.\" To view this file: $ man ./README.7
.Dd May  8, 2025
.Dt README 7
.Os "Causal Agency"
.
.Sh NAME
.Nm catgirl
.Nd IRC client
.
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Xr catgirl 1
is a terminal IRC client.
.
.Pp
Screenshot:
imagine,
if you will,
text on a screen,
next to names
in a selection of colours.
.
.Ss Notable Features
.Bl -bullet
.It
Tab complete:
most recently seen or mentioned nicks
are completed first.
Commas are inserted between multiple nicks.
.It
Prompt:
the prompt clearly shows whether input
will be interpreted as a command
or sent as a message.
.It
Split scroll:
keeps the latest messages in view while scrolling.
.It
URL detection:
recent URLs from a particular user
or matching a substring
can be opened or copied.
.It
Nick coloring:
color generation based on usernames
remains stable across nick changes.
Mentions of users in messages are colored.
.It
Topic diffing:
the modified portion
of a channel topic change
is highlighted.
.It
Ignore:
visibility of filtered messages
can be toggled.
.It
Security:
on
.Fx
and
.Ox ,
the
.Cm restrict
option enables tight sandboxing.
Sandboxing is always used on
.Ox .
.El
.
.Ss Non-features
.Bl -bullet
.It
Dynamic configuration:
all configuration happens
in a simple text file
or on the command line.
.It
Multi-network:
a terminal multiplexer such as
.Xr screen 1
or
.Xr tmux 1
(or just your regular terminal emulator tabs)
can be used to connect
.Nm
to multiple networks.
.It
Reconnection:
when the connection to the server is lost,
.Nm
exits.
She can be run in a loop
or connected to a bouncer,
such as
.Lk https://git.causal.agency/pounce "pounce" .
.It
CTCP:
apart from
.Sy ACTION ,
this protocol is useless at best
and enables abuse at worst.
.It
Protocol coverage:
IRCv3 extensions are implemented only
where they contribute to
the intended user experience.
.It
Cleartext IRC:
TLS is now ubiquitous
and certificates are easy to obtain.
.El
.
.Sh TESTIMONIALS
.Dq catgirl has like the best scrolling i've ever used in a terminal application
.D1 \(em my friend kylie
.
.Sh INSTALLING
.Nm
requires ncurses and
.Sy libtls ,
provided by either
.Lk https://git.causal.agency/libretls/about LibreTLS
(for OpenSSL)
or by LibreSSL.
It targets
.Fx ,
.Ox ,
macOS
and Linux.
.Nm
and
.Sy libtls
may be packaged for your system.
Check the Repology pages for
.Lk https://repology.org/project/catgirl/versions catgirl
and
.Lk https://repology.org/project/libretls/versions libretls .
.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ ./configure
$ make all
# make install
.Ed
.
.Pp
Packagers are encouraged
to patch in their own text macros in
.Pa input.c .
.
.Pp
If installing
.Sy libtls
manually to
.Pa /usr/local ,
for example,
make sure
.Pa /usr/local/lib
appears in
.Pa /etc/ld.so.conf
or
.Pa /etc/ld.so.conf.d/*
and be sure to run
.Xr ldconfig 8
once the library is installed.
Set
.Ev PKG_CONFIG_PATH
for
.Nm ./configure
to find it.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig ./configure
.Ed
.
.Pp
The
.Nm sandman
wrapper is provided for macOS
to stop and start
.Nm
on system sleep and wake.
To enable him,
configure with:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ ./configure --enable-sandman
.Ed
.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width "complete.c" -compact
.It Pa chat.h
global state and declarations
.It Pa chat.c
startup and event loop
.It Pa irc.c
IRC connection and parsing
.It Pa ui.c
curses interface
.It Pa window.c
window management
.It Pa input.c
input handling
.It Pa handle.c
IRC message handling
.It Pa command.c
command handling
.It Pa buffer.c
line wrapping
.It Pa edit.c
line editing
.It Pa complete.c
tab complete
.It Pa url.c
URL detection
.It Pa filter.c
message filtering
.It Pa log.c
chat logging
.It Pa config.c
configuration parsing
.It Pa xdg.c
XDG base directories
.It Pa sandman.m
sleep/wake wrapper for macOS
.El
.
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width "scripts/notify-send.scpt" -compact
.It Pa scripts/chat.tmux.conf
example
.Xr tmux 1
configuration for multiple networks
and automatic reconnects
.It Pa scripts/reconnect.sh
example script to restart
.Xr catgirl 1
when she gets disconnected
.It Pa scripts/notify-send.scpt
.Xr notify-send 1
in AppleScript
.El
.
.Sh CONTRIBUTING
The upstream URL of this project is
.Aq Lk https://git.causal.agency/catgirl .
Contributions in any form can be sent to
.Aq Mt list+catgirl@causal.agency .
For sending patches by email, see
.Aq Lk https://git-send-email.io .
Mailing list archives are available at
.Aq Lk https://causal.agency/list/catgirl.html .
.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr catgirl 1 ,
.Xr sandman 1
.
.Pp
IRC bouncer:
.Lk https://git.causal.agency/pounce "pounce"
.
.Rs
.%A June McEnroe
.%T IRC Suite
.%U https://text.causal.agency/010-irc-suite.txt
.%D June 19, 2020
.Re
.
.\" To view this file: $ man ./README.7