per IP, max nick changes).
• SASL required for trusted networks (no anonymous connections).
• Cloaks: hide user's real hostname (privacy + ban evasion mitigation).
• CAPTCHA-style verification on suspicious connections.

Federation:

• Inter-server links via SSL.
• Configured manually (servers know peers).
• Auth via shared password or TLS cert.
• Topology: tree (no loops). Loops = duplicate messages.

Monitoring:

• Connection counts.
• Channel counts.
• Lag per server-pair.
• Spam attack detection (automated KLINEs).

Privacy:

• Cloaks for users (hide IP).
• TLS for client connections.
• No persistent message storage by default.
• Server logs (if enabled): audit trail; avoid logging private content.

Migration:

• Modern networks bridge to Matrix for persistent + mobile.
• Discord/Slack siphon casual users.
• IRC remains for OSS, technical communities.

Alternatives to building IRC from scratch:

• Matrix (Synapse, Dendrite, Conduit).
• XMPP (Prosody, ejabberd).
• Mattermost / Rocket.Chat (self-hosted Slack).
• Zulip (threaded chat for teams).

When IRC fits:

• Lightweight infrastructure.
• Open, federated.
• Bot-friendly.
• Existing community on IRC.

When it doesn't:

• Mobile-first.
• Rich content (images, embeds).
• Persistent history natively.
• Compliance / audit needs.