mARC

A native macOS IRC client built with Swift and SwiftUI, inspired by the classic mIRC for Windows.

Features

• Native macOS app - Built with SwiftUI for a modern, native experience
• SSL/TLS support - Secure connections on port 6697
• Multiple channels - Join and manage multiple channels simultaneously
• Private messaging - Double-click a user to open a DM
• User list - See who's in each channel with op (@) and voice (+) status
• Topic display - Channel topics shown at the top
• Unread indicators - Badge shows unread message count per channel
• Nick and mode tracking - Real-time updates when users change nicks or get op/voice

Screenshots

Installation

Requirements

• macOS 13.0 or later
• Xcode 15.0 or later

Building from Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/mARC.git
   cd mARC

2. Open the project in Xcode:

   open mARC.xcodeproj

3. Build and run (⌘R)

Usage

Connecting

1. Enter the server hostname (e.g., irc.libera.chat)
2. Enter the port (6667 for plain, 6697 for SSL)
3. Toggle SSL if using a secure connection
4. Enter your desired nickname
5. Click Connect

Commands

Command	Description
/join #channel	Join a channel
/j #channel	Join a channel (shortcut)
/part	Leave current channel
/part #channel	Leave specified channel
/quit [message]	Disconnect from server
/msg nick message	Send private message
/me action	Send action message
/nick newnick	Change your nickname
/topic	View channel topic
/topic new topic	Set channel topic (requires op)
/mode +o nick	Give op status (requires op)
/mode +v nick	Give voice status (requires op)
/kick nick [reason]	Kick user from channel (requires op)
/raw command	Send raw IRC command

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Enter - Send message
• Click channel - Switch to channel
• Double-click user - Open private message

Project Structure

mARC/
├── mARCApp.swift        # App entry point
├── ContentView.swift    # Main UI
├── IRCClient.swift      # IRC protocol & networking
├── IRCMessage.swift     # Message model & parser
├── Channel.swift        # Channel model
├── MessageView.swift    # Message display component
└── UserListView.swift   # User list component

IRC Networks

Some popular networks to try:

Network	Server	SSL Port
Libera.Chat	irc.libera.chat	6697
OFTC	irc.oftc.net	6697
EFNet	irc.efnet.org	6697
IRCnet	open.ircnet.net	6697

Roadmap

• Nick highlighting/mentions
• Auto-reconnect

Privacy Note

By default, IRC servers expose your IP address or hostname to other users. To protect your privacy:

1. Use a VPN - Easiest solution
2. Register your nick - Some networks (like Libera.Chat) provide hostname cloaking for registered users
3. Use SASL - Authenticate before joining channels (coming soon)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by mIRC, the classic Windows IRC client
• Built with SwiftUI and Apple's Network framework