feat: IRC — add first-class channel support

Adds IRC as a first-class channel with core config surfaces (schema/hints/dock), plugin auto-enable detection, routing/policy alignment, and docs/tests.

Co-authored-by: Vignesh <vigneshnatarajan92@gmail.com>

src/channels/dock.ts

@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ import type {
   ChannelPlugin,
   ChannelThreadingAdapter,
 } from "./plugins/types.js";
+import {
+  resolveChannelGroupRequireMention,
+  resolveChannelGroupToolsPolicy,
+} from "../config/group-policy.js";
 import { resolveDiscordAccount } from "../discord/accounts.js";
 import { resolveIMessageAccount } from "../imessage/accounts.js";
 import { requireActivePluginRegistry } from "../plugins/runtime.js";
@@ -75,7 +79,6 @@ const formatLower = (allowFrom: Array<string | number>) =>
     .map((entry) => String(entry).trim())
     .filter(Boolean)
     .map((entry) => entry.toLowerCase());
-
 // Channel docks: lightweight channel metadata/behavior for shared code paths.
 //
 // Rules:
@@ -213,6 +216,73 @@ const DOCKS: Record<ChatChannelId, ChannelDock> = {
       }),
     },
   },
+  irc: {
+    id: "irc",
+    capabilities: {
+      chatTypes: ["direct", "group"],
+      media: true,
+      blockStreaming: true,
+    },
+    outbound: { textChunkLimit: 350 },
+    streaming: {
+      blockStreamingCoalesceDefaults: { minChars: 300, idleMs: 1000 },
+    },
+    config: {
+      resolveAllowFrom: ({ cfg, accountId }) => {
+        const channel = cfg.channels?.irc;
+        const normalized = normalizeAccountId(accountId);
+        const account =
+          channel?.accounts?.[normalized] ??
+          channel?.accounts?.[
+            Object.keys(channel?.accounts ?? {}).find(
+              (key) => key.toLowerCase() === normalized.toLowerCase(),
+            ) ?? ""
+          ];
+        return (account?.allowFrom ?? channel?.allowFrom ?? []).map((entry) => String(entry));
+      },
+      formatAllowFrom: ({ allowFrom }) =>
+        allowFrom
+          .map((entry) => String(entry).trim())
+          .filter(Boolean)
+          .map((entry) =>
+            entry
+              .replace(/^irc:/i, "")
+              .replace(/^user:/i, "")
+              .toLowerCase(),
+          ),
+    },
+    groups: {
+      resolveRequireMention: ({ cfg, accountId, groupId }) => {
+        if (!groupId) {
+          return true;
+        }
+        return resolveChannelGroupRequireMention({
+          cfg,
+          channel: "irc",
+          groupId,
+          accountId,
+          groupIdCaseInsensitive: true,
+        });
+      },
+      resolveToolPolicy: ({ cfg, accountId, groupId, senderId, senderName, senderUsername }) => {
+        if (!groupId) {
+          return undefined;
+        }
+        // IRC supports per-channel tool policies. Prefer the shared resolver so
+        // toolsBySender is honored consistently across surfaces.
+        return resolveChannelGroupToolsPolicy({
+          cfg,
+          channel: "irc",
+          groupId,
+          accountId,
+          groupIdCaseInsensitive: true,
+          senderId,
+          senderName,
+          senderUsername,
+        });
+      },
+    },
+  },
   googlechat: {
     id: "googlechat",
     capabilities: {

src/channels/registry.test.ts

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ describe("channel registry", () => {
     expect(normalizeChatChannelId("imsg")).toBe("imessage");
     expect(normalizeChatChannelId("gchat")).toBe("googlechat");
     expect(normalizeChatChannelId("google-chat")).toBe("googlechat");
+    expect(normalizeChatChannelId("internet-relay-chat")).toBe("irc");
     expect(normalizeChatChannelId("web")).toBeNull();
   });
 

src/channels/registry.ts

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ export const CHAT_CHANNEL_ORDER = [
   "telegram",
   "whatsapp",
   "discord",
+  "irc",
   "googlechat",
   "slack",
   "signal",
@@ -58,6 +59,16 @@ const CHAT_CHANNEL_META: Record<ChatChannelId, ChannelMeta> = {
     blurb: "very well supported right now.",
     systemImage: "bubble.left.and.bubble.right",
   },
+  irc: {
+    id: "irc",
+    label: "IRC",
+    selectionLabel: "IRC (Server + Nick)",
+    detailLabel: "IRC",
+    docsPath: "/channels/irc",
+    docsLabel: "irc",
+    blurb: "classic IRC networks with DM/channel routing and pairing controls.",
+    systemImage: "network",
+  },
   googlechat: {
     id: "googlechat",
     label: "Google Chat",
@@ -102,6 +113,7 @@ const CHAT_CHANNEL_META: Record<ChatChannelId, ChannelMeta> = {
 
 export const CHAT_CHANNEL_ALIASES: Record<string, ChatChannelId> = {
   imsg: "imessage",
+  "internet-relay-chat": "irc",
   "google-chat": "googlechat",
   gchat: "googlechat",
 };