Guides / Channels & invites

Channels & invites

Channels hold group conversations. Open channels are listed for every registered user; invite-only channels only appear once you're invited.

Channels

Slirc uses IRC channels for group chat. Three kinds:

• The public help channel, open to every registered member.
• Open channels, listed for every registered user.
• Invite-only channels, invisible until you're invited.

Verified members can create both kinds.

The rooms panel shows rooms you belong to, open channels you can join, threads, direct messages, and a Starred section for channels and DMs you pin on this device.

Public help channel

The public help channel is open to every registered member. Members can read it; writing requires an account. Slirc does not currently offer anonymous reading. In the Slirc app, its member list, joins, parts, and quits stay hidden. Slirc does not yet promise IRC invisibility, so ordinary IRC clients connected to the channel may still see who is present.

Open channels

Verified members can create an open channel for the whole group. Every registered user can see it and join. Use it for a topic the group shares, like a project room or an event.

Invite-only channels

Verified members can create an invite-only channel, and an owner or admin can switch a channel between open and invite-only later. Making a channel open again exposes its whole history to every registered member, so the app asks you to confirm either way.

An invite-only channel is invisible to everyone who hasn't been invited. The app only lists channels you belong to, and the server blocks anyone who isn't on the list.

Direct messages

Choose + beside Direct messages to start a conversation. Search verified people by nick or name. Admins are visible contacts for every verified member, even without a shared room. Admins can search and message any verified person in the system. Other people appear through membership in a public or workspace channel, a post in a public channel (including #open-chat and #help), a shared non-direct room, or a DM you have had with them, even a closed one. Contacts, listed before you type, include anyone you have a DM with and leave out people you only share #open-chat or #help with; search still finds them. Select one person to open your existing DM or create one. Discovering a person does not grant access to their private channels or other DMs.

Existing groups use secret IRC channels, not pair DMs, and cannot be made open. Group creation is not currently offered in the New DM picker. New members can read the group's existing history; adding people never exposes an earlier 1:1 conversation.

You can also open a person's profile by clicking their name, or use /msg:

/msg nick Hello there

Direct messages appear under Direct messages in the rooms panel. Use a row's menu to star or unstar, mute or unmute, or close a DM; starred conversations also appear at the top of the rooms panel. Mute dims the conversation mark on this device and does not change push-notification settings. Close DM hides the one-to-one conversation from your list on all your devices. It does not delete messages or change the shared IRC channel, membership, or the other person's view. A new message in a closed DM reopens it. You can also open it again from Contacts, with history intact. Slirc backs each direct message with a hidden private #dm-* IRC channel shared by both people, so messages arrive even if the other person is offline. The PWA shows the person's name and avatar; terminal clients see the private channel and its readable topic.

The channel menu

Every non-thread channel in the rooms panel has a kebab menu (⋮). Opening another menu or picker closes the previous one. It holds the actions you take on the spot:

• Star: pins the channel to the Starred section at the top of your rooms on this device. The same action is available for direct messages. DM menus also offer View profile, Mute and Close DM; View profile opens that person's card.
• Mute: keeps the channel visible but dims its mark on this device. It does not change push notifications; see notifications.
• Copy: opens a submenu with Name and Link. Name and Link copy the channel name or a link to the channel. The link opens the channel in Slirc for people who already have access.
• Leave channel: non-owners. Drops you out of the channel. Owners keep the channel; transferring ownership isn't available yet, so an owner either keeps it or deletes it.
• Members: the desktop panel starts closed. Open it from the people icon in the header. Everyone in the channel, grouped online, away, and offline, with the owner, admins, agents, and bots marked; select a member to open their profile. Collapse it with the header icon or the panel's hide button. Open channels do not list members, and #help keeps participant presence private. Invite-only channels also show your Pending invitations, without counting invitees as members. Other members cannot see the email addresses you invited.
• Channel settings…: opens the channel settings dialog.

Channel settings

The dialog opens with the channel name, its member count, and whether it is open or invite-only.

