2026.10

Added:

• SQLite history storage, with automatic migration of existing gzip history as buffers are used and loading of history in windows.
• Search buffer to search messages across all servers, channels and queries, opened from the command bar, sidebar menu, a nickname's context menu, the search key binding or /search
• Added buffer.text_input.upload_long_paste to automatically use filehost in case pasted text is too long
• Pane title bar button and shortcut to scroll to the backlog divider
• Condensed message gained support for summary via buffer.server_messages.condense.format = "summary"
• Pressing Tab after /topic fills in the current channel topic for editing
• Highlight matches can be optionally named via the name property
• Notification and highlights matches sound property now accept an array of sounds, in which case they'll be picked at random
• Right-clickable text in the server buffer now offers a context menu
• Added Gopher(+s) / Gemini protocol schemes (make links clickable)
• Added support for IPv6 literal links
• Focus mode can be entered with focus_down, focusing the top-most visible message in the buffer
• Pressing Tab in the config editor inserts an indent, set by config_editor.indent ("tab" by default, or a positive integer from 1 to 8)
• Sidebar typing indicators for queries
• buffer.close.query option "close-buffer" (previous option "close" renamed to "close-pane")
• Setting runtime.smooth_scrolling to control whether smooth scrolling is used
• Setting servers.<name>.who_poll_in_flight_limit to control the number of WHO requests sent at once when cap no-implicit-names acked
• Update to Unicode 18.0 emojis

Fixed:

• Colored emojis are now preferred over outline ones
• Closing Halloy hangs while a toast notification is pending on Windows
• Crash when right clicking a message in the server buffer
• Config editor crash when caret is outside the window bounds
• Scroll position being lost when showing the typing indicator with buffer.typing.style = "popped"
• Send a message with enter when autocomplete tooltip is not visible (i.e. don't have to press enter twice when just autocompleted a nickname)
• Message drafts for sent messages sometimes being restored after restart (instead of being cleared)
• ZNC-service style nicks (e.g. *status, *grep, etc) are not automatically routed to the server buffer
• Normalize short frame delays (<=10ms) to 100ms for animated gifs
• Lost connections taking minutes to detect after changing networks, or after waking from sleep on macOS and Linux
• Reconnect attempts running out, and autoconnect turning off, while there is no network connection
• Connections closed by the server not being detected until the next ping timeout
• WebSocket connections not being closed cleanly on disconnect

Changed:

• Saved chat history is no longer limited to 10,000 messages per buffer
• Use OS provided certificate verification service on Windows & macOS
• Your own join/part is shown in the channel buffer
• buffer.server_messages.change_host.enabled is now false by default
• Recent nick autocomplete keeps last-seen across nick changes, and sorts your own nick last
• Default keybinds for focus movement on macOS changed from ⌥ + <arrow keys> to ctrl + <arrow keys> to avoid conflicting with macOS by-word movement keybinds (⌥ + ← and ⌥ + →)
• Tooltips for IRC commands can be dismissed with Esc
• Links open faster on Windows
• By default, the no-implicit-names IRCv3 capability is added to servers.<name>.do_not_request
• Further limit number of WHO requests sent when no-implicit-names is enabled

Thanks:

• Contributions: @httpsterio, @oooo-ps, @rtmongold, @furudean, @xcfrg, @TehPeGaSuS, @kasper93
• Bug reports: @0xS3raph, @httpsterio, tbo, @marcelo4768, @WinnerWind, @strafe, wwWraith, @ncfavier, @Fastidious, @Anonymous1157, @furudean
• Feature requests: @ainola, @kalebris, @sf302, @ToyKeeper, @sebbu2, @TheDcoder, @furudean, @WavyEbuilder, @sepsol, @TehPeGaSuS