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 .