tobby

The Terminal Obby — a keyboard-driven IRC client for the terminal.

Install

# Arch Linux (no dependencies):
yay -S tobby-bin

# npm (requires Bun):
npm install -g @mattfillipe/tobby

# or run without installing (requires Bun):
npx @mattfillipe/tobby

# or just run without running
ssh h4ks.com

Quickstart

tobby

# to see more options:
tobby --help

Press Ctrl+K to open the action menu. From there you can connect to a server and join channels.

Join a channel with /join #channel or open the action menu with Ctrl+K and select "Join channel". To send a message, just start typing. Press Enter to send, or Shift+Enter for a new line.

To react, reply hit Ctrl+Space to enter message selection mode, navigate to the message with arrows or j/k, and press r to reply or e to add reactions.

Keyboard shortcuts

General

| Key | Action | |---|---| | Ctrl+K | Open action menu (connect, join, disconnect, …) | | Ctrl+Space / Alt+K / Alt+↑ / Shift+↑ | Enter message selection / scroll mode | | Ctrl+G | Toggle members sidebar | | Ctrl+L | Clear current buffer | | Ctrl+O | Toggle multiline expand | | Ctrl+M | Toggle multiline always-on | | Alt+[1-9] | Switch to buffer by number | | Alt+N / Alt+P | Next / previous buffer | | Tab | Tab-complete nicks and commands |

Message selection mode (Ctrl+Space / Alt+K / Alt+↑ / Shift+↑)

| Key | Action | |---|---| | j / k | Move down / up | | g / G | Jump to top / bottom | | y | Yank (copy) selected message | | r | Reply to selected message | | R | Add emoji reaction | | Esc | Exit selection mode |

Multiline input

| Key | Action | |---|---| | Enter | New line | | Ctrl+Enter | Send message |

Features

• IRCv3: multiline messages, emoji reactions, edit/delete, replies, SASL PLAIN/EXTERNAL, echo-message, chathistory
• Three-pane layout: server tree · message buffer · user list
• Channel browser (/list)
• Nick tab completion with fuzzy emoji picker for reactions
• Typing notifications
• vim-like keybindings for navigation and message selection
• Multi-line support with collapsible messages
• Persistent config and chat history (SQLite)

Development

git clone https://github.com/ObsidianIRC/tobby
cd tobby
git submodule update --init ObsidianIRC
bun install
bun run dev

Run tests and checks:

bun run lint:fix && bun run format && bun run test

Alternatively setup pre-commit hooks.

bun run prepare

Build distributable:

bun run build   # outputs dist/index.js (minified)

# install locally:
npm install -g .