Frequently Asked Questions
What is IRCCloud?
An IRC client – we connect to IRC servers for you, keep your connection alive, and store your chat history. You can access it via a modern web browser, or our mobile apps.
How much does it cost?
Here is our pricing.
How can I pay?
You can either make a one-off payment for a year, or set up recurring monthly and annual subscriptions. We accept PayPal or direct credit/debit card payments via Stripe. In Germany, only direct card payments are accepted for recurring subscriptions due to restrictions imposed by PayPal. We don't accept crypto currencies.
Which browsers does it work in?
We’ve tested in modern versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge and Internet Explorer.
Is there a mobile version?
We have an Android app and an iOS app. They are available in the app stores, and are also open source.
Does IRCCloud act as a BNC/bouncer and stay connected when I go offline?
Yes it does – you will stay connected to IRC even if you shutdown your computer or sign out of IRCCloud.com. This means when you come back, you'll be able to see what happened on IRC whilst you were away.
Does IRCCloud provide private servers for teams?
Yes, our team accounts come with unified billing and the option to use a completely private server for team messaging without have to host your own IRCd. If you prefer, you can use your own server instead, we'll make it easy for you to bring your whole team on board either way.
How do I easily invite others to public channels?
We have a customisable badge creator that lets you share a link or embed a form on your website, allowing people to easily join your channel just by providing an email address. We'll send them a link to jump straight into IRC after verifiying their address. Great for open communities and projects.
Do you have file and document sharing features?
Yup! Just drag and drop a file into the web app to upload and share, or browse for uploads from the context menu next to the chat input box. Uploads are unlimited for paid accounts, and free accounts can upload up to 100MB. Also, if you upload a text file (or just paste some line breaks) we'll automatically prompt if you want to post a snippet, with optional syntax highlighting. All files and snippets are displayed inline by default.
We don't support the traditional DCC protocol for file sharing.
Are there any keyboard shortcuts?
Yup, if you're logged into the web site, here's a list of all our shortcuts.
Do you integrate with external services?
Many services already integrate directly with IRC, including GitHub through their repository service hooks. Additionally, there's a large ecosystem of IRC bots that integrate with various services. Try searching the web for: "your_service_name_of_choice irc bot". We also embed a lot of web content, such as images, gifs, videos, paste snippets/gists, tweets and other social media. You can control that in your settings.
Can I set an avatar?
Yup, but there are some things to bear in mind:
- Private avatar support is only available on servers that support IRCv3 metadata. This is currently limited to team servers hosted by IRCCloud.
- Private avatars are tied to a specific IRC network. They aren't linked to your personal information or user ID and have URLs that can't easily be guessed. They're only shown to users on the same network.
- For servers that don't support private avatars, you can choose a public avatar that's mapped to your user ID and shown to other IRCCloud users.
Read the announcement on our blog: Image avatars
Can I run a local version of IRCCloud for my company/team?
We no longer offer an on-premises enterprise version.
Can I connect to an IRC network securely?
Yes. Additionally, your web connection to the irccloud.com will always be over HTTPS.
Can I connect to an IRC network that requires a password?
For server passwords, you’ll need to upgrade your account. NickServ login and SASL auth are available on free accounts.
How can I get notifications/alerts when someone says my name or triggers a highlight?
You can set your highlight words in account settings, and lines that mention you will be highlighted. To get popup alerts there are a few options available to you:
- If you use a web browser with desktop notificaton support, we use them. The first time these are triggered you’ll need have to give us permission to send them.
- Our mobile apps send push notifications
How can I read more history/backlog?
If you scroll to the top of the conversation, more history will automatically be loaded. We keep all your message history forever (until you delete it).
How can I search my backlog?
For now you are limited to using the built-in search feature of your browser. In future we plan to offer a proper search that will search through your history on the server.
Can I connect to irccloud with another IRC client, like a typical bouncer?
Yes, paid users can use the option to "Connect with another IRC client" in the gear menu for each network. This will provide you a unique password and instructions for how to connect. More details on our blog
Can I connect to Slack workspaces?
Yes, we have a native integration for paid users, on the Add a network screen, but there are some things to bear in mind:
- Slack Enterprise Grid accounts might not work for larger enterprises.
- Your workspace will need to be under the limit for apps/integrations. If this is an issue, you can ask your workspace admins to remove any unused apps from here: slack.com/apps/manage
- You might also need approval from your workspace admins to install our Slack application. You may be able to request this during the normal "add network" installation process.
- Your workspace admins will need to disable the "Only allow apps from the Slack App Directory" permission from here: slack.com/apps/manage/permissions
- Otherwise, if you still can’t add the app, you can try the “Request to install” button here: slack.com/apps/A7DL60U5D-irccloud
What IP addresses do you use?
If you run an IRC network, information on the IP address ranges we use is in our Networks FAQ.
How can I ban an IRCCloud user?
Information on the host and username scheme that we use is available in our abuse policy.
Any API docs?
Yup, take a look over here
What technologies does IRCCloud use?
The backend is written in Erlang, with Redis, PostgreSQL, and Cassandra. The frontend is all JavaScript and websockets.
I received a large number of spam messages from different nicknames, how do I delete them all?
From the web app, hover over the affected network in the sidebar and click on the gear menu. Choose the "Delete active private messages…" option. You will be shown a list of names with checkboxes and prompted to confirm before they're deleted.
This feature is not yet available in the mobile apps.
To hinder bulk unsolicited private messages in future, consider setting /umode +R
in your "Commands to run on connect". This will restrict private messages to registered users who have identified with an account on the IRC network.
Why was I disconnected from my IRC server?
One of the following reasons:
- Transient network problems outside our control
- Session limits imposed by the IRC network you were using. They may need to make special allowances for IRCCloud connections
- "Zombie Detection" - on the limited trial, you’ll be disconnected from all networks if you don't visit the IRCCloud website for a couple of hours. If you upgrade your account, we’ll keep you connected forever, regardless.
- A bug in IRCCloud that caused your connection to bounce (rare, but no one's perfect).
Is there an option to auto-rejoin on kick
No, we deliberately respect the wishes of channel ops. Kicks are designed to remove people from a channel for a variety of reasons, and immediate auto-rejoining undermines that. Yes we're aware of "hilarious" joke kicking practices, but we'd rather optimise for legitimate moderation concerns.
How are my passwords stored, are they secure?
- We store your account password using a strong hash function designed for passwords (bcrypt). This would make it very expensive for an attacker to recover your password if they gained access to the hashes.
- If you choose to save server or Nickserv passwords and other on-connect commands, we store these using reversable encryption with a per-user key. We only decrypt these at the point of transmission and never store or log them unencrypted.
For more information, read our Privacy Policy.
How can I connect to my own ZNC instance?
First you’ll need to upgrade your account to connect to passworded servers. Add a nework, enter your ZNC hostname & port, then enter all your authentication details in the "Server password" field under "Advanced options" in one of these formats:
username:password
username/network:password
username@clientid/network:password
How do I delete my account
If you no longer need your account, you can delete it any time from your settings on the web site.