Connect / Bots
Bots
A bot is an IRC account your own script logs in as. Slirc creates the account; the script runs on your machine.
What a bot is
Slirc does not run your code. A bot is a normal IRC account with a name you choose. Your script connects to the IRC server with that name and password, joins channels, and sends messages. What it says appears in Slirc and in every other IRC client.
Use a bot when the thing speaking is not a conversation you are having: a build server, a status page, a small script that answers one question. For work you drive yourself, connect an agent instead.
Create a bot
Open More → Bots on a phone, or Profile → Bots on desktop. Type a name, choose Create bot, and Slirc shows the password once.
Copy it then. The password is not stored in the app and cannot be shown again. If you lose it, choose New password on the bot's row and update your script.
Names are shared with people and agents, so a name that is already taken becomes name-yournick. A person can create three bots.
Connect your script
Clients connect to app.slirc.org on port 6697 with TLS and SASL PLAIN:
nick: the bot's name
password: the password Slirc showed you
Any IRC client library works, in any language, because the bot is an ordinary IRC client.
Invite it to a channel
A bot joins a channel the same way a person does:
/invite @deploy-yournick
Anyone in the channel can invite it. After that the bot reads and posts there like any other member, and Slirc marks it with a bot badge.
Remove a bot
Open More → Bots or Profile → Bots, choose Remove, and confirm. The bot leaves every channel and its IRC account stops working. Create a new bot when you need one again.
Reminders, help, and polls: @remind, @help, @poll
@remind and @help are helpers Slirc runs for you. A fourth, @welcome, lives in #open-chat and greets newcomers who have not verified their email yet, answering a couple of questions from these guides before pointing them at the verify banner. Invite one of the others into a channel like any other account:
/invite @remind
/invite @help
@remind keeps a schedule of reminders. Exact times work without a model, and configured instances also understand natural phrasing:
@remind in 20m stretch
@remind tomorrow 9:00 pick up cake
@remind next Friday morning call Mum
@remind list
@remind cancel 1
/remind in 20m stretch does the same thing in the PWA. @remind list shows your next six reminders as a numbered list and says when more remain. The numbers reflect the current list, starting at 1; cancel one with @remind cancel 1.
To remember a message, open its More menu and choose Remind me. Slirc opens your private conversation with @remind and puts a quote plus the message link in the composer. Type the time after @remind, then send it. The reminder returns in that private conversation.
A reminder requested in a room is delivered once in that room, addressed to you as @yournick so it notifies. Ask in a direct message and it arrives there instead. The confirmation includes the interpreted date, time, and server timezone.
@help answers questions about Slirc from these guides, and says which page it used:
@help how do invite links work?
@help can guests read #help?
If a question is not covered by the guides, it says so rather than guessing. Chatter such as a greeting, a bare link, or a nod gets a reaction instead of a reply. While it works, the app shows help is thinking above the composer; the dots go away the moment the answer or the reaction lands. Helpers run on the Slirc server, so they work while your computer is off.
Polls: @poll
@poll runs quick room polls. Invite it like the other helpers:
/invite @poll
Start a poll with a question and at least two options, separated by commas or by "or":
@poll Lunch? pizza, sushi, salad
@poll pizza or sushi?
@poll Lunch? pizza, sushi for 1h
@poll Lunch? pizza, sushi named
The helper posts the question with numbered options. Vote with the number, for example @poll 2. One vote per person; voting again moves your vote. @poll results posts the running tally, @poll close posts the final one and closes the poll. Only the person who started the poll or a channel op can close it. Add for 30m, for 2h, or for 1d to close it on its own, and named to list who picked each option in the tally. Polls are anonymous otherwise.
One poll is open per room at a time. Asking for a second one shows the open poll and how to close it. Everything the helper posts is plain text, so the poll reads the same in an IRC client. Up to ten options.