About shows the Topic and Name rows. Owners and admins edit the value in place: click it, type, then press Enter or click away to save. Escape puts the old value back. A check mark confirms the save. Renaming means links to the old name stop working.

Owners and admins also see:

• Access: Open lists the channel for every registered member. Invite-only hides the channel and requires an invite from then on. Picking the other option asks you to confirm under the row before anything changes.
• Danger: Archive makes the channel read-only while it stays in the list, after a confirmation; Unarchive reopens it. Delete channel unregisters the channel and all its threads, then removes their memberships and invite links. You type the channel name to confirm.

Browsing and joining open channels

Open channels you haven't joined show up under Browse channels in the rooms panel. Pick one and join, no invite needed. Archived channels don't appear there until they're unarchived.

Creating a channel

Verified members create either kind from the same form: use + beside Channels in the desktop sidebar or on phone Home. More → Channels also opens the form. It defaults to invite-only.

Inviting people

In a channel, type /invite @eve to add someone who is already on Slirc. A note at the bottom of the channel says Add @eve to #design? with Add and Dismiss; Add adds them right away, and the note changes to Added @eve. If they're already a member, the note says so. Only you see these notes, and they go away when you reload. Channel permissions still apply: if you can't add people to the channel, the note says @eve isn't in #design. You can't add people here. and has no Add.

Mentioning someone works the same way. If you @mention a person who isn't in an invite-only channel, a note under your message says @eve isn't in #design. with Add and Dismiss. Mentions in DMs, of bots, and of people who are already in the channel don't show a note.

/invite name@example.com shows a note that says Send name@example.com an invitation to #design?. Nothing is sent until you choose Invite by email; the note then says Invitation sent to name@example.com. If the address already belongs to someone on Slirc, they're added to the channel instead. When you have no email invites left, or haven't verified your own email yet, the note says so and has no button.

For a DM, open + beside Direct messages and enter a name or email in the same field. Choosing a person opens the DM immediately; an email requires Send invite. Email invitations are personal, not reusable channel links. Group creation is not offered in this picker.

If an address matches an existing verified member, Slirc opens the DM or adds them to the selected group/channel, subject to your permissions. It sends no email and spends no invitation credit, even when your allowance is empty. Selecting a person and entering their email does not add them twice.

The default allowance is nine invitation emails per verified account, shared across DMs, groups and channels. Your server may set a different limit; the dialog shows it. Inviting the same email again to the same destination reuses its active invitation without sending another email or spending another credit. Explicit resends count, and cancelling a delivered invitation does not refund its credit. Confirmed delivery failures do not consume credit. An uncertain delivery keeps its credit and cannot be resent blindly.

Open Invitations from your profile navigation or More → Invitations on a phone to see your sent invitations, remaining allowance, and delivery status. You can resend eligible invitations or cancel a pending invitation. Cancellation revokes the link, not existing conversation membership. A desktop Invite someone shortcut opens the new-conversation dialog for people or email recipients; its dismiss (×) hides only that shortcut.

Email invitations expire after seven days and require the invited email account. Resending replaces the link and starts a new seven-day window. Invitations are personal to the invited address, so forward the email only to the person it names.

An invited person is an ordinary IRC participant. IRC clients see the same private channels, access grants and conversation history.

Joining through an invite

For an email invitation:

1. Open the link and choose a display name.
2. Choose Join. Slirc signs you in and opens the inviter's DM or the invited group/channel. The link was sent to the invited address, so opening it counts as verifying that email; you cannot substitute another one.

If the invited address already has a Slirc account, Slirc emails it a sign-in link instead, so a forwarded invitation cannot open that account. If you are already signed in with the invited account, choose Join directly. If a different account is signed in, switch accounts first.

How it maps to IRC

Slirc channels are ordinary IRC channels, so the mechanics are standard IRC under the surface:

Switching channels

Open or close the rooms panel with the panel button beside the Slirc mark in the top-left. The heading in the middle shows the current channel or person: on desktop it opens channel settings, or the person's card for a direct message, and on a phone it returns to Home. Unread messages show a count on each room.

Read next: messages and media, or threads for focused conversations.