Irssi
Chat Client
Your text mode chatting application since 1999.
IRC built-in. Multi-protocol friendly for module authors.
Shipped-by-default Perl scripting with a wide range of available extensions.
Integrates into the UNIX stack: Your window manager, your terminal emulator, your remote connection, your terminal multiplexer, your IRC bouncer, your IRC adapter.
Irssi is free software licensed under the GPLv2, available for Linux, BSD, Solaris, Haiku, Apple, Cygwin, …
About
IRC built-in. Multi-protocol friendly for module authors.
Shipped-by-default Perl scripting with a wide range of available extensions.
Integrates into the UNIX stack: Your window manager, your terminal emulator, your remote connection, your terminal multiplexer, your IRC bouncer, your IRC adapter.
Irssi is free software licensed under the GPLv2, available for Linux, BSD, Solaris, Haiku, Apple, Cygwin, …
Themes
Irssi is completely themeable. Every single message can be themed. True colours can be used in your themes. Check the theme gallery for some impressions.
Modules
Irssi makes it easy to write protocol modules in C. You can enjoy the chatting power of Irssi in combination with IRC, ICB or SILC. Find more modules on the Modules page.
Scripting
Irssi features a sane and minimal scripting API together with a coherent signal handling mechanism. There are many existing scripts for Irssi, see Finding scripts for some good resources.