IRC-Ultimate

A minimal, modular IRC client with kawaii ASCII art, following the UNIX philosophy and RFC 1459. (◕‿◕✿)

Project Layout

This project uses a modular Go layout:

• main.go — Main CLI entry point
• conn/ — Connection logic (TLS, TCP, config)
• parser/ — IRC message parser and tests
• asciiart/ — Kawaii ASCII art and display utilities
• go.mod — Go module definition

All commands below assume you are in the irc directory.

✨ Features

• 🐱 Kawaii ASCII art on startup
• 🔒 Secure by default (TLS support)
• 🚀 Fast and lightweight
• 📦 No external dependencies
• 🎨 Customizable kawaii art collection

🛠️ Installation

Prerequisites

• Go 1.16 or later
• Git

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/IRC-Ultimate.git
cd IRC-Ultimate
go build -o irc-client

🚀 Usage

Basic Usage

# Run with default settings
./irc-client

# Connect to a specific server
./irc-client -server irc.libera.chat -port 6697 -tls -nick YourNickname

# Disable TLS (not recommended)
./irc-client -tls=false -port 6667

Commands

• /join #channel - Join a channel
• /msg <target> <message> - Send a private message
• /part [message] - Leave the current channel
• /nick <newnick> - Change your nickname
• /quit [message] - Disconnect from the server
• Type a message to send to the current channel

Kawaii Features

• Enjoy random kawaii ASCII art on startup
• Customize your experience with different art styles
• All kawaii art is terminal-friendly and works in most environments

🐛 Troubleshooting

Terminal Display Issues

If you see broken characters in the kawaii art:

1. Windows Users: Use Windows Terminal for better Unicode support
2. Font Issues: Install a Nerd Font (like Cascadia Code)
3. Terminal Settings: Ensure your terminal is set to UTF-8 encoding

Common Problems

• Missing packages: Run go mod tidy
• Build errors: Try go clean -modcache and rebuild
• Connection issues: Check your network and firewall settings

Usage

• Type /join #channel to join a channel
• Type /msg <target> <message> to send a private message
• Type /part to leave the current channel
• Type /nick <newnick> to change nickname
• Type /quit to disconnect
• Type a message to send to the current channel

📦 Project Structure

.
├── asciiart/      # Kawaii ASCII art and display utilities
│   └── art/       # Art collections (cats, faces, etc.)
├── conn/          # Connection handling (TLS/TCP)
├── parser/        # IRC message parser
├── main.go        # Main application entry point
└── README.md      # This file

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

📄 License

This project is licensed under the BSD 2-Clause License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Inspired by the simplicity of UNIX philosophy
• Kawaii art by the community
• Built with ❤️ and Go

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Made with (◕‿◕✿) and Go